On being left handed

My left handed daughter recently discovered there was such a thing as a left handed pencil sharpener!!
She has other gadgets but says this is the best!

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Left handers are also very artistic.

Have you ever noticed how many actors are left-handed? You see them all the time when they're supposed to be writing or signing something in a film or drama.

I always notice because my father was left-handed as is my sister and one of my sons.
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My grandson is left handed and as a child found writing difficult but on the other hand he shone at art, acting and creative thinking. When he left school he worked at acting.film making etc.He is now a producer and head of creative ideas for a large digital firm.His brother is right handed and although he could produce really good paintings they lacked the spontaneous and loose quality of my left handed dgs. He went to university and works in finance. There is a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain which explains a lot of this. Also why engaging in artistic activities is relaxing even though hard work.kk

I’m left handed. Can’t use L.handed scissors. I write same as a right hander - no curving my hand above the writing. I taught myself to knit right handed in junior school then forgot. When I started knitting for my children I used to reverse the instructions because I was left handed when I didn’t need to. All that unnecessary struggling!
Bread knives, knives, saws all drift off when I use them as they’re only sharpened on the one side. Oh and upside down tape measures are another nuisance.
I’ve heard that the early cavemen were all left handed they can tell by the slant. So we were here first.

another one here who had their knuckles rapped at school for being left handed. I would dearly love to have beautiful writing but unfortunately not, I believe constantly being made to change hands being the reason.
I do more delicate coordination with my left, sewing, writing and texting etc. But anything that requires power I.e. tennis, heavy lifting etc is with my right. .

It might not be a problem getting a job now but my poor dad was refused jobs because of being left handed He was another who had his hand tied behind his back at school, he was was a very bright man, who was suited to office work, very quick with figures, he was never able to work in an office, he was always refused. He worked all his life in warehouses, shops, factories but never reached his potential
He had beautiful handwriting.

I’m left-handed, as is our daughter. Everyone else in the family is right-handed, as far as I know. I taught myself to crochet right-handed, just by manoeuvring my left hand more than my right. It was easier than reversing the patterns.
I also learnt to play hockey right-handed at school, because there were no left-handed sticks! I later learnt to play golf right-handed too, although I suspect I could hit harder with my left.
Gadgets which annoy me include the microwave oven, which opens on the right with controls also on that side! Do left-handed ones exist?! 🤔
Also scissors, tin openers and anything with labels on the right side (e.g. right-handed pics on mugs!). Irons are better than they used to be with central flexes (I don’t use one much anyway!🤣).
Kettles with the water level on the right side only!
I could go further with the problems connected with being only 5’ tall, but I’d be here all night!🙄

I can empathise now. DH has had a stroke and only has use of his non dominant left hand. I have just had two joints replaced on my right wrist which is now encased in a splint, so can only use my left hand too. What I cannot find is a combined knife, fork and spoon where the serrated edge is on the left hand side of the implement for cutting. What eating tools would help us?

My first husband was left handed as are both our daughters, 4 of our 6 grandchildren and our little great granddaughter, only only just turned 1 is showing a preference to using her left hand. I remember my mother-in-law telling me she was forced to use her right hand by having her left hand tied behind her back to stop her from using it - her writing was atrocious...

I am left handed and went to primary school in the 1950’s,was no problem,surprisingly really as the teachers were cruel.

Eating cake recently, my friend praised the smart pastry forks we were using. “They’re nice to use”, she said. “Not if you are left handed”, I replied!
I’m mainly a left hander although I crochet and knit right handed. I sew left handed. My left handed writing is not very elegant but is legible. I was told off at school for writing left-handed but not made to write with the other hand.
Left handed gadgets are easy to buy on line. During covid lockdowns, I bought a pair of left-handed hair scissors so that I could cut my own and DH’s hair. They are incredibly sharp and effective.
Sometimes, I don’t know which hand to use.

I'm lefthanded. At school we had to write in italics with a fountain pen. I had to blot each word as of course my hand would smudge the ink. I was never given extra time. In fact I learned to work harder than the right-handers. As a teenager I won a national writing competition!

I'm left handed but was never taught it was wrong at school. My Dad had the cruel bits. Awkward bit at school, were pens of course, smudging your work with the original dip in ones, and not a lot of understanding for that.

