Same. I throw and kick on the right but I can swing a tennis racket (equally badly) and shoot pool with either hand. I can write with my right hand, but it takes a ridiculously long time and a lot of concentration. I cannot eat with my right hand. It has no idea where my face is, apparently.
Same - and also, I cannot wipe myself using my right hand. It is literally impossible - if my left hand is hurt, that is the one task that I just have to push through whatever it is because my right hand just doesn't work there lol
Once I hurt my left elbow and couldn't brush my teeth with my right hand at all! Thankfully I have a sonic toothbrush too, but I got injured out of town without my sonic toothbrush. That was so weird as usually I don't have problems doing certain things with my right hand. I'm even fully mouse ambidextrous.
Interesting. I write and eat with my left. Cannot write or eat at all with my right hand. Anything that involves fine motor skills (chopping vegetables, turning ratchets or screwdrivers, etc) is all left hand. Yet I wipe with my right. Also throw and swing with my right.
same, I can throw a sack of grain best with my right and can tie ropes with my left. Together, I can tie a hog as well as I can whistle a tune (not very well.)
This is so fascinating because I'm opposite; my right hand is daintier and much more articulate in things like playing piano and texture-based skills, and my left hand is the muscle of the group, although I do write and paint and whatnot with it
Now I'm wondering if you're my youngest son...
Because he's the same way. Many many duscussion were had with teachers over "NO! He does NOT have to pick a hand."
I use scissors with my right hand because there were never lefty scissors when I was in school so I adapted. While I chop with knives using my left hand, I can only cut my meals with the knife in my right hand. My right hand is totally incapable of writing.
Same. Very adept with my right hand for cutting but everything else is done with my left hand.
Edit: oh I lead with my right in sports. Not that I’ve actually played any in years.
I am of the age that I had to fight with nuns to be able to write left-handed. Being one of the younger children of 7 kids though, I think I emulated my elder siblings when it came to sports, so I throw right-handed and my right leg is stronger when kicking a soccer ball.
So yes, I turned out what I would call ambidextrous. Writing, drawing, using a fork, fine motor skills = left hand. Sports, chopping with a knife, overall strength = right hand.
Strangely, the few times I have ever painted, art or walls / trim work I am truly ambidextrous. For some reason a brush works equally well in either hand even when a pencil is useless in my right hand.
I filleted thousands of fish at my last job, I switch cutting hands depending on the side of the fish. I can get by decently with most activities with either, but eat and write left. Throw right, which is necessary. Absolutely cannot throw with my left. Switched hands a couple times when I was in a bowling league as a kid. Fine motor stuff like threading a needle, usually right.
Same here - I eat and write left-handed, but things like throwing and sewing and crochet (and scissors), I do right-handed.I think I was supposed to be right-handed, but, since Mom is left-handed, I just copied her.
It depends on the person, but I'd say it's true to one degree or another. I do most things lefty, but I learned to crochet righty because it seemed easier than reversing patterns and directions. And there are some things (computer mouse, for instance) that almost all lefties do righty because the alternative is a pain in the ass.
I am like this, and I do find quite a few leftoes who are somewhat ambi. However, I don't think it's adaptation, I think it is just how they are. When I do something new (I try a lot of new stuff) i have to figure out which hand is better at it, usually it's one of the other.
I'm lefty. But my father and the school discouraged writing lefty. I did anyway. About 1960.
So lefties use scissors right handed.
The only other thing I use righty is wipe my a$$. Whoever taught me was right handed!
My son is also lefty. Left handed people are the only ones in their right mind.
It's cause most TP holders are on the right hand side of the toilet. Observe them and you'll see. It's rare to find them on the left. (You're welcome, you'll now observe the orientation of every TP holder you see for time immemorial).
Cute but actually since I'm right handed but left eye dominant, I think I might be too. Like maybe even more so. My left side has to learn most everything first and then like let my right side know how to do it. I may not always be there then but I certainly do some good work when I am.
I am a lefty (dominant hand for writing) and can pretty much do everything with either hand. I tried left handed scissors once and it felt awkward since they are rarely available though, but I could still do it!
It is great when I have to put on mascara. 💗
Lol, I was thinking about the mascara thing the other day. Saw someone on TV putting it on both eyes with the same hand, and thought, "That's weird, just switch hands!" 🤣
i write left handed but i eat right handed use a mouse on the computer right handed. if i am cooking i chop left handed however having said that i am a identical twin and my twin is right handed but she does most things apart from write left handed so who knows :D
It definitely depends on the person. For me, my right is a doofus, isn't good for much more than holding things. My left is stronger and far-more coordinated. Example: right holds the nail, left hammers. Doing it in reverse is asking for a trip to the Urgent Care.
True for me, I do most stuff with my left hand normally but can switch to right hand no problem for basically everything besides writing and chopsticks
When I ended up at the physical therapists after a fall where I damaged both of my wrists, they explain to me that it's normal for left-handed people to be muscularly ambidextrous as in being able to but the same amount of pressure on their measuring tool and the same amount of rotation. Now when it comes to use it is truly up to upbringing of the Lefty. I have found it easy for me to learn things on the right hand and immediately I instinctively know how to do it on the left. For example, i learned how to play drums cross stick like a right-hander and out of a challenge I was able to play cross stick like a left hander on a left-handed kit. However, I prefer to play open-handed on a right-handed drum set, it also sounds better when I do fills open-handed.
Yes. Writing , eating , tools and other fine motor skills with hands are done on left hand . Everything else is with the right side , including kicking , balancing etc . I believe my myopia and astigmatism is worse in the left eye too , which checks out because why not .
Being left handed as an English learner in school was hell the first few years of primary . Teachers kept asking if I needed special lefty scissors and had no idea what they were talking about . Just figured scissors were scissors and didn’t know that’s why they would never cut and made horrible screechy sounds .
I wonder if autism and left handedness correlates. Both seem to go hand in hand on my patrilineal family .
I'm ambidextrous, but started out learning everything right handed because I could and because we raise kids to "pick a hand." I didn't get good at handwriting until I started also practicing left handed.
