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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Treetotal on Monday 13 August 18 22:42 BST (UK)
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I always appreciated this day that is dedicated to those of us who are Left Handers 8) Our son is the only right Hander in our family of four, but he is left footed. We have five Grandchildren and only one of them is left handed. My Grandfather and two Uncles were also left handed. Cack Handed and Golly Handed were the terms used for Left Handers in the North East and I wondered if anyone has an alternative names for other areas.
So to all fellow Lefties, I hope you have had a nice day ;)
I know that Gadget is a Left Hander but wondered how many more of us there are on here.
Carol
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Thank you, and I hope you, too, had a good "Coddy-handed" Day!
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Oh I like that one BB ;D I've never heard that one before!
Carol
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Not sure where it came from, but I'm one! :)
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No left handers in my family, but I noticed when I was at grammar school many years ago that we had 7 left handers in the class, nearly 25%. This was the A stream (she said modestly) so it must be a sign of intelligence. ;D
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All four of my grandparents were born in 19th century in New South Wales and made to write with pen in right hand but all other tasks ... they did as South Paws ... including cutlery set at dinner table ...
JM
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No left handers in my family, but I noticed when I was at grammar school many years ago that we had 7 left handers in the class, nearly 25%. This was the A stream (she said modestly) so it must be a sign of intelligence. ;D
I Was always lead to believe that Left Handers were creative and artistic and that rings true for myself and my Daughter....intelligent ::)...not sure about that ;D
Carol
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No left handers in my family, but I noticed when I was at grammar school many years ago that we had 7 left handers in the class, nearly 25%. This was the A stream (she said modestly) so it must be a sign of intelligence. ;D
I Was always lead to believe that Left Handers were creative and artistic and that rings true for myself and my Daughter....intelligent ::)...not sure about that ;D
Carol
I've got 4 degrees* if that counts (she says modestly) ;D ;D ;D
* one's in Art
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Both my parents were 'Molly dukes'. I am right sided, but anything I learnt by copying them I did left-handed. Took mum a while to work out why I looked clumsy when ironing. Try other hand she said. Now I can use both hands in most activities, just swap when arm becomes tired. I am sure most natural left handers are the same.
They were born in Victoria and South Australia in the 1910's and 1920' and made to write with their right hand too majm.
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When I was at art college there were seven lefties, including me, in our set of 14, a higher proportion that you'd normally expect.
I think the artistic lefty idea came from the theory that left-handers were right-brain dominant, and the right side of the brain deals with creative thinking - don't know if this is good science or waffle though!
:) Barbara
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I think NSW stopped caning children to make then write right handed in around 1960s. I learnt to knit by sitting facing one of my Grans.... otherwise I too would have been clumsy with the needles.
.... I now remember why my father and his siblings (17 of them - most made it through to adulthood) would refer to his mum as Molly .... :D :D :D
Both my parents were 'Molly dukes'. I am right sided, but anything I learnt by copying them I did left-handed. Took mum a while to work out why I looked clumsy when ironing. Try other hand she said. Now I can use both hands in most activities, just swap when arm becomes tired. I am sure most natural left handers are the same.
They were born in Victoria and South Australia in the 1910's and 1920' and made to write with their right hand too majm.
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When I was at primary school in the 1950's - left handed children were still being made to write with their right hands! I can recall some of the kids in my class having their left hands tied behind their backs during writing, when using bats at sports time, and at art and drawing lessons. Even eating their lunch. Shocking!!
One girl even had a really bad fall when she slipped over playing tennis using her left hand, while her right hand was tied behind her back! She hit her head on the ground was knocked out, and to be taken off in an ambulance with a severe concussion! So things were pretty tough for lefties!
After that, our school allowed left handed people to use their left hands, I don't know about other schools though. I read somewhere that the Catholic Schools were even stronger with kids not using their left hands!
Interesting read here -
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11620969
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One thing about being left handed is you quickly learn to keep your elbow tucked into your side when eating at the dining table ;D
My late father was a cack hander and had to write with his right hand - he wrote beautifully with both hands - but I've never been forced to use my right hand and I started school in the 1940s. I knit as though I were a right hander and use standard scissors with my right hand. I was an average art student at school, physics being my favourite subject.
I have no idea whether my father's seven siblings were left or right handed. My children are right handed and one is an artist. Only one of my nephews (a chemistry teacher) and one grandson is left handed.
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There were quite a few left handers amongst my paternal cousins.
I started school sometime in 1949 - when I was 4 - and no one forced me to use my right hand until I was about 7. Then the needlework teacher started rapping me over the knuckles. Mum soon sorted it. She remembered that that teacher, who had attended the same school as her, had been originally left handed and forced to use her right hand.
