I am left handed. Not in the, “I can’t do anything with my right hand,” type of way – as I have never resorted to buying left handed scissors, secateurs or anything like that.
As a left hander, living in a right handed world I have tended to become more ambidexterous about various tools and tasks that life requires of me.
I was taught to knit, for example by my paternal grandmother and as a result I have always knitted in a right handed way. I was quite fascinated to watch a German nurse, with whom I once worked a few night shifts, as she worked ‘backwards’ moving the stitches from the right hand needle to the left. I did try, but once the originally learnt method is ingrained as ‘automatic’ changing is quite difficult. I decided to stick with my right handed way, which gave fairly professional results, rather than change to becoming an amateur again!
This left hander adapting to living in a right handed world extends to the use of a mouse. It was only after I had been using a mouse for several years that this thought occurred to me. What provision is there for left handed mouse users? Well of course there is a solution and a pretty straightforward one I believe, but by then I had become pretty proficient at right handed use and there was little point in trying to change. What I find interesting though is how differently one thinks when hand writing rather than typing and clicking.
If writing has become almost ‘automatic’ through constant use the actual process of putting pen to paper becomes the almost automatic transfer of idea to paper, but only via the dominant hand. When typing this process is via two hands. Does that make a difference? And what of children nowadays who do not have the same opportunity as we did to practice handwriting unitl it reaches that automatic level? Does this mean we will soon have a generation who do not find the joy in putting pen to paper and allowing their ideas to flow, but who can only fluently express their thoughts through a keyboard?And what is the next step in this process? Automated voice to page software isn’t yet very effective in my experience, but it probably soon will be.
The reason for this thought process is a recent episode with my son who has poor handwriting – not for want of trying, but because of dyspraxia. Because of this he has been given assessments and has permission to take all longer exams on a word processor (no spell-check or anything like that) and as we taught him to properly touch type from the age of 7-8 he is a skilled typist. He is much more fluent as a typer than a handwriter. Recently he took scholarship exams and was not offered a word processor, did not ask as he didn’t want to make a fuss. Didn’t want me to makea fuss. (The results are due today.) What do you think about left versus right, hand writing versus typing and how it effects what and how you write?
Boadicea's Chariot 
Not precisely on topic Pseu, but a few years ago I (a right-hander since birth) developed an RSI in my right thumb (or perhaps it was rheumatism or something), so I had no alternative but to use my mouse with my left hand. Although very clumsy at first, I rapidly became proficient and am now completely left-moused, by preference.
I have not noticeably become less voluble … ? 😀
Interesting. I do think I could easily adapt to writing with my right hand if needs be. But some folk have a very strong dominance, and really struggle.
You sound just like my daughter, Nym: she is left handed but can use either. I taught her to knit and she seemed happy to do it right-handedly. Her writing is quite “normal”, although she writes with her left hand, she used to draw or paint with her right hand. The only time I noticed her obvious left-handedness was when she used to fill in cheque stubs and this looked very awkward.
When she was given the usual checks at the clinic as a small child she used to kick a ball with both her left and right feet quite randomly.
She uses a knife and fork the “right” way round but she does not always reliable with place setting. I occasionally had to switch them round when she was helping.
My Mother was a left hander, but at school in those far off days, she was forced to write with her right hand – her left hand was tied behind her back, very cruel in estimation. So, apart from writing, she did everything else with her left hand, cutting bread etc. She had left handed scissors too, a bugger to use if you are right handed. My Father maintained she ruined ordinary scissors because of her different grip, spoiling the cutting edge.
I have two friends who are both left handers, both use the mouse with their right hands. You can get a left handed mouse I think.
Sorry lots of typos!
A friend of mine cut the nerves in his right wrist and, despite working really hard to get back the use of his right hand, he couldn’t. He trained himself to be left handed – writing took him longer than anything else.
On the very rare occasion that I use Bearsy’s computer, I have to move the mouse to the right – there’s no way that I can work it otherwise.
Handwriting versus typing? I was always in trouble at school for my bad handwriting. I sometimes have trouble reading what I’ve written, unless I use a pencil – so I stick with a keyboard.
I used to be good at writing with my left hand, Boadicea. I had to be, I used to “sprain” my right wrist to get out of hockey at school!