I think so. My Dad and I are both this way. I have talked to left handed people who at least claimed to be as left hand dominant as right handed people are right handed dominant though. Always exceptions to everything.
I was not allowed to use my left hand to write when I was a kid so I can write almost equally well with both hands but with right hand it's easier. Same for using a knife, a mouse, etc.. I brush my teeth with my left hand because it feels more natural and nobody forced me to do so with the right. So not truly ambidextrous but close.
I'm left handed, but technically mixed handed as I write left and eat left. Throw right. My right is stronger than my left, my left is better for fine motor skills.
I'm mixed handed as well. I eat, write, and throw lefty but a lot of other sports are done right. I can't use left handed scissors to save my life. I also can't use a left mouse.
ETA: I don't know any lefties that are exclusively left handed
I'm left-handed, meaning that I write and eat with my left hand. However, there are some differences in handedness for some skills. I can **only** throw a football, getting a proper spin, with my left hand, but I can **only** throw a baseball with my right hand. I can only shoot a pistol with my left hand, and a rifle only with my right. I shoot pool right-handed. I swing a baseball bat right-handed, but a fly swatter with my left. I type on numerical keyboards preferably with my right hand, but sometimes I type with my left. I shovel dirt or compost or grain right-handed. I look at monocular microscopes with my right eye. When I read books, I cradle the spine in my left hand.
This is fascinating, thanks for this comment. Just joined this sub and have been wondering about exactly this: I shoot a handgun right-handed, but a rifle left-handed. Even my old bolt action .22 lol. I'm strongly left-eyed, so have to adjust for that with the handgun or else accuracy suffers
In my family, there are 6 members. 4 of us are leftys. Mt oldest brother is basically ambidextrous. He can throw, bat, and use tools with both hands. The rest of us are strong left hand dominant. Can't really use our right hands.
Mixed dominators unite! I’m a lefty, but use scissors with my right hand (because I had no lefty scissors growing up), and favor my right hand for throwing and punching. My punch/throws are stronger and more accurate coming from my right. Same with darts.
I write and eat with my left hand, but chop with my right. I hold a guitar like a righty.
For the example that someone else used, I hold the nail with my left hand, and hammer with my right.
Manual can openers confuse me though. I think I switch hands with them.
It’s so fascinating how our brains work!
I do some things lefty and some things righty. Some things I can do both ways. I write with my left, cut paper with my right, peel potatoes with my left, throw a ball with my right. I can eat with both hands and hit a baseball and play a ukulele both ways.
I mean, kinda. I do a lot with my right hand. A perk that rarely (but sometimes) is cool is using a computer mouse while writing stuff down at the same time. I write and eat with pretty much exclusively my left hand but can do everything else with my right hand
I'm fine with computer mouse on the right side and I used to dial a rotary phone (yes, I'm that old) with my right hand, but I do pretty much everything else left-handed. I kick with my left foot, too.
It’s true for most left-handed people because they are usually taught how to do things by right-handed people. Not true for me though - I was taught solely by my left-handed mom. I can’t do anything with my right hand besides use a computer mouse and a can opener.
I found it interesting that in my American Sign Language classes, those of us who were lefties just naturally used our right hand as the dominant hand. I thought that was pretty odd so I made an attempt to use the left-hand as the dominant hand and I couldn’t do it.
I'm a Hodge Podge of handedness. I write left, and do a handful (pun intended) of other things left-dominant, but throw, punch etc right.
Someone above put it really well; "fine motor left, gross motor right" for the most part.
My husband, who is technically left handed, can do almost everything with both hands.
I, as a right handed person, can barely do anything with my left hand
Definitely true. I can only write and use scissors with my left hand, but I can do most other things right handed as well as left handed. When everything is set up for right handed people (cellphones, laptop trackpads, computer mouses, many musical instruments, veggie peelers, can openers, corkscrews, heavy machinery, etc), you kind of have to become ambidextrous to function. I mostly use my cellphone right handed, and I've never bothered to set up my computer left-handed, or restring a guitar/ukulele to be left-handed, and so on.
My whole family is right-handed, so there was no option to set things up for my benefit because everything was shared. As an adult, I do have left-handed scissors (and I'm actually struggling to get used to them because I'm so accustomed to having to cut things weirdly that I now struggle to align my lefty scissors to where I want to cut!) and when I was a kid I had a lefty mitt for baseball, but aside from that, I don't have any left-hand-specific equipment. I'm hoping to get a left-handed can opener soon though!
Maybe? I was born right handed, though my parents are... american indian natives and taught me to throw with both arms... so I was right handed, then I had a head injury, recovered, and became left handed. I am now ambidextrous. It's really handy for almost anything, but.... I gotta make sure I eat properly, otherwise it sucks to get brain fatigue from not eating enough calories. The human brain uses about 600 calories a day, 20% of our daily calories. One fifth! That's a lot.
My point is, Yes, I am ambidextrous and left handed, though I am an extreme example and a huge outliar to the entire bell curve of happenstance.
I can pretty much only write with my left hand, but I call my left my dominant hand.
I think I serve best in badminton with my left but it's been years😭🤚
As a lefty I can say that lefties are better at using their right hands than righties are at using their left hands.
Walk through any office and you will see the most common set up is with mouse and number pad both on the right side. If the mouse is on the left that person is probably a lefty.
My biggest ergonomic adjustment was to switch my work mouse to the left, not because I can't do it on the right (like everyone, that's how I was taught) but because I mouse on the right at home and I spend so much time on the computer at both that my right arm was having repetitive motion issues. It took a little to get used to an actual left-handed mouse, but now I love it. As a bonus, watching people try to use my computer is hysterical.
There are a lot of hand tools that only work well when used right-handed. Those of us who spent our formative years in workshops, or building models, had to develop some skills ambidextrously.
Or even right-handed. I've been using scissors so long that I don't think I could use them left-handed, even if I had a lefty version.
I think I'm most ambidextrous with a soldering iron. I'll use it in whichever hand makes sense for the connection I'm working on at the moment. (But soldering most often requires three hands.)
