Lefties--where are you

[Trek-chick]

Anyone else out there left-handed? Just curious to see....

Do you favor you left hand for most things like sports etc. or are you just as capable with your right-hand for most everything?

Personally, I write and eat left-handed and can do most sports with either but, seem to be better as a south-paw. Strange thing is I brush my teeth only right handed....must have been taught that way as a kid I guess and it stuck:)

[Kim1976]

I'm left-handed, too, and use that hand mainly, except when I use a mouse, I use my right hand, or use the touchpad on my laptop!
Do you sleep on your left side as well?

[Trek-chick]

Do you sleep on your left side as well?

Sure do:D

[Crankin]

I am a righty (at least for writing), but I do mostly everything else lefty.
Can only drink from the water bottle with my left hand.
Clip out left side first. Get on bike from left side.
Drink coffee and other beverages with left hand.
Can kick a ball equally well with either foot.
My left side is generally stronger. I have better vision in my left eye.
I have a lot of difficulty cornering right on the bike, but left never has been an issue.
I sleep on my left side, too.

Think my laterality is messed up?

[Biciclista]

lefty. my dominant foot, hand and eye all left.
I did learn to play the violin (not very well) with the "normal" position, righty.
I married a lefty.
we brought 2 right-handed children into the world. they were both traumatized like lefties are in normal families. They'd never used right handed scissors until they went to school..
I think my right arm is pretty strong because I pack things with it while I do the fine motor skills with the left hand (like putting the key into the door)

[badger]

I'm fairly ambidextrous. I write with my right, and snowboard the "regular" way, but my left ear (phone) and my left eye are dominant. So when I took archery, I had to use the bow with my left hand. I'm more comfortable breathing on my left side while swimming, and I sleep on my left side.

My dad's a leftie but he was forced to write with his right hand while growing up.

[Tri Girl]

I'm a south paw, but am fairly ambidextrous. Really, I mostly do things with my right hand. I unclip on the right side, cut right handed, but do sports left handed (baseball, throwing, bowling, etc).

I never really thought about it until you asked. Now I'm sitting here thinking about all the things I do and which side I do them with. Hmmm...:p

[solobiker]

It is kind of hard to tell what I am:p I write with my left hand and eat with my left hand. Strange thing is when I used to play baseball I would throw with my right and bat with my right but when I played tennnis I would be left handed. A lot of fine motor types of tasks I use my right hand and my right arm is stronger.

[DebW]

I'm left handed for fine-motor skills, right handed for gross-motor skill. Don't know what I am for some things. I can saw left or right, but generally hammer right. Throw a ball and bat right. Can mouse either way. Drink from water bottle in left hand. Unclip my right foot. Left eye dominant.

[ridenread]

Another mixed dominance lefty here. I write and eat with my left hand, get on and off my bike from the left and do just about everything else with the right. Is it any wonder that I terribly directionally challenged and don't know my left from right without thinking about it.

[Skierchickie]

Seriously lefty in nearly everything. When I was a kid, my Dad told me I used a shovel and a broom right-handed (not even sure how there is a left or a right shoveling or sweeping). I use a mouse with the right, but probably because when computer mice came into my life, they were just always ON the right side. I don't switch the buttons or anything.

Don't you just hate pens at banks, etc, that are attached with a chain? ALWAYS on the wrong side, so the chain lies right where you're trying to write.

[Kano]

Don't you just hate pens at banks, etc, that are attached with a chain? ALWAYS on the wrong side, so the chain lies right where you're trying to write.

Never mind those pens on chains: what about those danged credit card things these days? They're IMPOSSIBLE!

And yeah, directionally challenged -- good thing I point the direction I mean when I tell someone that when I get off the lift at the top of the mountain that I'm going left! (I'm working really hard at just saying "that way" when I point!)

Karen in Boise

[marni]

like many others of my generation, I am the daughter of two lefties, but was forcibly trained out of it in school, so I write with my right hand but do nearly everything else left handed. It confuses my trainer who always wants me to start on the right side but perhaps he is dominantly right because he is a former Marine. As I get older, my handwriting deteriates more and more, so my children suggested that I revert to writing with my left hand. I tried that and it didn't work at all so now I am illegible in both hands.

One tip I read years ago said one way to keep your brain flexible is to do activities you normally do with your right hand, with your left. I tried reversing everything but nearly stabbed myself to death in the gums so I think I need to rethink that one.

marni

[artifactos]

I write left handed. I kick with better aim with my left foot. However, I use a mouse, scissors, knife, and throw with my right hand.