Dreadful ‘game’ Araminta! I didn’t go near the hockey pitch (or the tennis and netball courts, or the gym come to that!) after I was 13. I was so good at all those sports that no one missed me until it came to writing the end of year reports!
Morning all. Nope, its just afternoon. Afternoon all.
The ambidexterity issue is an interesting one. I had a maths teacher who used to advise that whichever hand you use you should also use the other in an activity to keep both sides of the brain active. In writing maths answers, for example, use the other hand to hold the paper still. With strong one hand dominant people you’ll see they don’t generally do this, which comes naturally to any.
So in that respect typing is an excellent ‘crossover skill’.
I used to play squash with a guy who was ambidextrous. He was bloody hard to beat.
There was a girl at school who could draw and paint equally well with both hands –
simultaneously.
I had to use my left hand last year when I had my op on my right hand. At some things I was and continued to be v clumsy. My writing gradually improved but was v slow. I discovered that I could use some scissors with my left hand but not others. It was a learning curve.
My father had a stroke in his thirties that left his right hand v weak. He taught himself to type and to write with his left hand. In those unenlightened days it was something he had to conceal from his employers. He had been an horologist but moved into electronics. He could no longer do fine work with watches, but continued to repair clocks until shortly before he died.
My three year old son seems to be using both hands to draw/paint/eat etc, although I don’t know how early on ambidexterity can be established. He’s also bilingual and very naughty, so much so that he was almost kicked out of pre school nursery last week, but that’s another story…
Interesting though, Psue, what you say about typing versus handwriting. The novelist Fay Weldon once said that the writing process would always initially involve the physical act of putting pen to paper… But I’ve noticed that it ain’t necessarily so for some people; typing is second nature to the kids I teach.
Veering slightly off topic, but they still teach a very traditional form of handwriting in French schools which everyone has to learn, whether left handed or right handed. I find their hand writing very beautiful, but almost indecipherable at times.
Interesting, Pseu. I’m a confirmed right-hander. Hopeless with the left but sometimes I make myself use it as it’s supposed to exercise the brain! Hah!!
The hand-writing re typing thing fascinates me too. I’m so familiar with typing – and it goes straight from brain to keyboard as people might have guessed – that on the occasions when I have to hand-write letters, I find I really have to think about it. On the other hand, for creative stuff, sometimes I get a different take when I hand-write purely because it’s slower and I’m thinking about the phrasing and expressions more. More quality, I suppose. So I often scribble and transcribe afterwards.
Having said that, I love the immediacy of typed text. It’s exhilarating, having a really fast to-and-fro text chat.
I used to bat left handed at school although right handed in all else including table tennis. Had forgotten this until a few years ago when I bought some golf clubs (Mrs J had this idea about us learning to play golf together..that’s another story). Anyway in the golf shop realised that I needed left handed clubs. Does this mean my brain is incorrectly wired…a lot of folk think so, but I ignore them.
Interesting Ara, when I did a drawing class a couple of Summers ago I had to to the left hand / right hand drawing (the left draws the right and then change over. The quality of he drawing was rougher with my right hand – less fine motor control, but surprisingly as ggod as the left in other respects.
I eat the ‘right’ way as my mother always felt I may find that easier as an adult, not having to change the cutlery around… but I always have a spoon in my left hand.
Valzone, my mother and her twin had the left versus right battle at school. My aunt still blames this for her bad handwriting
.Isobel, that’s very interesting about your father. Great fine motor skills needed with clocks and watches. So sad to have a stroke so young.
Claire I think I’m right in saying hand dominance isn’t always decided until about three. The most important thing we can do while they are making up their minds is to help them to do ‘crossover skills,’ and be physically active, Left hand to right knee, pat the head and rub the tummy, skipping, catching and throwing with different hands, swimming. Rinding a bike ect.
Janh, I usually write a poem long hand and rewrite many times, then put on the computer and even as I’m copying it out new things will occur to me that I hadn’t found in my handwriting of it.
no Jazz, not incorrectly wired, but probably differently wired, which can be a positive thing.
Different skills for different hands. My mother always accused me of un-stirring the sauce f I took over from her in cooking. When I iron I use both hands swapping freely between the two.
Muriel Spark always wrote her novels in pencil in exercise books. Don’t know which hand.
