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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)

#71

Post by bee_rider »

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…

Huh, weird.

I tend to default to right foot forward for most things. Sport fencing did it, maybe…

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

#72

Post by readthenotes1 »

Miraltar wrote: post #16
throwaway290 wrote: post #12

Could it just be that for centuries leading up to now left handedness was considered "bad" to "very bad" (still many languages have the connotation) and before that we have no real data about how common it was?

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"

More than teeth scratches point to this

https://www.sapiens.org/biology/handedness-neanderthals/

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

#73

Post by unzadunza »

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'm a lefty and I played right handed guitar growing up. I never got very good at strumming and picking. Five years ago I switched to left-handed guitars and I think I'm much better than I ever was as a righty. Picking the strings well, to me, is the most difficult part of playing a guitar.

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

#74

Post by from-nibly »

technothrasher wrote: post #29
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).

Dang I'm right handed but left eyed so I need to hold guns left handed. How did you switch your eyedness for guns?

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

#75

Post by woleium »

Delphiza wrote: post #68
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"

curiously, the etymology of sinister is from the latin for left (with dex for right)

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

#76

Post by cynicalpeace »

bee_rider wrote: post #70
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.

No, I don't believe "rights" come from "writ". It comes from "right" meaning correct and straight, since "right" also had a legal connotation (think "rule" which also comes from the same PIE root).

You see this clearly in other IE languages like Spanish where "a la derecha" means to the right, "derecho" means straight (which can be confusing), and "derechos" means "rights" in the legal sense.

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

#77

Post by grecy »

MontgomeryPi2 wrote: post #33
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…

An easier snowboard test is to tell someone to turn around and tell them you are going to give them a push. Give them a shove to the upper back and see which foot they put forward first to brace.

That is an old myth that doesn't work very well.

Source: I've been a level 3 snowboard instructor in Canada for 10+ years. There are only 4 levels.

It also doesn't work if you're with a group of students because it won't be a surprise after everyone sees you do it to the first student. If you have a "slide on snow" competition but don't say why, you can watch everyone and what foot is forward before you tell them what is going on.

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

#78

Post by depressedpanda »

from-nibly wrote: post #74
technothrasher wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Dang I'm right handed but left eyed so I need to hold guns left handed. How did you switch your eyedness for guns?

When I was in the army I switched to holding my assault rifle right handed because I was near sighted on my left eye. (Not getting the casings ejected onto my right arm when they later gave me an LMG was an added bonus, man that gun was poorly designed)

It took maybe a week to get used to the switch but wasn't that big of a problem even though I'm both left handed and left eyed.

So you just.. do it, I guess?

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

#79

Post by random42_ »

k1kingy wrote: post #45
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…

Yeah my body is all kinds of confused also: - Write with my left - Cricket/golf right - Tennis/squash left - Bowl/throw left - Mouse right - Drink left - Eat right (fork in left hand, knife in right) - Cut left (but usually don't bother because scissors never work) - I also kick well off both feet (although favor the left foot slightly) I'm definitely more left dominant but can usually do most things well enough with…

I thought I was the only one like that, except my dominant leg for kicking is the right one, and I eat with fork on right hand, knife on left; and I use scissors with my right hand. I also play the guitar as a right-handed person.

When I tell people these things, I can see total confusion on their faces. Quite funny.

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

#80

Post by [deleted] »

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.

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