The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016) • Hacker News Board

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

#281

Post by lolc » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 8:39 AM UTC

emporas wrote: post #252

lolc wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you, that is the best just-so story I've read in a long while! If the subtext is not apparent: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_story

Even if the distance of the right hand to the heart (on the left) is just 10% more than if it was located on the right side, that small difference for 50 million years might be significant enough for a right hand trait to be established in the population. Any scientist who wants to verify this hypothesis (or the-just-so story) is welcomed, and this explanation might be upgraded to totally valid scientific theory or s…

In your logic obviously the majority of people must be left handed because the left arm being closer to the heart means higher blood flow and thus better stamina.

Oh but why isn't it so? Because of venom? Let's set our scientists on that. No wait I got one: Attacking prey is easier with the sun in the back so the hunters would often return from the north. The right handed ones would show better muscle tone in the setting sun and we know women select for muscle mass! Sexual selection baby! Way better story I'm sure you agree. Scientists gotta switch.

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

#282

Post by vibrio » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 9:34 AM UTC

grahamm wrote: post #276

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)

Always have blue ink on the side of my hand where I have dragged my hand across the page and through my writing. Fountain pens were particularly messy.

Yes. And that crappy erasable ink that flourished in the 80s. It was a mess.

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

#283

Post by vibrio » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 9:37 AM UTC

FinnKuhn wrote: post #253

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)

> Also ring binders were a pain in the ass. My suggestion would be to just turn them around so the spiral is on the right side

Yup. I tried that and got scolded by teachers because the lines are all off (big margin at the bottom. Thin red line on the wrong side. ) I tried to get the pads with the spiral at the top- that works.

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

#284

Post by fm2606 » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 11:14 AM UTC

greedylizard wrote: post #152

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)

As a child I solved this problem by rotating my paper 90° to the right and writing “down”. Still do it til this day. Although it gets awkward when someone wants to hold the paper for me while I sign. I have to gently tug it away from them so I can turn it.

I turn my paper about 45 degrees.

I have the same problem when people want to hold the paper for me to sign.

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

#285

Post by Cousin-ITT » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 12:11 PM UTC

onjectic wrote: post #189

aorloff wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a lefty for small motor skills (like writing and eating) and a righty for large motor skills (like throwing a ball or swinging a bat)

Seems like the most useful would be the other way around.

batting left handed often gives an advantage over right handed pitchers, as well as putting the left-handed batters a step or two closer to first base

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

#286

Post by grimjack00 » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 2:42 PM UTC

pclmulqdq wrote: post #62

Miraltar wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it matters too much on a piano but on a guitar it does a lot because your hands do very different things.

Wouldn't you want the more dextrous hand to be the one choosing which notes to play? My sister plays string instruments, and she has commented many times that I am lucky for being left handed because lefties have a better time with complex fingering. I suppose that it's easier to start out right handed on guitar, though, when the right hand is more active than the left hand.

I've never really liked that reasoning. If that's the case, then right-handed people should be playing "left-handed" guitars, with their right hands doing the fretting.

Personally, fretting with my left hand just doesn't feel natural. When I first got interested in playing, I asked a salesman at a Guitar Center about left-handed instruments. He handed me a standard guitar, and showed me the fingering for a G chord. It was uncomfortable, but that's obviously expected for the first time I'd ever held a guitar. However, when I flipped it around and fretted with my right hand, it felt much more natural. So ever since, I've played left-handed.