Claire, from
http://ezinearticles.com/?Hand-Dominance—Will-She-Be-a-Lefty-or-Righty?&id=934650
“Consistent hand dominance starts to develop somewhere between two and three years of age. This development is usually fully completed by age 6 years. As the brain matures and its functions begin to differentiate, you will notice that hand dominance begins to emerge in your child. Hand preference that appears before the age of 18 months may signal impaired neurological control of the other hand and a health care provider should be consulted. Since hand preference is determined by your child’s brain development, “forcing” your child to use the non-dominant hand more often may me futile.
Hand dominance is determined largely by genetics. Studies show that only 2% of children of right-handed parents are left-handed. On the other hand, 42% of children with left-handed parents are left-handed.
In the history of many nations, being left handed was associated with social stigma. In many languages, including English, the word “right” also means “correct” or “proper.” On the other hand, the Latin word “sinistra,” from which the English word sinister was derived, meant “left,” “malicious,” or “sinister.” Being a righty or a lefty has nothing to do with being a good person. However, being ambidextrous may come in handy from time to time!”
Isobel, so did Roald Dahl
http://www.roalddahl.com/
right handedly
Whereas I have just typed directly into the box and posted on my blog.
When writing features I nearly always start by hand. It gets my brain going I think. And creative writing, poems, etc are again much more natural for me to write by hand.
I am a bit weird when it comes to left/right! I am basically right handed, and do most things with it, but I do some things left handed, like deal cards and use sandpaper. When it comes to using tools in general, I can use either hand! Like I said, I am a crazy mixed-up kid!
I deal cards left handed!
I am left handed, I used to make maps and drew graphics for a living so can work very finely and accurately with my left hand. Although I can letter in any style my natural handwriting is very loopy and Victorian in style always in fine black on cream paper. To protect my left hand all gross motor movements are done with my right hand, sports, crafts, gardening. etc. I never allow IVs in my left hand!
I note younger people are far better direct typing on screen, the older writing it first for creativity, I suspect it was how you were first taught.
As for cross over activities nothing is better than piano playing. An old neurosurgeon friend of mine used to play the piano an hour a day to keep flexibility and synapses open to both hands whilst the pursuit protected his hands from harm which could have endangered his living.
Compute mice, easy in these days of cordless stuff, spousal unit is not allowed to have cords all over the place, a bloody nightmare to clean the place, everything was rendered wireless enabled when we moved up here, the price exacted for having so damned many of his contraptions.
Does your son have his own laptop? If not he should, why did the school not ensure he was adequately provided?
Looks like someone has been falling down on the job!
Yes Pseu you’ve reminded me, poetry doesn’t come easily to me unless I’m in the mood but it’s pretty well impossible on the screen compared to by hand.
Good point about piano-playing Christina. I do miss that.
Christina
Re Mice:
Mrs J uses a Bamboo Tablet
http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/bamboo_touch.php
Christina, yes he has is own lap-top, which we provide, but for exams he has to have a school one disabled from anything that could help him. They should have done this for his exam for scholarship, but didn’t. I only found out after.
Anyway today we heard he has the scholarship 🙂 so we’re going to eat out to celebrate
Can anyone write with their toes. I’m just going to try and see if rightt or left is better.
pseu, good! Bloody schools.
Jazz, looks a whiz gizmo, Unfortunately I’m generally better off with a clay tablet and sharpened reed! Its a wonder I ever got this far with the bloody contraptions!
I just pretend it is a glorified typewriter and when it doesn’t work scream for spousal unit! Can’t be arsed with the acronyms let alone the guts of the thing!
Oh well done Nym’s son!
Toe writing.
Left just about legible. Right, no control! Unreadable.
Thank you Ara and CO! WE’RE CHUFFED. 🙂
Hi, pseu
That’s you, CO and me then. Quality rather than quantity, in my opinion.
Not been a disadvantage for me in any sport that I have ever played. Never played polo, of course, which is, apparently, the only completely right-handed sport in the world – even in hockey, you can reverse stick in open play.
Positive advantage, many times. As you will surely know, when you are playing a ‘rightie’ they tend to take a while to spot that you are of the opposite persuasion. We spot other ‘lefties’ straight away. There is a famous test where they reverse the image of a Rembrandt painting of a group of men drinking and ask what is strange about the picture. Us gauchies get it straight away but the dexter mob take a while.