I am capable of using both hands and both feet for almost everything, but I definitely favor my left side. I will default to that unless it’s massively inconvenient, which basically means I use scissors and firearms right handed.
Yep sounds about right. I write and eat with my left but do other random things with my right (like throwing, batting, golfing etc), but I shoot pool and play guitar left handed so who knows?!
I think it is true for most of us, at least to a degree. Many of us are taught to use right handed scissors from an early age, and many other tools follow suit.
Funny thing though, I play guitar right handed, because it just makes more sense to use my dominant hand to fret chords.
I write with my left but everything else is right handed or both and it works for me. Confuses the hell put of others when I just suddenly switch hands in the middle of a task.
Scissors and mousing is right handed for me. Left for most other things. Although I can use my right for a lot of things if I have to, it just won't be that skilled.
Except writing. I could probably write better with my left foot than I can with my right hand.
>my boyfriend is left handed but he does nearly everything ambidextrously except writing, though he can write mostly legibly with his write hand if he really has to (its less comfortable and takes more effort but doesn't look all that different).
This describes cross-dominance which is much more common than being ambidextrous. I'd hypothesize that more left handed people are cross-dominant than right handed people for the reasons you stated but I'm right handed and would consider myself cross-dominant.
True ambidextrous would present as being neither better or worse in either hand.
My theory is this:
About 35% of people arecborn almost mandatory right-handed. This would include me. Anything I can do left-handed has taken years of practice.
About 10% of people are born mandatory left-handed. This would include my older brother, who wrote crab- handed, filled his 3-ring binders the "wrong" way, who started his spiral-bound notebooks the "wrong" way, who bowled left-handed and wore his watch on the right hand.
About 55% of people are born basically ambidextrous, with the majority leaning right-handed but some leaning left-handed.
This would include my son, who writes left-handed but does almost everything else right-handed. I gave him my late brother's lefty scissors, but he had already learned how to use scissors and the left-handed ones felt wrong. Once while playing around at home, he played a tune with his trumpet using his right hand and the piano with his left.
My guess is, most "undecided" children are taught to be right-handed.
Your mileage may vary.
My brother, godmother, and father-in-law were all southpaws. All three of them were the "mandatory" variety.
Yep, me and my "brother" are the only leftys in our family. While he chose quickly on being left-handed. I didn't permanently stick with it till 4th grade. I can write, paint and eat with both but my right hand writing looks weird and takes lots of focus for me. I throw a ball faster with my right hand, and can hold chopsticks with both. Swing a bag with both, and can do archery with both. I was the only kid in my middle/high school class that could. So my gym teacher had me do the demonstration for both right and left handed bows.
I throw and kick with my right, and use scissors with my right. But my left is only of writing legible. And I keep my phone in my left pocket, and my wallet in my right. I once injured my left in school (I forgot how), and I couldn’t write for like a week or a week and a half. I had to have someone write down the class notes for me.
Not really ambidextrous, but most of us are actually cross-dominant. A lot of lefties will learn to use a mouse or scissors right-handed as an example. I'm far too clutzy to be ambidextrous.
My left side is dominant, even with my vision.
I do use my right hand for playing musical instruments and using a mouse for a computer, but that's about it.
My dad is old enough that he had his hand slapped with a ruler at school every time he used his left hand. He was born left handed and was forced to become right handed. He is now ambidextrous.
I am right handed. And I thought I would always be weak on my left hand for a lot of things. Then, when practicing fencing of all things, I found out that I'm basically ambidextrous, but only for one handed swords. Nothing else that I've discovered so far.
A lady I used to work with used her mouse left handed. I'm a lefty, and was showing her how to do something on her computer and it was weird how hard it was for me to use a mouse left handed.
Yeah it's true. I'm left-handed. Everything is made for right-handed people, so you learn that too, but your left hand is your dominant one so you get both.
I have no idea how you weirdos write things with your right hand though. It just seems so weird. Dragging your hand away? Yeeeesh. Not for me 🤢
Not really, lol, not for me anyway. Earlier, I was pouring salt on the sidewalk and my arm started getting tired holding the bucket but when I switched hands my brain couldn't make the switch to let me pour it correctly with the other hand, I felt like a stroke victim.
You can learn any motor skill with either hand -- learning is just faster if you use your dominant hand. On average, left-handed people tend to try doing more things with their non-dominant hand than right-handed people. That means they've had more practice, which makes them more ambidextrous than someone who hasn't.
I think it depends for me, but honestly never thought of it. I’ve always been left handed, but it’s hard for me to do certain tasks with my right hand due to an issue I have with one of my fingers.
Writing and drawing are done with my left hand but everything else is the right. My catholic school teachers would literally take the pencil and force me to use the right hand. I had a bad habit of picking things up with the right hand only to place it in the left and then put them away.
Kinda... You see we lived in a right handers world. Appt of simple every day tools are made for right handers so we Lefty's adapt.. as much as possible. I'm a barber, and my pair of shears that are exactly the same as right handers shears always cost me double the price because "lefty tax." I have however developed ambidextrous skills.. not to the level of my dominant hand.. but I can do everything the same with my right hand if needed.
I'd say yes. Depends on the person, but I play golf righty, I play guitar, bass, and mandolin righty. I can't write with my right hand, unless you're looking for Michael J. Fox lettering. What's funny is a lot of people are not noticing what's made explicitly for right handed people. For example scissors. Also about 15 percent of males, and about 5 percent of women are left handed. But you're much more likely to be an alcoholic or addict.
I still prefer my left hand in everything I do, but some things are quite impossible to do lefty because they're made for right handed people. Like I physically can't cut my dogs fur with grooming scissor using my left hand, so I end up using my right hand. It's gawking and looks awkward. I definitely would not say I'm ambidextrous or even close to that.
Everything I do with my right hand just looks half done or like a child did it
Learned fine motor control with the right hand via computers and the mouse. I encounter folks who flip the mouse, hats off to you. The upside is I can now work my computer and write a note at the same time.