I'd say that yes, tho I am not ambidextrous, I have learnt to do a lot on the right so I only recently bought my first leftie thing, good sewing cutting scissors.

I'm left handed....my 3 children are left handed ....2 of my gc are left handed ....none of us use anything special for left handers ...we just manage with the normal things eg scissors

AuntieE

Judy, I am not left handed but had many friends at school that were, and have taught many children who were, too.

Surely you know that you can buy scissors, dressmaking shears, potato peelers, tin openers, and for all I know handsaws as well that are made for left-handed people?

In my schooldays, the left handed had fountain pens with left-handed nibs.

I'll just pop into my local pound shop then and buy a pair of left handed scissors/peeler/tin opener then, shall I?

No, I don't think I will - I'll have to locate a speciality shop or large expensive store with a massive kitchenware department, pay a fortune and wait for the item to be delivered which will cost me extra.

And left handed nibs don't stop yoiur left arm and elbow rubbing across what you've just written and smudging it.

A classic example of thinking you know more than the people experiencing the issue.

I write with my left hand but everything else I do right handed. I am ambidextrous a lot of the time too. The first teacher I ever had just for one term back in 1956 made me sit on my left hand but the next teacher was younger and told the whole class to write with whichever hand was the easiest. Five of us swapped.

delighted to know there are lots of fellow 'lefties' out there. I was always told left handed people are more intelligent (well we all know that!) because we live in a right-handed world and therefore have to use both hemispheres of our brain more. Having said that I am very clumsy and have the world's worst hand-writing. I think 3 of my 6 grandchildren are left-handed too.

I've just returned home after a visit to my son and his family. I noticed my GD eating cereal lefthandedly and asked if she was left handed. Her mum said she thought she used both hands for things but sometimes drew with her left hand. If she is ambidextrous I guess that is probably advantageous, but she is still quite young - 3 later this month - so only time will tell.
There are left handed versions of many things these days but maybe not everything you need. A friend of mine who runs one of the craft groups I attend is left handed. She often teaches people crafts and has both left handed and right handed versions of some things such a scissors and pinking shears so people can borrow her equipment. Schools always have both types of scissors for pupils to use and thankfully kids are no longer forced to use their right hand. I think my late FiL was naturally left handed and was forced to be right handed. He developed a stammer which came out if he got stressed or upset and I think it was related.

I was left handed, but my mother thought this would be a disadvantage (in the 1960s) so “made me” right handed by persuasion/encouragement or whatever means necessary.
I didn’t know this until I was older and being constantly corrected by a teacher for embroidering back to front…
I still do things back to front, but write with my right hand - although I can also write reasonably neatly with my left.
I have a little granddaughter who is left handed, and like me she is artistic and bright 💕 I will buy her some left handed scissors when I see some, and have looked into ways to teach her to knit and crochet when she’s ready.

I am left handed, as are both my daughters and my eldest granddaughter. I learnt Calligraphy as part of my Art ‘O’ Level and had to use special left handed nibs. I remember an old friend of my parents saying she had to learn to write & do things at school right handed although she was left handed. But she had left handed gadgets for the kitchen e.g. a tin opener and scissors.
I also use some left handed things & my youngest dd prefers ring bound books to be bound on the top rather than down the side because the binding gets in the way.

Judy, I am not left handed but had many friends at school that were, and have taught many children who were, too.

Surely you know that you can buy scissors, dressmaking shears, potato peelers, tin openers, and for all I know handsaws as well that are made for left-handed people?

In my schooldays, the left handed had fountain pens with left-handed nibs.

My Dad was another of those who had his hand tied behind his back and hit over the knuckles with a ruler if caught using his left hand. He developed a stammer which in later years was told it was probably as a result of those punishments for left handedness. He did have a lovely teacher later on who taught him mechanisms for curing his stammer.

I am left handed but for some obscure reason I iron with my right. Scissors are always a problem. Do any other left handers share my bug bear with mugs in that the inside motif can only be seen when holding them in your right hand!

I'm left-handed, but not made to write with my right hand. My father, born 1910, was a "shifted sinistral".
DD, born 1973, is also left-handed. I remember that, soon after she started school, her teacher said to me,"I'm afraid your daughter is left-handed." Well, she had a stellar academic stack-up. Actually.

Within our immediate family, two of my four granddaughters are left-handed, one of my OH’s daughters is left-handed and both of his grandsons! Quite a high percentage.