I've dated a couple lefties, but I'm dating a right-hander now. After 8 months, he is FINALLY remembering where to seat the two of us in relation to one another at a restaurant so we don't elbow each other. :)

[Bike Chick]

I'm a righty but am married to a lefty. I've been reading your posts aloud to him and he's enjoying what he's hearing. Kano, his big complaint also are the credit card machines at cash registers. He also says that store clerks will always hand you a pen in your right hand and he hates spiral bound notebooks. He never thought about what hand he uses to reach his water bottle or which side he unclips first until I mentioned it. Second nature I guess.

[Kano]

I've dated a couple lefties, but I'm dating a right-hander now. After 8 months, he is FINALLY remembering where to seat the two of us in relation to one another at a restaurant so we don't elbow each other. :)

Only eight months?

I've been married to my right-hander for over thirty years now and he has NEVER figured that out!

I figure we lefties are generally more flexible and more adaptable -- we have to be to survive!

Karen in Boise

[MommyBird]

My husband and I are both righties with lefty tendencies. We are both left-eye dominant. I am left leg dominant which was great for dancing. I would learn a move on the right and then it would be an easy transition to the left.

We have two lefty sons. Neither is a complete lefty. It is funny to see what they choose to do lefty and what they choose to do righty. It is not the same. For example, one plays pool lefty and the other righty. They are both lefties in archery and righties in tennis. Dad is the only family member who throws a frisbee lefty.

Luckily our guitar playing son plays righty and we have not had to hunt down lefty versions. He plays bass, acoustic, electric and the mandolin.

It can be pretty confusing at our house.

[Crankin]

This is interesting. My DH was a lefty and was forced to switch by mean old lady teachers in inner city Philadelphia. His mom is a lefty. One of my kids is a lefty, but as a musician, he plays guitar righty and uses a mouse with his right hand. He played baseball as a lefty, though. As a kid, he had horrible problems with fine motor coordination, as do I. He still can barely zipper and button, as an adult (like me). However, he is a good athlete, cyclist, runner, kayaker. My other son is a righty, but as a young teen was into archery and we found out he was left eyed, thus shot the bow as a lefty. He is extremely coordinated and mechanical, thankfully, not inheriting my issues.

[Skierchickie]

Hmmm - it never occurred to me that my credit card machine issues were a lefty/righty thing. I do have trouble, though. What is the problem, anyway? That the strip is on the side of the card facing away from you when you stand with it in your left hand, so you can't see whether it's up or down? I can't quite put my finger on it. I do know that I bumble around with those, anyway.

[DebW]

Hmmm - it never occurred to me that my credit card machine issues were a lefty/righty thing. I do have trouble, though. What is the problem, anyway? That the strip is on the side of the card facing away from you when you stand with it in your left hand, so you can't see whether it's up or down? I can't quite put my finger on it. I do know that I bumble around with those, anyway.

The problem is trying to sign your name on the electronic pad when there is no place to rest your hand. And sometimes the pad doesn't register your signature properly because your hand drags across the writing area while you sign. I also have problems with some ATM machines when the keypad is on the right side. If you stand centered so you can see the screen, then it is extremely awkward to use the keypad with your left hand.

[Catrin]

This is interesting - I've always considered myself right handed, that is what I write, eat, and do fine needlework with. I drink with my left hand, mount the bike from the left side - I CANNOT mount from the right side for some odd reason, and my left foot is the one that hits the ground first. Left arm the strongest, right leg dominant. Hmmm, my body is just confused :rolleyes:

[DebW]

I thought everyone mounted a bike from the left side, and the chain is on the right so you avoid the grease that way. I thought it went back to mounting horses from the left. Does anyone mount a bike from the right?

[Serendipity]

Another lefty here!
Write with my left hand, do some things with my right and others I can do with either hand.....!
I think a lot of the ambidexterity comes from adapting to a 'right-handed' world. So many utensils are designed for right handed people: can openers, sewing machines, addings machines (in the days when there were adding machines :p ) and so on and so on.
But let's not forget: left handed people are the only ones in their right minds! :D :D

[VeloVT]

I'm a lefty. My left eye is dominant, but I'm right-footed and fairly ambidextrous at most things other than writing. If I'm drawing or painting on a large scale, I sometimes find myself using my right hand. I have a hard time on the tennis court sticking to one forehand side and one backhand side! ;)