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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)

#21

Post by adrian_b »

rrgok wrote: post #8

I was originally left-handed, but my father made me switch to my right hand because he believed being left-handed was the "hand of the devil." Now, I’ve become ambidextrous, and I instinctively choose which hand to use depending on the activity. Sometimes, when I'm trying something for the first time and I'm unsure which hand is best, I get stuck and have to go through some trial and error before it feels natural.

My father was left handed.

While in school, before WWII, he was beaten on the offending hand, to discourage him from writing with the left hand. So eventually he became accustomed to write with the right hand, and then he has continued to write with the right hand, even if he always did most other kinds of precision work with his left hand.

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

#22

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

grecy wrote: post #17

Here's a fun test - we're all in socks on a slippery wood floor. I'll give you $500 if you can run and slide further than I can. Close you eyes and really imagine it (or do it right now). Really feel yourself sliding along, that tingly feeling of almost losing control, etc. etc. Going a little further with each try. REALLY run and slide AS FAR AS YOU CAN. Which foot did you have in front? I'm very much right handed a…

Right handed, but I pictured my left foot forward. I guess because I'd expect the power to come from my right foot (I'm right footed).

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

#23

Post by noworld »

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...

This is the one thing that seemed off. I don't have any preference for one ear over the other. If I hold the phone up to an ear, it would depend on what I wanted to do with the other hand. If I'm writing, I would hold the phone in my left hand to my left ear. If I'm typing one-handed, I would type with my left hand while i hold the phone in my right hand to my right ear.

If I went to listen up against a door, it would depend on other things which ear I used, like which ear might already be closer to the door.

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

#24

Post by leejo »

I'm of the generation that were forced to write with the right even though I was a natural lefty. I also broke my left arm when I was 2, which may have made things even more messed up. These days I:

  * Write with my right, my left is not quite as quick/tidy as my right
  * Swing/grip with my left (cricket / golf / etc)
  * Use my phone with my left
  * Mouse with my right
  * Cut (scissors) with my right (but we don't have any lefty scissors so...)
  * Drink a pint with my left
  * Play guitar with my right (but i learnt with a RH acoustic, so...)

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

#25

Post by pclmulqdq »

theoreticalmal wrote: post #15

“ when you look at rare conditions, like Down Syndrome, epilepsy and cerebral palsy, the ratio of left- to right-handers is more like 50:50 rather than 1:10.” Is this a typo? Or are left-handed people way, way more likely to suffer from these rare diseases?

There are a lot of myths and anecdata about lefties having shorter life expectancy. That might indicate health consequences in some way.

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

#26

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

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...

Smart phones confuse this, I think. I bet most right-handers hold their phone in their left hand so they can touch the screen with their right. So it then naturally follows that, to hold the phone to the ear, we'd keep it in that left hand. Of course, sometimes I also use it one-handed, in which case it's in my right hand — on reflection, I think most phone use is probably ambidextrous.

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

#27

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

finger wrote: post #6
woodrowbarlow wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm left handed but i tend to hold phones to my right ear.

I’m right handed but I often use my left hand and left ear, or sometimes even my right hand and left ear

Right hand/left ear feels incredibly awkward to me — almost as bad as trying to get something from your left pocket with your right hand.

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

#28

Post by pclmulqdq »

leejo wrote: post #24

I'm of the generation that were forced to write with the right even though I was a natural lefty. I also broke my left arm when I was 2, which may have made things even more messed up. These days I: * Write with my right, my left is not quite as quick/tidy as my right * Swing/grip with my left (cricket / golf / etc) * Use my phone with my left * Mouse with my right * Cut (scissors) with my right (but we don't have an…

I'm not sure why people have started to make reversed musical instruments. I saw a video with a reversed piano, calling it "left-handed." I am a left-handed person who plays the piano and I had always thought the keyboard was laid out like an ascending scale on paper rather than having something to do with handedness - low notes on the left and high notes on the right.

The motions involved in playing music are so weird that I don't think it matters that much. Even if it does, there might be techniques that you find easier to master with one handedness or the other.

I will also add that I have been complemented on the facility of my left hand when playing, but when I hear the people who say that play scales, it's very clear that they don't practice technique with both hands equally.

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

#29

Post by technothrasher »

rrgok wrote: post #8

I was originally left-handed, but my father made me switch to my right hand because he believed being left-handed was the "hand of the devil." Now, I’ve become ambidextrous, and I instinctively choose which hand to use depending on the activity. Sometimes, when I'm trying something for the first time and I'm unsure which hand is best, I get stuck and have to go through some trial and error before it feels natural.

I was originally ambidextrous, but my mother taught me to be left handed because that seemed more interesting to her. I'm mostly left handed these days, though I bat either way, use my mouse either way, and shoot guns right handed (I forced myself to learn to shoot right, so semi-auto casings are ejected away from me instead of toward me).

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

#30

Post by au8er »

twoodfin wrote: post #4

The symmetry or lack thereof between mirrored “left-handed/right-handed” phenomena is a deep problem up and down the physical world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirality

Often times chirality is not just a fun quirk. For certain drugs, the left handed and the right handed versions can have completely different effects on the human body: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiral_drugs#Drug_toxicity. To avoid making the wrong type of drug, a specific way of producing the chemical molecule has to be derived: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantioselective_synthesis.
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