I use a right-handed mouse but with my left hand. No problem. Happy with right-handed keyboards as well but never use the numeric pad.
By the time I learned to write, cack-handers were no longer forced to switch paws. But it was a close run thing. I was off school for a month with mumps, followed by measles – my mum was a firm believer in getting that sort of thing over as soon as possible and had sought out infections thereof to which I could be exposed.
When I came back, the rest of the class were well ahead on the literacy front and we had a supply teacher who had retired about five years earlier and still clung to the old ways. She saw me struggling southpawedly with the pencil and suggested that I should try it with my other hand, ‘like everybody else’. Ever obliging, I switched over.
My mother was a teacher in the school. She was walking down the corridor and looked in on me as she was passing on a free period. She came into the class room and had a very intense and whispered conversation with Miss. Miss then came up to me and told me to go back to using my left hand.
So, determinedly right-brained and lucky that my mum was there to stop me becoming an enforced rightie.
In re said right-brainedness, she’s turning clockwise for me.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/right-brain-v-left-brain/story-e6frf7jo-1111114603615
John Mackie
Re the Heraldsun link.
I seem to be able make the dancer rotate in either direction by closing each eye in turn. Once she’s changed the direction of rotation I can view this with both eyes open.
Scary stuff: it is most definitely anti-clockwise for me, John. I did manage to make it pause and reverse direction, but it didn’t last more than a second.
Evenin’, Pseu – This has made me think. My Mum is “kitty paw” and I pretty sure she uses knives, scissors and other implements in her left hand, although cutlery layouts are “standard”. One thing I am certain of is that she learned to write left-handed in the days of fountain pens (sorry, Mum!) and can write like a right-hander without smudging the ink or with that 270 degree hook of the arm and wrist that you sometimes see – I think Barack Obama does it. The only difference is that Mum’s actually pushing the pen across the page rather than pulling it.
I also have a young relative who plays county-standard cricket by preference right-handed and county standard golf left-handed. His parents once told me he is actually ambidextrous and I don’t doubt that for one minute.
On the keyboard/mouse/pen thing, I have noticed that these days I only handwrite Christmas and birthday cards and the occasional cheque. My handwriting is therefore deteriorating rapidly while my typing is improving. 😦
OZ
Great blog and thread!
How interesting, John. When I first went into the link she was turning clockwise, changed direction when I glanced away, but soon changed back. On the second visit, she was still turning clockwise, but I kept my eyes on the image and she started changing direction every few seconds. I must try it again!
Maybe it’s a trick?
Dunno, Jazz, but clockwise again for me on the third try.
I’m right-handed, btw.
If you look through a gun sight, or in the absence of a gun stretch your arm out and look along your pointed index finger with both eyes at some object so that you are pointing directly at it. Then close each eye in turn. The eye that remains sighted directly at the object defines the dominant side of your brain…..I think?
Sounds good to me, Jazz … I think. I have only used a gun at a fun fair! There is also the thing about lying; which direction your eyes swivel, in recollection or deceit (I read about that in crime novels) 🙂
The twirly lady started out turning clock-wise for me, I looked away and she turned the other way! Interesting link.
But now I can’t get her to switch. 😦
Thanks John. This is weird. She was determinedly clockwise for me but if I just have her in peripheral vision, she twirls anti-clockwise.
So it seems that I’m right-brained when she has my full attention but left-brained when she doesn’t! Not sure that that says but it’s interesting controlling the change of direction.
Here’s a more detailed right/left analysis http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm
I’m 57% right brained, apparently. Creative but with “illogical and meandering thought-processes.” Uh-oh. Got me bang to rights govn’r.
Most dominant right-brain characteristic “fantasy-orientated” and most dominant left-brain characteristic “verbal”!!!! LOL Damn. I wish I was good at algebra.
51% left brained it seems. 🙂
After that it says a load of stuff I don’t think is true.
Ah Well.
My results:
Left Brain 56% Right Brain 44%
You are more left-brained than right-brained. Your left brain controls the right side of your body. In addition to being known as left-brained, you are also known as a critical thinker who uses logic and sense to collect information. You are able to retain this information through the use of numbers, words, and symbols. You usually only see parts of the “whole” picture, but this is what guides you step-by-step in a logical manner to your conclusion. Concise words, numerical and written formulas and technological systems are often forms of expression for you. Some occupations usually held by a left-brained person include a lab scientist, banker, judge, lawyer, mathematician, librarian, and skating judge.
