August 13 -- International Lefthanders' Day
12Today is International Lefthanders’ Day. dedicated to about ten percent of the world’s population. Famous lefthanders have ranged from Mahatma Gandhi to Jack the Ripper. Guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan actually learned to play guitar left-handed so he could play like his idol, Jimi Hendrix.
From school desks to computer mice, the world is right-handed. So lefthanders, to make your day easier, a coupon is attached entitling you to a personal servant for the day. Of course, you’ll probably have to cut it out with right-handed scissors. (No coupon attached? Looks like someone already got it. Sorry.)
If you are right-handed, you can observe International Lefthanders’ Day by trying to do everything left-handed. Report your experiences here if you like. I have been doing that and it has slowed down my day so badly that it’s the reason I am so late in posting this holiday. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
If you are left-handed, share some of your daily experiences, pet peeves, etc.
And remember, lefties have rights!
- 13 comments, 15 replies
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There’s something not right about this.
/image leftorium
@ELUNO What? Flanders, too? lol.
@mike808 He’s the original leftie!
In another lifetime I managed a sporting goods store. We used to torment the new hires by asking them to go grab a left handed field hockey stick.
(There was no such thing.)
Reminds me. I need to get that left-handed banana slicer.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2AAGWK4UVF1W0
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0047E0EII
I am extremely right handed - I have limited dexterity with my left hand. However, I did teach myself to wipe my butt left handed Bedouin-style. You never know when you won’t have access to toilet paper and/or water. TMI, I know, but there it is.
@macromeh In grad school I was friends with an International student from India. He married an Indian girl and started wearing a wedding ring on his left hand.
Soon after I noticed he had switched it to his right hand. I asked him about it and he told me that his wife didn’t like seeing it on his left hand.
@Limewater @macromeh
Wedding ring on the left hand isn’t universal, even in Christian cultures.
@macromeh This sent me down a google rabbit hole that I’m not proud of.
@macromeh @PocketBrain Sure, but I don’t think people typically pick one hand intentionally and then switch to the other intentionally, barring some kind of accident or religious conversion or something. And in this case the reason tied very closely to @macromeh’s original post.
I’m primarily right-handed but left-legged/-footed.
I write and do most stuff right-handed but sometimes/often run the touchscreens on the register and lotto machine with my left hand. (The scanner is on the right side of the register so I’ve adapted to be able to work more quickly.) I also switched between hands briefly sometimes when signing in the ASL class I took in college (not for fingerspelling though; that’s strictly right-handed for me). Sport-wise, I’m right-handed.
As far as leggedness goes, in track (only participated 1 year in JH) I had to push off with my left leg forward when starting from blocks. I also had to lead with my left leg when running hurdles. I couldn’t alternate but my stride length would have worked better for alternating. I also kick primarily with my left foot.
You know who else is left-handed?
Giggity, Giggity!
Anyone know why this particular date is ILD? Or is it one of those chosen by some dumb holiday calendar/book because this date was otherwise empty?
@Fe2_O3 It was created by Dean R. Campbell, founder of Lefthanders International, Inc.
Anybody know where I can find a left handed measuring cup?
@rtjhnstn Amazon. And Lefty’s Left Handed Store.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00LZY2CUQ
https://www.leftyslefthanded.com/Lefty_s_Measuring_Cup_p/904326.htm
I am still surprised by the handedness convention on stringed instruments.
It seems to me that generally on a “right-handed” guitar or violin or cello, that there are more fine-motor control demands on the left hand on the fret board or fingerboard, than on the right hand, which is picking or bowing. But maybe that is due to the type of music I am interested in.
I’m also surprised that the convention in video games of the joystick or d-pad being on the left and the buttons being on the right eventually won. It wasn’t always like this, but it became the standard very early, even when consoles didn’t have more than two buttons.
I was pretty old before it was pointed out to me, but if you’re left handed your pen or pencil is always upside-down, but it’s right-side up if you’re right-handed. I had vaguely noticed this before, but hadn’t really appreciated it until I was told.
@Limewater The Nintendo Switch did away with this by having the joycons have buttons instead of an actual d-pad
@ELUNO But if you’re holding a single joycon, it’s still expected that you are holding it with the thumbstick on the left and buttons on the right, correct?
@Limewater You are correct
@ELUNO @Limewater hm, this is interesting. I didn’t put too much thought into it until now. To me on the Xbox controller it makes sense. Move the body with the left joystick, move the head with the right joystick and press buttons on the right. Easier to switch between the buttons and stick with my right hand, I guess.
Even on old arcade machines, joystick left, buttons right. I hit buttons way faster with my right.
@ELUNO @RiotDemon Yeah, it kind of makes more sense now that the number of actions you might perform in a game has grown. But on the earlier games you’d only have one or two buttons.
But it definitely wasn’t the standard at the beginning. The standard Atari VCS joystick had the button on the left. Tempest had the fire button on the left. I believe Crystal Castles had the jump button on the left…
Right-handed, left-eye dominant. I’m technically cross-dominant handed because of this. I do a lot of things left-handed.
My kid is left handed for sports, grabbing things, was right handed at school (although I think that may have been because she saw everyone using their right hand - she came to me illiterate and had never seen paper, pencils, crayons, etc. nor electricity, TV, radios… - and so copied them), either hand with chalk on the pavement.
I broke my right arm when I was in highschool. After 8 weeks I was still terrible at writing left handed. I remember having to take a quiz and I was freaking out because I was running out of time since I wrote so damn slow.
I broke my right wrist earlier this year and I’m still crappy at being ambidextrous.
@RiotDemon There’s always alternate methods to try
@ELUNO I sometimes pick up things with my toes, but that’s about it.