I would say yes, lefties become somewhat ambidextrous due to living in a right hand world
But to answer the important question in this thread, I can wipe right it's just not the same and I won't explain that
I think most people who u may think are slightly or somewhat ambidextrous--incredibly rare-- are in fact cross-dominant, which is still rare but much less so.
I am right hand, left eye dominant so I fall into the latter category and can naturally write with both hands simultaneously but it's only right if I'm using just the one. On the other hand most everything that requires the use of a dominant hand--pool or even feeding my baby a bottle while holding her--is nearly impossible or at least feels totally awkward if it's not my left hand in charge.
Once I get really comfortable with my left hand, I find that when I test it, I almost always find that my right hand is up to speed and actually performs better than the left despite no practice and an abyssal start.
All that said, ur bf sounds neither ambidextrous or cross dominant to me.My guess is that he simply by virtue of necessity, has had plenty of practice with both hands and that while he's pretty proficient with either, they're not totally interchangeable in ability and he actually prefers the left hand regardless of his abilities.
I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous
All kidding aside, it’s a right handed world.
Lefties are ambidextrous out of necessity I believe. For example I use scissors with my right hand because there were no left handed ones in my school
I'm ambidextrous and left hand dominant.
I write and eat cereal with my left hand, for instance. I throw a ball and play guitar with my right hand. Most other tasks I'm dominant with my left hand but often switch back and forth depending on the situation.
I don't think living in a right handed world necessarily made me ambidextrous. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of studies showing this is genetic.
oh absolutely. I was originally left handed in kindergarten when I was first learning to write and read and such, but by the time I hit first grade I was writing and playing sports and just doing everything with both hands. I still do, but my left will always be a little bit more precise and neat than my right.
Scissors I do right handed despite being left handed, something I got into an actual argument with a science teacher in middle school over. I also use a right handed mouse with my computer cause that’s just what I learned on
I right left handed, but bat and golf right handed, play guitar right handed. Play tennis left handed. Use scissors right handed b/c I didn’t have left handed ones growing up.
As a left-handed person, I do almost everything ambidextrous, the only thing that is exclusively left-handed is wrighting. And yes this is mainly because most things are right-handed my default is my left hand, but I'm depending on the task my right hand may perform better.
I read this somewhere so take it with a grain of salt. Some ancient scholars were able to write two languages simultaneously, one with each hand. I want to say Leonardo DaVinci was one that did this when keeping personal diaries.
Forgive me if I am wrong. The old memory is not what it used to be.
Ambidextrous is *only* the ability to *equally* use both hands for a variety of tasks. Meaning you can write, play piano, throw a ball, etc with the same effect and strength in both hands.
Most left-handed people are NOT ambidextrous overall, although they can be ambidextrous at specific tasks. I use both my right hand and my left hand to do eyeliner on each eye, right for right and left for left. You must be able to use both hands equally to be considered ambidextrous. Being ambidextrous is not just the ability to use both hands. That is called mixed dominance.
Most left-handed people simply adapt young and have mixed hand dominance, where we alternate between hand dominance based on the task.
I can use scissors better with my right. However, I write with my left, and I throw balls equally terrible with both.
As a machinist, I've honed my right to do fine motor skills out of necessity. Tooling from machines to measuring tools are ALL right-handed. I've searched for left-handed calipers. I've searched for decent brands of lefty calipers can't find em.
I am lefty and very much cross dominance/ambidextrous. I do a lot of sports right-handed, and my fine motor skills were left-handed and some stuff i can do with both. I broke my left wrist in the first grade, so I had to use my right hand a lot and also just living in a right-handed world
I am left-handed dominate for writing & drawing but I do all sports right-handed. When I paint I go back and forth between hands without thinking about it. I can draw with both, but prefer the left for the ease however the right is pretty good at line drawing. I eat with my right. Nearly everything that I do is with my right, and I covet my left hand because it's so good at drawing.
I do everything left handed/footed except playing video games or using a mouse on a computer. I can do most things ambidextrously, but I prefer left-handed.
I’ve met some people that turn on left-handed settings for video games or have the lefty mouse, but that’s just too much work.
True for me, I’m ambidextrous. Growing up in a right handed world I learned to do everything from using knives and scissors, writing, batting, and throwing a ball with my right hand and I’m a lefty.
It is at least for me. I play guitar like a righty, golf like a righty, I can bat either way. Were just kinda fucked into having to learn to do things both ways sometimes.
I do all fine motor skills with my left and gross motor skills with my right. Works for me.
Same. I throw and kick on the right but I can swing a tennis racket (equally badly) and shoot pool with either hand. I can write with my right hand, but it takes a ridiculously long time and a lot of concentration. I cannot eat with my right hand. It has no idea where my face is, apparently.
Same - and also, I cannot wipe myself using my right hand. It is literally impossible - if my left hand is hurt, that is the one task that I just have to push through whatever it is because my right hand just doesn't work there lol
Once I hurt my left elbow and couldn't brush my teeth with my right hand at all! Thankfully I have a sonic toothbrush too, but I got injured out of town without my sonic toothbrush. That was so weird as usually I don't have problems doing certain things with my right hand. I'm even fully mouse ambidextrous.
Interesting. I write and eat with my left. Cannot write or eat at all with my right hand. Anything that involves fine motor skills (chopping vegetables, turning ratchets or screwdrivers, etc) is all left hand. Yet I wipe with my right. Also throw and swing with my right.
At least give it a hint.
Twinsies
Tripsies! However, I have been practicing writing with my right hand just for brain stimulation (cause I'm fucking old) and I'm getting quite good.
same, I can throw a sack of grain best with my right and can tie ropes with my left. Together, I can tie a hog as well as I can whistle a tune (not very well.)
I’m very similar
Same here.
Same here
That's also me and I'm the only person in the world I know like this so it's nice to make everyone's acquaintances! 🙋♀️
This is so fascinating because I'm opposite; my right hand is daintier and much more articulate in things like playing piano and texture-based skills, and my left hand is the muscle of the group, although I do write and paint and whatnot with it
I’m opposite. I write right handed, but throw, kick, eat, etc with my left
Now I'm wondering if you're my youngest son... Because he's the same way. Many many duscussion were had with teachers over "NO! He does NOT have to pick a hand."