I'm sure I read somewhere that the left/right brain theory had been disproved but I can't remember where I read it.
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Luckily I was never made to use my right hand, at school or elsewhere. Crafts, I sometimes have trouble with - knitting, that's OK, but when I tried crochet I had problems, and a very kind person turned round all the patterns for basket-weaving for me when I tried that. I use a knife and fork "normally" but turn spoon and fork round, and I carve left-handed. Scissors in the left hand, so I damage most of the pairs that I have. I did have a spell of having to use my right hand, following a fall (doing the Twist at a Cycling Club dinner) when I broke my left wrist. :o
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Teetotal wondered how many left-handers were on here. Well you can add me to that list! And as I was brought up in the N.East I was often called a cack-hander!
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Something here about the l/r brain:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/16/left-right-brain-distinction-myth
and
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/left-brained-v-right-brained-people-is-a-total-myt.html
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I was the only left hander out of 11 children.
Although I write with my left hand a do a lot of things with my right.
I make cards (using both hands), cross-stitch, crochet, knit, all left handed.
I remember using a mirror to learn how to crochet the right way lol.
I remember lots of rapping with a ruler too.
Sandy
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I'm a proud one too!
No-one forced me to use my right hand for anything, thank goodness, but I wish my parents had made me use a knife and fork the right way around.
One thing I am very thankful for is that our head teacher made sure left-handers weren't given left-handed nibs for fountain pens. Excellent advice, as a nib is straight to begin with and is 'moulded' by the writer. (You need a left-hand nib only if it's italic).
Luckily my mum taught me to knit right-handed, but I sew with my left hand.
For some reason, I hold a golf club or cricket bat the right-handed way.
Some things seem better for a left-hander, e.g. gear stick in a right-hand drive car; manual sewing machines. You are using your dominant hand to do the more difficult task.
Incidentally, I always think left-handers look awkward even though I am one, because we are all used to watching the majority doing things right-handed.
Melbell
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My 6 year old granddaughter was fascinated watching me knitting & kept asking me (right-handed) to teach her (left-hander).
So I practised knitting left-handed so she could sit next to me & copy :) . Needless to say she knits left-handed a lot quicker than me now ;D
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A bit late to the party, but another leftie here (mostly).
My experience is similar to what others have said - if it's a one-handed or one-footed thing like writing, throwing or kicking etc, I'll do it with the left hand (or foot); if it's two-handed, like using a cricket bat, I'll do it right-handed. (Though some of the two-handed things I can do reasonably well the other way too.)
I've sometimes found myself at a bit of an advantage on the computer, as I use a standard RH mouse. This means I can mouse away with my right hand and jot things down with my left, all at the same time, whereas the inferior majority have to keep switching from one to the other.
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When I was younger, I found it useful when playing table tennis as the opponent often got caught out and I would win, it was the same when playing rounders ;D
Carol
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Some things seem better for a left-hander, e.g. gear stick in a right-hand drive car; manual sewing machines. You are using your dominant hand to do the more difficult task.
The tasks involved in driving ought to be shared out between the two sides. Unfortunately since the mid 1970s, many cars keep things organised for left-hand-drive even when the steering wheel is on the right. So operating indicators and gears, often needed pretty much simultaneously, are both on the left on a RHD car.
My vintage car has everything on the right. The first owner paid £10 extra to have the gear lever on the right rather than cluttering up the centre. It takes quite a bit of effort to operate the controls in a safe way, so it's quite a good thing that "sedate" is the appropriate driving style.
I passed my test in the days when hand signals were still a requirement. I've forgotten how I was taught to deal with things!
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Generally speaking people are one side dominant,so right handed, right eye
dominant and right foot too.
However some are cross lateral,might be right handed but kick with left foot.
And vice versa.
My O.H seemed to be left handed when he started school aged four ,
The teacher punished him and forced him to use his right hand and consequently he developed a severe stammer.
His Mum went into school and “dealt with “ the teacher.
He ended up left handed but right foot was dominant and he played oodles of amateur football, playing when he was in the army doing National Service.
However I think he would have been better left alone as he was so awkward with things like DIY,mixing stuff,stirring,it was obvious he would have been right handed when he matured a little and used his by then preferred hand.
Both the teacher and his Mum were wrong, children,especially as young as four have often not found their preference and left alone will do.
His Mum did not punish him of course but she thought ,as most people would he should use his left hand if he wanted. He said he almost felt obliged to use it as she had “dealt with” the teacher in no uncertain terms.
His handwriting ,left handed ,was beautiful,he was an accountant and in those days all ledgers etc were in copperplate.He ruined good fountain pens by the score and kept the pen hospital very busy.
