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

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

#191

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

bombcar wrote: post #128
quickthrowman wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Left-handed screwdrivers are not real, but left-handed scissors are real. Left-handed watches are also real, the crown is on the left side: https://www.fratellowatches.com/help-my-son-is-a-lefty-a-loo...

Wait do people wear their watch on their dominant hand? I can’t do that, need to use that hand to manipulate the watch. Maybe because it’s a smartwatch.

Like many artifacts of modernity, the buttons on digital watches are usually biased toward right-handed operation from the left wrist.

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

#192

Post by mpreda »

pram wrote: post #139

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)

I'm right handed; when I experimented with writing with my left hand, I discovered that it's much easier to write "in mirror", right to left, using mirrored cursive characters. (also slanted in mirror)

Solves the problem with the hand overlapping the fresh writing and produces some funky-looking text.

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

#193

Post by cshimmin »

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 have an old hn account. Dilbert was something I was dimly aware of my dad reading in newspapers when I was a kid in the 90s. Never heard the term PHB before today.

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

#194

Post by rzzzt »

Cpoll wrote: post #175
rzzzt wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nail scissors can be quite the experience for a left-hander, instead of achieving the proper cutting/shearing motion it will just try to bend your nails due to the widened gap between the blades. A bit less painful but also annoying is cutting paper for the same reason.

But don't you use nail scissors with both hands, cutting the nails on the hand that's not using the scissors?

Indeed, I never thought of that!

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

#195

Post by lloeki »

michaelteter wrote: post #160

I'm sure like many left-handers here, my right hand is nearly as dexterous as my left. Writing is the only thing I can do with left which I cannot do with right; other tasks are either equally natural or just a little awkward but still effective. But some right-handers who have been forced to (by breaking an arm for example) can learn to write with the left hand. I have to assume they could learn to be more ambidexte…

> I'm also somewhat left-footed because I tend to carry heavy things in my right arm; so my right leg is busy supporting the extra weight as I step up on a step with the left.

As a skateboarder that regularly teach the basic ropes of skateboarding I noticed that footedness (giving you stance) has little to no relationship with handedness.

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

#196

Post by roeles »

rolph wrote: post #169

i was hit on the hand with a ruler and the crayon pulled from my left hand and forced into my right. i wonder if that has happened to others and if so does it contribute to skew of frequency.

My grandmother was hit with a ruler on the left hand. She learnt to write with both hands as a result.

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

#197

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

Wouldn't a 50/50 split be just as unlikely as any other? You've already broken symmetry by asking by a preference of one over the other, so it would be pretty spooky if something came along and restored that symmetry. Unless it was truly random, and what in biology is truly random?

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

#198

Post by mullingitover »

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.

There’s a term for this: cross dominant. I have the same condition, the research is all over the place about whether it’s a good or bad thing. It generally means the brain hasn’t fully picked a side, so some operations have to cross the corpus callosum which can add latency.

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

#199

Post by portaouflop »

talldatethrow wrote: post #150
pram wrote: post #139

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)

I'm also left handed and this was never an issue for me. You hold the pencil out from your fingers thus your hand is sitting slightly below the line that is being written, traveling over unused paper constantly. Only people that do that weird claw thing have that problem.

I did the weird claw thing, worked for me

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

#200

Post by portaouflop »

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 do basically everything with my left — but I do use the mouse with my right. Not sure what that means…
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