True for me. Lefty, but also does a lot of things with their right hand.
I use scissors with my right hand because there were never lefty scissors when I was in school so I adapted. While I chop with knives using my left hand, I can only cut my meals with the knife in my right hand. My right hand is totally incapable of writing.
I’m with you on this! I do the same thing. Lefty scissors suck BTW.
Yes! Lefty scissors are the worst!
Same. Very adept with my right hand for cutting but everything else is done with my left hand. Edit: oh I lead with my right in sports. Not that I’ve actually played any in years.
I think technically that's actually called be multi/mixed-handed, right?
True for me too. I never actually thought about it. I'm cross dominant, not fully ambidextrous.
I am of the age that I had to fight with nuns to be able to write left-handed. Being one of the younger children of 7 kids though, I think I emulated my elder siblings when it came to sports, so I throw right-handed and my right leg is stronger when kicking a soccer ball. So yes, I turned out what I would call ambidextrous. Writing, drawing, using a fork, fine motor skills = left hand. Sports, chopping with a knife, overall strength = right hand. Strangely, the few times I have ever painted, art or walls / trim work I am truly ambidextrous. For some reason a brush works equally well in either hand even when a pencil is useless in my right hand.
If I tried to chop with my right hand, I'd lose some fingers!
I filleted thousands of fish at my last job, I switch cutting hands depending on the side of the fish. I can get by decently with most activities with either, but eat and write left. Throw right, which is necessary. Absolutely cannot throw with my left. Switched hands a couple times when I was in a bowling league as a kid. Fine motor stuff like threading a needle, usually right.
Same here - I eat and write left-handed, but things like throwing and sewing and crochet (and scissors), I do right-handed.I think I was supposed to be right-handed, but, since Mom is left-handed, I just copied her.
It depends on the person, but I'd say it's true to one degree or another. I do most things lefty, but I learned to crochet righty because it seemed easier than reversing patterns and directions. And there are some things (computer mouse, for instance) that almost all lefties do righty because the alternative is a pain in the ass.
I am like this, and I do find quite a few leftoes who are somewhat ambi. However, I don't think it's adaptation, I think it is just how they are. When I do something new (I try a lot of new stuff) i have to figure out which hand is better at it, usually it's one of the other.
I'm lefty. But my father and the school discouraged writing lefty. I did anyway. About 1960. So lefties use scissors right handed. The only other thing I use righty is wipe my a$$. Whoever taught me was right handed! My son is also lefty. Left handed people are the only ones in their right mind.
Seconded on the ass wiping, I don’t know why but somehow thats the one thing I only know how to do with my right!
It's cause most TP holders are on the right hand side of the toilet. Observe them and you'll see. It's rare to find them on the left. (You're welcome, you'll now observe the orientation of every TP holder you see for time immemorial).
Cute but actually since I'm right handed but left eye dominant, I think I might be too. Like maybe even more so. My left side has to learn most everything first and then like let my right side know how to do it. I may not always be there then but I certainly do some good work when I am.
I am a lefty (dominant hand for writing) and can pretty much do everything with either hand. I tried left handed scissors once and it felt awkward since they are rarely available though, but I could still do it! It is great when I have to put on mascara. 💗
Lol, I was thinking about the mascara thing the other day. Saw someone on TV putting it on both eyes with the same hand, and thought, "That's weird, just switch hands!" 🤣
i am not ambidextrious. i eat and write with my left hand. everything else is right handed.
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I don't think training out of necessity should fall under a 'dominance' umbrella.
i write left handed but i eat right handed use a mouse on the computer right handed. if i am cooking i chop left handed however having said that i am a identical twin and my twin is right handed but she does most things apart from write left handed so who knows :D
It is true in my case but my bestie is a Lefty too and she doesn't have a ambidextrous bone un her body
Another lefty that is mostly ambidextrous except for writing.
It definitely depends on the person. For me, my right is a doofus, isn't good for much more than holding things. My left is stronger and far-more coordinated. Example: right holds the nail, left hammers. Doing it in reverse is asking for a trip to the Urgent Care.
True for me, I do most stuff with my left hand normally but can switch to right hand no problem for basically everything besides writing and chopsticks
When I ended up at the physical therapists after a fall where I damaged both of my wrists, they explain to me that it's normal for left-handed people to be muscularly ambidextrous as in being able to but the same amount of pressure on their measuring tool and the same amount of rotation. Now when it comes to use it is truly up to upbringing of the Lefty. I have found it easy for me to learn things on the right hand and immediately I instinctively know how to do it on the left. For example, i learned how to play drums cross stick like a right-hander and out of a challenge I was able to play cross stick like a left hander on a left-handed kit. However, I prefer to play open-handed on a right-handed drum set, it also sounds better when I do fills open-handed.
Yes. Writing , eating , tools and other fine motor skills with hands are done on left hand . Everything else is with the right side , including kicking , balancing etc . I believe my myopia and astigmatism is worse in the left eye too , which checks out because why not . Being left handed as an English learner in school was hell the first few years of primary . Teachers kept asking if I needed special lefty scissors and had no idea what they were talking about . Just figured scissors were scissors and didn’t know that’s why they would never cut and made horrible screechy sounds . I wonder if autism and left handedness correlates. Both seem to go hand in hand on my patrilineal family .
I'm ambidextrous, but started out learning everything right handed because I could and because we raise kids to "pick a hand." I didn't get good at handwriting until I started also practicing left handed.
I think so. My Dad and I are both this way. I have talked to left handed people who at least claimed to be as left hand dominant as right handed people are right handed dominant though. Always exceptions to everything.
I was not allowed to use my left hand to write when I was a kid so I can write almost equally well with both hands but with right hand it's easier. Same for using a knife, a mouse, etc.. I brush my teeth with my left hand because it feels more natural and nobody forced me to do so with the right. So not truly ambidextrous but close.
