The geography of American left-handedness
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The geography of American left-handedness
1–10 of 44 posts
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#2These days, you'd think you'd see the opposite where parents might force boys towards left-handedness.
If you're a right-hander who throws 90 MPH, the MLB scouts will take a look at you. If you're a left-hander who throws 90 MPH, you'll get drafted.
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#3I grew up in southeast Oklahoma, as well as all my family.. Teachers spewing off about left handedness being evil is surprisingly common, though I didn't expect it to persist to today. Anecdotal accounts: my wife was told being left hand was evil (she was ambidextrous) and she was converted to fully right handed in 1st grade (1990s). My step-brother's kindergarten teacher constantly picked on him for being left handed and made him a mockery of the class before the superintendent intervened (1970s)... I recall one other account to do with my step-mom, but I can't remember the details of who it was.
So yea, idk what is up with Oklahoma, but they do NOT like lefties
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#4What's up with Oklahoma is a larger concentration of fundamentalist Christians who are anti-science and therefore ignorant of many modern scientific advances; and also hold a lot of prejudices from bygone eras.
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#5What's up with Oklahoma is a larger concentration of fundamentalist Christians who are anti-science and therefore ignorant of many modern scientific advances; and also hold a lot of prejudices from bygone eras.
I've never heard of fundamentalist Christians being anti-left-handed. And I am one.
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#6I had years of mechanical drawing in high school, and it wasn't until my junior year that the teacher noticed I am left-handed. He started having me create drawings from the lower-right corner to the upper-left, while the right-handed kids drew from upper-left to lower-right. When I switched, I stopped having smudged drawings caused by dragging my hand across the completed parts of the drawings.
Little things.
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#7My father's left handed, I'm left handed, my sister's ambidextrous. A couple of her kids are left handed. There is certainly a genetic component.
My son's too young yet to have a dominant hand, but I make a point of putting things in his left hand. It's a lifestyle choice.
I grew up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, and I don't recall any prejudice against left-handers at the time. I never even really thought about the difficulties of using right-handed implements. It's just the way things were.
My father does tell a story, from the early 50s, where his mother had to forcibly intervene at his primary school, where they were trying to force him to use his left hand.
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#8That is a rather tiny difference in percentage, is it even statistically significant in relation to the samples?
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#9My parents are right handed. I'm left handed. Had a pretty hard time in communist Poland too. It started with a kind of wrong diagnosis where the doctor told my parents that I'm both and that they could choose which side I'd use. So my grandparents lobbied for right. I started out left but it was hard with a fountain pen and since I had nobody to help me out with that my parents finally broke and told me to learn writing right.
My writing is still horrible. Sometimes even I can't read it. I became used to getting worse grades just for that. Same goes for art class. I was the only person in class to cut himself with paper scissors...
Thanks to the motivation of my gf and colleges, I've started learning to write with my left hand but it's not easy. It's like starting over again. My gf bought me scissors for lefties. What a beautiful feeling to cut paper with the "right" hand!
Re: The geography of American left-handedness
#10Here's something I've always found strange: every relationship I've ever had has been with a left-handed woman. I'm right-handed. It's not something I notice until after maybe a third date (as I usually am the one paying the bill before then). I don't watch for it. I certainly don't ask up front. And I don't give it any kind of weight. But it's still weird.
For whatever reason, I guess I just seem to click better with lefties.