Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 286 posts

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#131

Post by boogieknite »

gsk22 wrote: post #118
zdragnar wrote: post #51

I write left handed, and use a fork in my left and knife in my right. Left hand for holding a phone or a drinking glass, and for shaving. I'm right eye dominant, though, so I throw, swing, shoot, use scissors, play instruments and use a mouse right handed. I'm not at all ambidextrous, I can't do most of those things with my other hand.

> I'm right eye dominant, though, so I throw, swing, shoot, use scissors, play instruments and use a mouse right handed. Dominant eye and hand don't have to match; in fact, they often don't. To quote Wikipedia: > ...the side of the dominant eye and the dominant hand do not always match. This is because both hemispheres control both eyes, but each one takes charge of a different half of the field of vision, and theref…

im embarrassingly right handed but also left eye dominant. my family is obsessed with bird hunting and took a while before my dad realized i had to close my left eye to hit anything

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#132

Post by roelschroeven »

mannykannot wrote: post #2

"Similarly, you can test your ears: which ear would you naturally use on the telephone?" Well, I'm right-handed, so...

I hold the phone to my left ear, but that has nothing to do with ear preference. It's because it feels more natural holding it up with my left hand (which conveniently leaves my dominant right hand free for doing other things).

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#133

Post by nickff »

mikestew wrote: post #117
nickff wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a PHB? I searched online, and found that it could mean bachelor's in philosophy (PhB) or polyhydroxybutyrate ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhydroxybutyrate ), but neither makes much sense in this context.

This is not a criticism, but I’m amused that someone with an HN account as old as yours is just now finding out what “PHB” means.

I actually own the 20th anniversary Dilbert collection, but it didn't come to mind. I probably have acronym-blindness from encountering too many.

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#135

Post by hug »

cruffle_duffle wrote: post #108
_whiteCaps_ wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that scissors were made to be right handed, and you need a 'reversed' pair for left handed people. Or is that a scam?

The thing with scissors is, as a left handed person, you'll never find the "reversed" type so you learn to just use "regular" scissors pretty early on. This is probably true with a lot of things, honestly. Yeah I might theoretically be able to cut better with a left handed pair of scissors but since I've never come across a pair I never bothered. Things get much more interesting with more complex things like golf, sn…

Scissors are one of those things that, as a mostly left-handed but extremely right-eye dominant person, I have always resented and found difficult, but using a quality pair of left-handed scissors is almost an epiphany when you realise exactly how inconvenient a lot of things in the world are just by virtue of your handedness. A significant number of cheap "left handed" scissors I've used in my life are right-handed scissors with a left-handed grip on them, and using them is more comfortable but no more precise.

All of that said, I've found the golden path of learning any new tool that has a specific handedness is just to practice doing it right handed. This is especially true of anything that is a kind of "place setting", I eat with a knife & fork in the right-handed pattern, I use a computer mouse with my right hand. If I'm going to sit down somewhere and have an array of items in front of me with an 'expected' handedness, I'll just do it that way.

I do still resent it though.

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#136

Post by crazygringo »

I really wonder if it has something to do with humans using tools, and it just works better for a tribe if most people use tools with the same "handedness", because they can share more and be more efficient. Like if hunters could swap bows when one broke, their tribe would get more meat?

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#138

Post by giraffe_lady »

crazygringo wrote: post #136

I really wonder if it has something to do with humans using tools, and it just works better for a tribe if most people use tools with the same "handedness", because they can share more and be more efficient. Like if hunters could swap bows when one broke, their tribe would get more meat?

No, clear "handedness" is seen in a lot of animals not just primates. You can see it easily in pets: cats tend to reach with a certain paw, dogs tend to dig with a certain rear leg over the other. Horses lead with a preferred side when possible. Similar things are observed in non-domesticated animals like wild birds and whales also. Lateral preference isn't a universal animal behavior but it's very common.

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#139

Post by pram »

Just throwing in my left handed anecdote here: the bottom of my hand was always covered in pencil graphite when I was in school because your hand drags over what you've been writing from left -> right. Also ring binders were a pain in the ass (your hand is blocked at the left margin lol)

Re: The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016)

#140

Post by giraffe_lady »

Melatonic wrote: post #111
n4r9 wrote: post #47

The percentage of left-handedness correlates strongly with how pacifist vs warlike the society is. According to this 2005 study it varies from 3% up to 27%: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1634940/

It could also be that when fighting (pre guns) people with left handed weapons took normal right handers off guard (sort of like how in baseball a leftie might throw off other players). I can imagine in a sword battle if you are used to fighting people right handing swords that suddenly fighting a left handed person could be unexpected and disadvantage you. Where I am going with this is that it might not be that left…

Yes left-handed advantage is a major thing in combat sports including fencing. IIRC close to 50% of professional boxers and fencers are left handed, which is similar to the rate for pitchers I believe.
Post reply on HN