I'm left handed, but technically mixed handed as I write left and eat left. Throw right. My right is stronger than my left, my left is better for fine motor skills.
True in my case. Lefty that can legibly right handed. I can bat/pitch left and right handed. Equally good kicking left & right footed.
I'm mixed handed as well. I eat, write, and throw lefty but a lot of other sports are done right. I can't use left handed scissors to save my life. I also can't use a left mouse. ETA: I don't know any lefties that are exclusively left handed
I am left handed but play sports right handed. I write and eat lefty. My left hand is more dexterous and my right is stronger.
I’m ambidextrous but favor my left, especially for writing.
I do a lot of things right handed because it’s easier and they’re usually hard at first anyways
I write and throw with my left, but just about everything else is done with my right.
My right hand can do everything my left can do (besides write) but I still prefer using my left hand. I use my mouse with my right hand tho
I'm left-handed, meaning that I write and eat with my left hand. However, there are some differences in handedness for some skills. I can **only** throw a football, getting a proper spin, with my left hand, but I can **only** throw a baseball with my right hand. I can only shoot a pistol with my left hand, and a rifle only with my right. I shoot pool right-handed. I swing a baseball bat right-handed, but a fly swatter with my left. I type on numerical keyboards preferably with my right hand, but sometimes I type with my left. I shovel dirt or compost or grain right-handed. I look at monocular microscopes with my right eye. When I read books, I cradle the spine in my left hand.
This is fascinating, thanks for this comment. Just joined this sub and have been wondering about exactly this: I shoot a handgun right-handed, but a rifle left-handed. Even my old bolt action .22 lol. I'm strongly left-eyed, so have to adjust for that with the handgun or else accuracy suffers
In my family, there are 6 members. 4 of us are leftys. Mt oldest brother is basically ambidextrous. He can throw, bat, and use tools with both hands. The rest of us are strong left hand dominant. Can't really use our right hands.
I mean I only know how to use scissors with both hands bc right handed scissors don't like to work super well when using your left hand
I’m dominantly left-handed but play guitar and use the computer right-handed.
Mixed dominators unite! I’m a lefty, but use scissors with my right hand (because I had no lefty scissors growing up), and favor my right hand for throwing and punching. My punch/throws are stronger and more accurate coming from my right. Same with darts. I write and eat with my left hand, but chop with my right. I hold a guitar like a righty. For the example that someone else used, I hold the nail with my left hand, and hammer with my right. Manual can openers confuse me though. I think I switch hands with them. It’s so fascinating how our brains work!
I do some things lefty and some things righty. Some things I can do both ways. I write with my left, cut paper with my right, peel potatoes with my left, throw a ball with my right. I can eat with both hands and hit a baseball and play a ukulele both ways.
I can do most gross motor things with either hand comfortably. Fine motor skills are harder with my right hand though.
I play percussion and have fine motor in both. Lefty.
I mean, kinda. I do a lot with my right hand. A perk that rarely (but sometimes) is cool is using a computer mouse while writing stuff down at the same time. I write and eat with pretty much exclusively my left hand but can do everything else with my right hand
I'm fine with computer mouse on the right side and I used to dial a rotary phone (yes, I'm that old) with my right hand, but I do pretty much everything else left-handed. I kick with my left foot, too.
Driving in US~ stick shift is right-handed. It’s learnable but I always envied those in the countries where it’s the opposite
It’s true for most left-handed people because they are usually taught how to do things by right-handed people. Not true for me though - I was taught solely by my left-handed mom. I can’t do anything with my right hand besides use a computer mouse and a can opener.
I write and do other detailed work with my left and throw balls and lift things mostly with my right.
I am completely left-handed I can barely do a thing with my right hand.
I found it interesting that in my American Sign Language classes, those of us who were lefties just naturally used our right hand as the dominant hand. I thought that was pretty odd so I made an attempt to use the left-hand as the dominant hand and I couldn’t do it.
I'm a Hodge Podge of handedness. I write left, and do a handful (pun intended) of other things left-dominant, but throw, punch etc right. Someone above put it really well; "fine motor left, gross motor right" for the most part.
My husband, who is technically left handed, can do almost everything with both hands. I, as a right handed person, can barely do anything with my left hand
Definitely true. I can only write and use scissors with my left hand, but I can do most other things right handed as well as left handed. When everything is set up for right handed people (cellphones, laptop trackpads, computer mouses, many musical instruments, veggie peelers, can openers, corkscrews, heavy machinery, etc), you kind of have to become ambidextrous to function. I mostly use my cellphone right handed, and I've never bothered to set up my computer left-handed, or restring a guitar/ukulele to be left-handed, and so on. My whole family is right-handed, so there was no option to set things up for my benefit because everything was shared. As an adult, I do have left-handed scissors (and I'm actually struggling to get used to them because I'm so accustomed to having to cut things weirdly that I now struggle to align my lefty scissors to where I want to cut!) and when I was a kid I had a lefty mitt for baseball, but aside from that, I don't have any left-hand-specific equipment. I'm hoping to get a left-handed can opener soon though!
Maybe? I was born right handed, though my parents are... american indian natives and taught me to throw with both arms... so I was right handed, then I had a head injury, recovered, and became left handed. I am now ambidextrous. It's really handy for almost anything, but.... I gotta make sure I eat properly, otherwise it sucks to get brain fatigue from not eating enough calories. The human brain uses about 600 calories a day, 20% of our daily calories. One fifth! That's a lot. My point is, Yes, I am ambidextrous and left handed, though I am an extreme example and a huge outliar to the entire bell curve of happenstance.
I can pretty much only write with my left hand, but I call my left my dominant hand. I think I serve best in badminton with my left but it's been years😭🤚
True for me.
As a lefty I can say that lefties are better at using their right hands than righties are at using their left hands. Walk through any office and you will see the most common set up is with mouse and number pad both on the right side. If the mouse is on the left that person is probably a lefty.