Strange! Not really me, I don’t think anyway.
Maybe that would change on a day to day basis? Some of the questions were quite difficult to answer, as I kept thinking,
“Well that depends on circumstances.”
For example the giving directions question:
I am almost completely unable to keep a route in my head as I can not remember a route sequentially. I wouldn’t therefore be able to draw – but could show someone on an exisitng map
Have a look at this assessment instead:
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
Hello Nym: I did your first test and my results are:
“Left Brain Right Brain
53% 47%
You are more left-brained than right-brained. Your left brain controls the right side of your body. In addition to being known as left-brained, you are also known as a critical thinker who uses logic and sense to collect information. You are able to retain this information through the use of numbers, words, and symbols. You usually only see parts of the “whole” picture, but this is what guides you step-by-step in a logical manner to your conclusion. Concise words, numerical and written formulas and technological systems are often forms of expression for you. Some occupations usually held by a left-brained person include a lab scientist, banker, judge, lawyer, mathematician, librarian, and skating judge.”
Not quite sure about that!
I would expect you to be left-brained Furry One – artistic but technical aren’t you?
Hi Pseu – well I just stabbed the answers without agonising, which probably explains a lot! 🙂 I love drawing maps. A student asked me the way from Chelt bus station to the rail station the other day so I drew her a map. Far too complex to explain. Dunno if she ever got there tho!
Just did the Vark thing, Pseu and got Visual: 8
Aural: 10
Read/Write: 15
Kinesthetic: 7
I would have expected the read/write result but expected to be stronger on visual.
Left Brain Right Brain
42% 58%
You are more right-brained than left-brained. The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. In addition to being known as right-brained, you are also known as a creative thinker who uses feeling and intuition to gather information. You retain this information through the use of images and patterns. You are able to visualize the “whole” picture first, and then work backwards to put the pieces together to create the “whole” picture. Your thought process can appear quite illogical and meandering. The problem-solving techniques that you use involve free association, which is often very innovative and creative. The routes taken to arrive at your conclusions are completely opposite to what a left-brained person would be accustomed. You probably find it easy to express yourself using art, dance, or music. Some occupations usually held by a right-brained person are forest ranger, athlete, beautician, actor/actress, craftsman, and artist.
Your left brain/right brain percentage was calculated by combining the individual scores of each half’s sub-categories. They are as follows:
Your Left Brain Percentages
47% Reality-based (Your most dominant characteristic)
32% Linear
30% Logical
20% Verbal
17% Symbolic
14% Sequential (Your least dominant characteristic)
Your Right Brain Percentages
46% Concrete (Your most dominant characteristic)
45% Random
40% Fantasy-oriented
39% Intuitive
24% Holistic
19% Nonverbal (Your least dominant characteristic)
I don’t think so either. 🙂
My VARK
Visual: 2
Aural: 12
Read/Write: 11
Kinesthetic: 7
Pseu, your aural and read/write scores as almost identical.
Hi Levent – as you’ve shown your breakdown, here’s mine. Interesting to compare. I don’t know what line of work you’re in….are you in a ‘creative’ profession?
Your left brain/right brain percentage was calculated by combining the individual scores of each half’s sub-categories. They are as follows:
Your Left Brain Percentages
34% Verbal (Your most dominant characteristic)
30% Logical
27% Sequential
27% Reality-based
22% Linear
17% Symbolic (Your least dominant characteristic)
Your Right Brain Percentages
60% Fantasy-oriented (Your most dominant characteristic)
38% Nonverbal
34% Intuitive
28% Concrete
23% Random
6% Holistic (Your least dominant characteristic)
Hello Jahn,
My degree is called managerial engineering. I have dealt with various kinds of bussiness. Now in sales.
I never found myself creative, but I might be good in combining thgings. I’m very bad at 3d thinking. 🙂
Levent, I’m not sure I’m much good at 3D thinking either. 🙂 Managerial engineering sounds as though “creative thinking” might be an asset in some circumstances!
Another one to consider while testing
http://www.humorsphere.com/fun/8787/colortest.swf