My eldest son is cack handed and my granddaughter too ,but she iis not my
eldest son’s child, she is my daughter’s.
Viktoria.
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My father was left handed, he automatically also swapped his cutlery round when he sat down for a meal at a restaurant.
I thought I was right handed until I damaged my right wrist, and couldn't use it for a few weeks in my teens... then I discovered that not only could I write with my left, but also draw, and paint, and when pushed for time, I've been known to paint with both hands at the same time, on large scale work! I use either hand at need, often swapping from one to the other during a task.
There's just one drawback: I always get "left" and "right" mixed up - did my driving test on "Your side" and "My side", once the examiner realised ... and somehow still passed first time!
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Interesting Victoria...when I was in the Infants School and stayed school dinners for a time, the teacher sat at the head of the table. Noticing that I was left handed, she sat me next to her and insisted that I "Use my knife and fork in the correct manner" despite me explaining that I was left handed. When I told my Mum about this, she turned up in the dining room one lunch time and approached said teacher and swapped her cutlery round telling her to "Try it this way" to which she replied that "It was foreign to her and she couldn't possibly use her cutlery that way" My Mum told her that was how it felt for me. I was never bothered by her again.
Carol
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Quote - "I've sometimes found myself at a bit of an advantage on the computer, as I use a standard RH mouse. This means I can mouse away with my right hand and jot things down with my left, all at the same time, whereas the inferior majority have to keep switching from one to the other."
Yes, this is a distinct advantage. I used to wonder how people coped the 'right' way around. I had my office phone on the left and the computer mouse on the right; that was good too.
Melbell
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Interesting Victoria...when I was in the Infants School and stayed school dinners for a time, the teacher sat at the head of the table. Noticing that I was left handed, she sat me next to her and insisted that I "Use my knife and fork in the correct manner" despite me explaining that I was left handed. When I told my Mum about this, she turned up in the dining room one lunch time and approached said teacher and swapped her cutlery round telling her to "Try it this way" to which she replied that "It was foreign to her and she couldn't possibly use her cutlery that way" My Mum told her that was how it felt for me. I was never bothered by her again.
Carol
Well done your Mum!
People offer toys and food to babies and young children via their right hand,
but it is best to let the baby decide, certainly for a time they seem to be left handed but will make their choice as they get a bit older.
It must be very confusing for young children.
During one course I was on it was said to make a child change hands was somewhat similar to us trying to do something in a mirror,it
is all back to front and very confusing.
It is a right handed world mostly but left handed manage perfectly well,better than being forced to use their non dominant hand.
People thought they were doing it for the best but bed wetting, stammering and nail biting were frequent problems.
I do feel more comfy in certain circumstances using my left hand,usually only gross motor tasks.
Viktoria.
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You can count me too! One of eight siblings, two of which are left handers.
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I am left handed and so is my youngest sister, two out of six. My father tried to make me right handed when I was little because he was Dutch, but my mother was fine, although all her English family were right-handed. Dad's older brother and sister were both left-handed and forced to be right-handed. This was fine for the brother who wrote beautifully, painted etc but was bad for the sister. She always wrote to us in capitals because she said her writing was so awful.
I went to a Catholic school but the nuns never tried to change me, although a friend of the same age at another school was forced to be right-handed.
I can write right-handed, more slowly but rather more neatly! My friend broke her wrist aged 80 and I said "Just write with your other hand" and she looked at me as though I came from Mars. I think it's an advantage to be left-handed, though I found learning to read an analogue clock very hard as a child. It went round the wrong way.
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Another proud left-handed here!
Nice to be in such good company!
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I'm just curious.
Who else can read and write upside down words in "proper" handwriting, also read and do mirror writing with both hands?
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I have never tried mirror writing, but I used to impress my friends at school with being able to read upside down.. It still comes in useful sometimes these days.D
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"Just write with your other hand"
I am severely right-handed [and not artistic] however I once had to use my left hand to produce a drawing of my right hand holding an archaeological tool to show how the thing was used. I found that it was possible with extreme concentration. Normally, though, I can't bring that kind of concentration to bear so I am unable to even brush my teeth with the left hand.
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I've always found reading upside down very easy - and also reading type set before printing, a great advantage in my College days, as it meant I made fewer errors typesetting manually!
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Another leftie here!
Can write right to left / mirror, but not with right-hand.
[ Possibly due to not having a full hand of fingers :) ]
Use a mouse with right, and transcribe with left is very useful, as prev mentioned.
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Another left hander here!
Well, sort of. I write with my left hand, but do just about everything else with my right. A few things I can do with either.
My son is strongly left handed, does everythnig with left, and left footed too. Doesnt change cutlery around though. Exactly the same as my husband.