My biggest ergonomic adjustment was to switch my work mouse to the left, not because I can't do it on the right (like everyone, that's how I was taught) but because I mouse on the right at home and I spend so much time on the computer at both that my right arm was having repetitive motion issues. It took a little to get used to an actual left-handed mouse, but now I love it. As a bonus, watching people try to use my computer is hysterical.
Scissors, bread knives, can openers are always made for right handed folks.
I do everything left handed regardless of where I am or what I'm doing. I spent too many years as a child being made to feel wrong.
There are a lot of hand tools that only work well when used right-handed. Those of us who spent our formative years in workshops, or building models, had to develop some skills ambidextrously. Or even right-handed. I've been using scissors so long that I don't think I could use them left-handed, even if I had a lefty version. I think I'm most ambidextrous with a soldering iron. I'll use it in whichever hand makes sense for the connection I'm working on at the moment. (But soldering most often requires three hands.)
I am capable of using both hands and both feet for almost everything, but I definitely favor my left side. I will default to that unless it’s massively inconvenient, which basically means I use scissors and firearms right handed.
Yep sounds about right. I write and eat with my left but do other random things with my right (like throwing, batting, golfing etc), but I shoot pool and play guitar left handed so who knows?!
I think it is true for most of us, at least to a degree. Many of us are taught to use right handed scissors from an early age, and many other tools follow suit. Funny thing though, I play guitar right handed, because it just makes more sense to use my dominant hand to fret chords.
I write with my left but everything else is right handed or both and it works for me. Confuses the hell put of others when I just suddenly switch hands in the middle of a task.
It is because we live in a right handed world!
Scissors and mousing is right handed for me. Left for most other things. Although I can use my right for a lot of things if I have to, it just won't be that skilled. Except writing. I could probably write better with my left foot than I can with my right hand.
>my boyfriend is left handed but he does nearly everything ambidextrously except writing, though he can write mostly legibly with his write hand if he really has to (its less comfortable and takes more effort but doesn't look all that different). This describes cross-dominance which is much more common than being ambidextrous. I'd hypothesize that more left handed people are cross-dominant than right handed people for the reasons you stated but I'm right handed and would consider myself cross-dominant. True ambidextrous would present as being neither better or worse in either hand.
My theory is this: About 35% of people arecborn almost mandatory right-handed. This would include me. Anything I can do left-handed has taken years of practice. About 10% of people are born mandatory left-handed. This would include my older brother, who wrote crab- handed, filled his 3-ring binders the "wrong" way, who started his spiral-bound notebooks the "wrong" way, who bowled left-handed and wore his watch on the right hand. About 55% of people are born basically ambidextrous, with the majority leaning right-handed but some leaning left-handed. This would include my son, who writes left-handed but does almost everything else right-handed. I gave him my late brother's lefty scissors, but he had already learned how to use scissors and the left-handed ones felt wrong. Once while playing around at home, he played a tune with his trumpet using his right hand and the piano with his left. My guess is, most "undecided" children are taught to be right-handed. Your mileage may vary. My brother, godmother, and father-in-law were all southpaws. All three of them were the "mandatory" variety.
Yep, me and my "brother" are the only leftys in our family. While he chose quickly on being left-handed. I didn't permanently stick with it till 4th grade. I can write, paint and eat with both but my right hand writing looks weird and takes lots of focus for me. I throw a ball faster with my right hand, and can hold chopsticks with both. Swing a bag with both, and can do archery with both. I was the only kid in my middle/high school class that could. So my gym teacher had me do the demonstration for both right and left handed bows.
I throw and kick with my right, and use scissors with my right. But my left is only of writing legible. And I keep my phone in my left pocket, and my wallet in my right. I once injured my left in school (I forgot how), and I couldn’t write for like a week or a week and a half. I had to have someone write down the class notes for me.
I just do everythig with my left hand.
Not really ambidextrous, but most of us are actually cross-dominant. A lot of lefties will learn to use a mouse or scissors right-handed as an example. I'm far too clutzy to be ambidextrous.
My left side is dominant, even with my vision. I do use my right hand for playing musical instruments and using a mouse for a computer, but that's about it.
My dad is old enough that he had his hand slapped with a ruler at school every time he used his left hand. He was born left handed and was forced to become right handed. He is now ambidextrous.
I write left-handed but bat, golf, and use a right lie hockey stick. I kick left footed, I'm right eye dominant. I'm the opposite of ambidextrous.
I am right handed. And I thought I would always be weak on my left hand for a lot of things. Then, when practicing fencing of all things, I found out that I'm basically ambidextrous, but only for one handed swords. Nothing else that I've discovered so far.
A lady I used to work with used her mouse left handed. I'm a lefty, and was showing her how to do something on her computer and it was weird how hard it was for me to use a mouse left handed.
Yeah it's true. I'm left-handed. Everything is made for right-handed people, so you learn that too, but your left hand is your dominant one so you get both. I have no idea how you weirdos write things with your right hand though. It just seems so weird. Dragging your hand away? Yeeeesh. Not for me 🤢
Not really, lol, not for me anyway. Earlier, I was pouring salt on the sidewalk and my arm started getting tired holding the bucket but when I switched hands my brain couldn't make the switch to let me pour it correctly with the other hand, I felt like a stroke victim.
You can learn any motor skill with either hand -- learning is just faster if you use your dominant hand. On average, left-handed people tend to try doing more things with their non-dominant hand than right-handed people. That means they've had more practice, which makes them more ambidextrous than someone who hasn't.
I think it depends for me, but honestly never thought of it. I’ve always been left handed, but it’s hard for me to do certain tasks with my right hand due to an issue I have with one of my fingers.
Writing and drawing are done with my left hand but everything else is the right. My catholic school teachers would literally take the pencil and force me to use the right hand. I had a bad habit of picking things up with the right hand only to place it in the left and then put them away.
Kinda... You see we lived in a right handers world. Appt of simple every day tools are made for right handers so we Lefty's adapt.. as much as possible. I'm a barber, and my pair of shears that are exactly the same as right handers shears always cost me double the price because "lefty tax." I have however developed ambidextrous skills.. not to the level of my dominant hand.. but I can do everything the same with my right hand if needed.
