General Chat

Hi Magi, I don't know of anyone in my family who was left-handed previous to my father's generation. He was left-handed only because he had an accident to his right arm as a teenager and had to re-learn to become left-handed. I and my brother are right-handed but my sister and youngest brother are both left-handed and all three of my sister's children are also left-handed. Both my brother's children are right-handed. No-one in the family is dyslexic or particularly artistically gifted. The 'genetic' idea is interesting but it seems to have been something that popped up in our family out of nowhere.

Hi all I'm a lefty and proud of it. I write left handed but when I am eating with a knife and fork I eat right handed, but I use the spoon in my left hand not my right. I love going to a restaurant and sitting down to the table and changing the spoon from being beside the knife to being next to the fork. I have lost count how many waitress come up and are real apologetic about the setting being wrong, until I tell them that I am left handed and I moved the spoon. I am not dyslexic, that I know of :-) but Karen mentioned about is there a lefthanded mouse, well you can have a mouse set up to be left handed or right handed, a left button click for right handers, or a right button click for left handers. But with my partner being right handed and with lefties being smarter than righties. (the left side of the brain is the smart side) I just use my left hand with the buttons set up for right handers, I just hold my hand on a bit of an angle. I also have a left handed clock which only I can read, the numbers go anti clockwise, some call them reverse clocks. I am the only lefty in my family, I have 3 children who all write with their right hand but occasionally one of them will eat left handed.

I am left-handed and the only family member I know of who is. My mother had a brother who died young who was ambidextrous. As far as I know there is no dyslexia in the family, the only artistic person was my Uncle Sam who was right-handed. I work in a school where the majority of teachers are lefties! I've worked with several dyslexic children and only one of them was left-handed, and he was very mildly dyslexic. I use my left hand for writing and for scissors & sharp knives, though i can use a right-handed peeler. I eat the right-handed way too and hold a mug in my right hand. I have problems with 3d space orientation. nell

Well apparently left handed people use both sides of their brains and left handed people tend to recover quicker from strokes because of this. I know we all use both sides but there are parts in one of the sides that right handers never use and left handers do. They say that left handers are supposed to be more intelligent and some of the most intelligent people in the world were left handed. I looked into all of this when my youngest (sixth child) son began to use his left hand... all the others are right handed. Neither myself or his dad are left handed and neither are any of our parents. One of my aunts is left handed (she is a twin but the other is right handed) and one of my better halves cousins is left handed but thats about it. Cant say much about my son yet as he only turned three in November but he has been able to say his alphabet since he was two and is also able to strum a couple of chords on both the guitar and bass guitar even though he is holding it upside down... obviously because its a right handed bass and guitar. Shaz xx

Hi Magi. My brother, mum and I are left-handed. My dad was right-handed, but his father was a lefty. My mum's uncle and son were left-handed. Both of my boys started out using their left hands, but changed to right when they saw other children writing with their right hands. And yes, quite a few of us have learning difficulties. Years ago it was said that people who were left-handed had some sort of problem before birth and thus favoured their left hands (right brains). I've found that most of the left-handed people I know are very creative, musically and/or artistically. However, most of them also can't add 2 + 2 (especially me). :~) I've also worked with children who had learning disabilities and almost all of them were righthanded.

Another interesting titbit to add to this - My brother - who is left-handed - told me that almost 100% of helicopter pilots are left-handed!!!

I'm left handed. My dad is technically left handed (was made at school to use his right hand). None of my grandparents were left handed. One of my maternal cousins is, (first cousin), but have no idea where we get it from. For me to be left handed I needed the gene on both sides of the gene pool, my dad's and my mum's.... no idea where my mum got it from or my dad! None of his brothers are left handed, neither were his parents. It's one of those things that genealogy just can't answer, grrrr! Like my nose, where did I get this ugly thing from?!? LOL

Morning everyone - Peter - TOOLS! No chance, wont let me anywhere near a hammer, not that I'm complaining ...lol... Shaz - A budding Paul McCartney I wonder, was Hendrix a leftie too I wonder? As for the alphabet, clever boy! Lisa J - Me too! Dad always said I was dyslexic with numbers (could this be a new thread?) totally hopeless at math Felicity - Helicopter pilots - love it! Nell - you're better than me girl, it's a left-handed peeler or nothing. Mind you my son prefers to do the spuds himself than watch me with anything sharp... Sue - I want one! Havent got that gadget, where can I get a left/reverse clock? Boy that would make my lot crazy. Chloe - So many theories I agree, but hey, us lefties have to start somewhere,why dont you love your nose? I'd love to hear more Thx Magi

Hi Magi I'm not sure if you have heard of Dick Smith where you live but he has an electronics shop here in Tasmania and that is where I bought my clock. It does make people go crazy as the hands actually go anticlockwise along with the numbers, some people just glance at the clock and get a shock as to what they think the time is, until they realise about the numbers, then they stand there for another 5 minutes trying to work out what the time actually is :-))

Hi Magi I'm a leftie and can honestly say it has never been a problem in all my 56 years! When I was 16 I joined the GPO telephones (now BT) as a telephonist. My interview was much stricter than for right handers as I had to prove that my right hand was strong enough to use the dial which was on the right on the switchboard. This was in 1965! Luckily I write as a right hander, but with my left hand. I don't write from above the writing as most lefties seem to do (does that make sense? LOL) I have left handed scissors, which I discovered in my 30s via a leftie friend, and can honestly say they have transformed my life!! I used to do lots of dressmaking and using 'normal scissors' was a nightmare. Now thanks to anythinglefthanded I have most household gadgets. The clock sounds good, I'll have to get one of those! I don't think I'm particularly artistic though. My dad was left handed, but at school in Canada in the 1920s his left hand was tied behind his back to make him use his right. How barbaric! It didn't seem to have harmed him though :o) He wrote with his right, but did everything else as a leftie, including kicking a ball. I don't know of any other relatives before Dad who were lefties, maybe they were all changed too. Interestingly, my brother writes right handed, but does everything else as a leftie! His 2 daughters are right handed too. I sew left handed, but knit and crochet right handed because somehow it just didn't feel right to do it the other way! My mouse is on the right too. I eat with my knife in my right hand, but use a spoon in my left. I have 4 children and 3 biological grandchildren, all of whom are right handed. However, when my younger son was 5 or 6 he was having difficulties writing and we both saw an educational behaviour expert who concluded, among other things, that my son was a right hander with a left hander's brain and I was the opposite! He still writes as if a spider was walking across the page! He is not dyslexic though and neither am I. My handwriting is quite neat and I even won prizes for it at school. Always remember :- As the right hand side of the brain controls the left hand side of the body, only left handers are in their right minds! Lefties rule! LOL Sue xx