My daughter is right handed, does absolutely everything right handed - except she is the only one in the family who does change her cutlery around!!!
I have always thought there is far too much made of whether someone is right or left handed. After all, people are (more or less!) symmetrical to look at, its not as if hands are positioned centrally and so using one strangely out to the side on the left would be "awkward". It is no more or less awkward than using one positoned out to the right, for most things.
Just a few things specifically designed for right handers may be awkward. I remember when my son was quite a small baby (I know people say that no preference is shown for one hand or the other till later on, but I disagree) he had a toy when you had to press down a lever and a door opened and an animal popped out, only it was designed with the door to the left of the lever, so when he did it, always using his left hand, the door would never open properly as his hand was in the way when holding the lever! I always intended to write to Fisher Price, but never got round it!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-1987-FISHER-PRICE-FARM-BARN-ANIMAL-SOUND-ACTIVITY-CENTRE-TOY-1005-/132729177158
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I am right handed, but left eyed, also hold a phone in the left hand, which is useful if you write with the other one! My mother told me that when she was in the Waaf, she had a tendency, when marching, to lead off with the wrong foot. Like a lot of things in human behaviour, it seems to be a continuum, from very right handed to very left, with all sorts of oddities in between.
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I am right handed but hold a knife and fork as a leftie and always have done ever since my parents first put them into my hands. I just can't use them as a right hander as it doesn't feel right.
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I am right handed but hold a knife and fork as a leftie and always have done ever since my parents first put them into my hands. I just can't use them as a right hander as it doesn't feel right.
Our No.1 grandson is naturally right-handed, but eats left-handed, whereas his cousin, (eight months younger), is the exact opposite.
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I write with my right hand generally, but had to do the 11 plus writing with my left hand because I'd broken my right arm. That showed that I could actually do most things with my left and I still - at an advanced age - try to swap hands about whenever possible.
My daughter is left-handed, my brother is left-handed, and my uncle (my mother's brother) was also left-handed, as was my father-in-law. My father (who was not left-handed) came from Middlesbrough and referred to left-handers as cuddy wifters. Never heard that expression before or since.
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Add me to the list of lefties.
sami
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I write with my right hand generally, but had to do the 11 plus writing with my left hand because I'd broken my right arm. That showed that I could actually do most things with my left and I still - at an advanced age - try to swap hands about whenever possible.
My daughter is left-handed, my brother is left-handed, and my uncle (my mother's brother) was also left-handed, as was my father-in-law. My father (who was not left-handed) came from Middlesbrough and referred to left-handers as cuddy wifters. Never heard that expression before or since.
That's a new expression GS...never heard that one before ;D
We have lived in four houses and each one we bought immediately felt right from walking into
It...I realised why some years later, that the lounge was situated left as you entered the front of the property in each one. Not sure if this is just coincidence, but as both myself and my Husband are both lefties it felt right for both of us.
Carol
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I just googled cutty wifters! Have a go, there's lots came up! 😜😜👍
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I'm also caggy handed - In the 1950s my needlework teacher insisted that when I turned up a hem by hand, I had to turn the work upside down, so that the stitches looked the same as the rest of the girls in the class (they were all right-handed).
Winslass
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One of the great problems in life were lefties in the Army. Bolt action rifles. Not many of those left now. Second great problem was Sergeants looking at the efforts of the lefties with pained expression on the Sergeants face.
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I'm also caggy handed - In the 1950s my needlework teacher insisted that when I turned up a hem by hand, I had to turn the work upside down, so that the stitches looked the same as the rest of the girls in the class (they were all right-handed).
Winslass
That reminds me - also from the 1950s - even though my primary school teachers didn't make me use my right hand, they did force me to turn my writing book on my desk to the same angle as the rest of the class. So that when the teacher looked down the rows everything was in perfect symmetry. As a result my writing was very oddly slanted/crabbed on the page and was never corrected until I was in much higher grades. Needless to say I used to get very low marks for penmanship ::)
sami
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The term I remember being used was - "Cack handed". Doesn't sound very nice, does it? It surprises me how capable most of us are with either hand.... like Greensleeves, I found out the hard way, after a wrist injury, that I could take notes, write draw and paint with left as well as right. Very useful.
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I am left handed as are several of my family. I do loathe the expression cack handed and find it very offensive. Another out dated expression I can't bear is hare lip when referring to someone with a cleft lip.
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In the midlands we are called "Caggie handed." ;D
Although we lefties can struggle with many implements designed for a right-handed world, I always think what an advantage we have when it comes to driving. As someone who can do practically nothing with her right hand I am really glad we use our left hands for gear changing. ;D