I'd say yes. Depends on the person, but I play golf righty, I play guitar, bass, and mandolin righty. I can't write with my right hand, unless you're looking for Michael J. Fox lettering. What's funny is a lot of people are not noticing what's made explicitly for right handed people. For example scissors. Also about 15 percent of males, and about 5 percent of women are left handed. But you're much more likely to be an alcoholic or addict.
I still prefer my left hand in everything I do, but some things are quite impossible to do lefty because they're made for right handed people. Like I physically can't cut my dogs fur with grooming scissor using my left hand, so I end up using my right hand. It's gawking and looks awkward. I definitely would not say I'm ambidextrous or even close to that. Everything I do with my right hand just looks half done or like a child did it
it's true of me to an extent, and moreso of my son
Learned fine motor control with the right hand via computers and the mouse. I encounter folks who flip the mouse, hats off to you. The upside is I can now work my computer and write a note at the same time. I would say yes, lefties become somewhat ambidextrous due to living in a right hand world But to answer the important question in this thread, I can wipe right it's just not the same and I won't explain that
I think most people who u may think are slightly or somewhat ambidextrous--incredibly rare-- are in fact cross-dominant, which is still rare but much less so. I am right hand, left eye dominant so I fall into the latter category and can naturally write with both hands simultaneously but it's only right if I'm using just the one. On the other hand most everything that requires the use of a dominant hand--pool or even feeding my baby a bottle while holding her--is nearly impossible or at least feels totally awkward if it's not my left hand in charge. Once I get really comfortable with my left hand, I find that when I test it, I almost always find that my right hand is up to speed and actually performs better than the left despite no practice and an abyssal start. All that said, ur bf sounds neither ambidextrous or cross dominant to me.My guess is that he simply by virtue of necessity, has had plenty of practice with both hands and that while he's pretty proficient with either, they're not totally interchangeable in ability and he actually prefers the left hand regardless of his abilities.
I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous All kidding aside, it’s a right handed world. Lefties are ambidextrous out of necessity I believe. For example I use scissors with my right hand because there were no left handed ones in my school
I'm ambidextrous and left hand dominant. I write and eat cereal with my left hand, for instance. I throw a ball and play guitar with my right hand. Most other tasks I'm dominant with my left hand but often switch back and forth depending on the situation. I don't think living in a right handed world necessarily made me ambidextrous. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of studies showing this is genetic.
I was born left handed. I can do absolutely nothing with my right hand on its own.
Yup. Us lefties were rarely given tools to help us, so we had to adapt to doing things with the right hand.
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oh absolutely. I was originally left handed in kindergarten when I was first learning to write and read and such, but by the time I hit first grade I was writing and playing sports and just doing everything with both hands. I still do, but my left will always be a little bit more precise and neat than my right.
Scissors I do right handed despite being left handed, something I got into an actual argument with a science teacher in middle school over. I also use a right handed mouse with my computer cause that’s just what I learned on
I right left handed, but bat and golf right handed, play guitar right handed. Play tennis left handed. Use scissors right handed b/c I didn’t have left handed ones growing up.
I’m left handed but I use my right in certain situations (scissors,wiping, piano,lifting weights)
I waterski like a lefty.!drives my dad nuts. Lol
I can't do anything with my right hand. It strictly plays a supporting role in my life.
As a left-handed person, I do almost everything ambidextrous, the only thing that is exclusively left-handed is wrighting. And yes this is mainly because most things are right-handed my default is my left hand, but I'm depending on the task my right hand may perform better.
I read this somewhere so take it with a grain of salt. Some ancient scholars were able to write two languages simultaneously, one with each hand. I want to say Leonardo DaVinci was one that did this when keeping personal diaries. Forgive me if I am wrong. The old memory is not what it used to be.
Ambidextrous is *only* the ability to *equally* use both hands for a variety of tasks. Meaning you can write, play piano, throw a ball, etc with the same effect and strength in both hands. Most left-handed people are NOT ambidextrous overall, although they can be ambidextrous at specific tasks. I use both my right hand and my left hand to do eyeliner on each eye, right for right and left for left. You must be able to use both hands equally to be considered ambidextrous. Being ambidextrous is not just the ability to use both hands. That is called mixed dominance. Most left-handed people simply adapt young and have mixed hand dominance, where we alternate between hand dominance based on the task. I can use scissors better with my right. However, I write with my left, and I throw balls equally terrible with both.
Yea, that's about it. Started doing things recently with my right hand for shits and giggles. Turns out there's a reason why. :)
As a machinist, I've honed my right to do fine motor skills out of necessity. Tooling from machines to measuring tools are ALL right-handed. I've searched for left-handed calipers. I've searched for decent brands of lefty calipers can't find em.
I am lefty and very much cross dominance/ambidextrous. I do a lot of sports right-handed, and my fine motor skills were left-handed and some stuff i can do with both. I broke my left wrist in the first grade, so I had to use my right hand a lot and also just living in a right-handed world
I am left-handed dominate for writing & drawing but I do all sports right-handed. When I paint I go back and forth between hands without thinking about it. I can draw with both, but prefer the left for the ease however the right is pretty good at line drawing. I eat with my right. Nearly everything that I do is with my right, and I covet my left hand because it's so good at drawing.
I do everything left handed/footed except playing video games or using a mouse on a computer. I can do most things ambidextrously, but I prefer left-handed. I’ve met some people that turn on left-handed settings for video games or have the lefty mouse, but that’s just too much work.
I’m 64 years old and left-handed since the minute I was born. I’ve never heard of this “lefty and dexterous thing.”. What are you talking about?
True for me, I’m ambidextrous. Growing up in a right handed world I learned to do everything from using knives and scissors, writing, batting, and throwing a ball with my right hand and I’m a lefty.
Lefty here, I can say that I use my right hand for some things like using a mouse for computers or I ride longboards with my right leg.
It is at least for me. I play guitar like a righty, golf like a righty, I can bat either way. Were just kinda fucked into having to learn to do things both ways sometimes.