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

bbc.com

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

#61

Post by bpoyner »

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.

Unless you really can switch hands at the drop of a hat (which is incredibly rare), the term is cross-dominant or mixed-handed. I prefer my right hand for fine motor skills and left for gross. I have a coworker is who is almost exactly the opposite.

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

#62

Post by pclmulqdq »

Miraltar wrote: post #36
pclmulqdq wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wei…

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.

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

#63

Post by Miraltar »

ttyprintk wrote: post #40
Miraltar wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article, "when you compare the number of left- and right-handed Neanderthals, this same ratio of 1 in 10 left-handers that we see today pops out"

I feel we’re giving a lot of credit to Neanderthals by assuming they had no superstitions around something as basic as handedness.

They might have and even without speaking of superstitions, we learn a lot by imitation, so that could be a factor too. But having the same ratio is a weird coincidence and it's also said in the article that babies already have their preference in the womb.

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

#64

Post by eftpotrm »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #25
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.

IIRC the major factor in that was found to be that left-handed people within the age ranges where significant numbers of them are dying of natural causes had usually been brought up to suppress left-handedness, so are reporting as right-handed and skewing the data.

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

#65

Post by ZaoLahma »

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…

On ice skates I (left handed and left footed) find it easier to come to a prompt stop with the left foot forward, and I naturally slide across ice and such with my left foot forward so, naturally, I thought I'd have the left foot forward while snowboarding.

Everything felt absolutely right, UNTIL I gained some real speed for the first time. Nope! Suddenly everything felt wrong, and I instinctively turned so I had my right foot forward.

So weirdly goofy it is.

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

#66

Post by dTal »

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?

Let's work it out: 1 in 10 are lefty, 1 in 1000 have Downs. Supposedly 50% of people with Downs are lefty, therefore:

P(A) = 0.001

P(B|A) = 0.5

P(B) = 0.1

P(A|B) = P(B|A)xP(A)/P(B) = 0.5x0.001/0.1 = 0.005 = 0.50%

So the chances of having Downs given being a lefty is 1 in 200, or which is 5 times higher than the base rate, but still quite rare. It's probably more a case of "having developmental abnormalities interferes with handedness" rather than "being a lefty predisposes you to having sundry developmental abnormalities".

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

#67

Post by bee_rider »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #26
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.

I think talking on the phone is sufficiently different from using it as a tiny computer, we just hold it completely differently in that scenario, so I bet we tend to go to the default state (right hand). I’m trying to think back, but I can’t ever remember using a phone left-handed.

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

#68

Post by Delphiza »

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.

A right-handed friend of mine was forced, as a result of spinal damage, to make use of his left hand. He always used to say "I was was right-handed, but now I am ambisinistral... equally useless with both hands"

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

#69

Post by GloomyBoots »

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’m ambidextrous as well, but always was I guess. Most things feel more natural to do with one hand or the other, and I just do that. I never felt like ambidextrous was accurate, so I say weird-handed.

The reason I write right-handed is that my friend kept “correcting” me when we were learning. I still hold the pencil like a lefty, though, which gets funny looks.

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

#70

Post by bee_rider »

cynicalpeace wrote: post #46

"Left" probably comes from the proto-indo-european root "laiwos", which means to bend or curve. "Right" probably comes from "hregtos", which means straight and correct. Makes sense, since most people don't write well with their left hand. English retains this connotation strongly since "right" also literally means "correct" or "straight" (both of which come from the same root too) Then you add in the political connot…

Right wing is just the side of the room some guys sat on during some arguments in the French Revolution, or something like that, right?

I always assumed “rights” as in human rights were derived from writ, as in a type of written document issued by a court (which could be used to clarify somebody’s rights). I guess write and right could be related though.

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