Ambidexterity
- Thread starter Geckothan
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I am ambidextrous. And I swear if I had not been forced by my first grade teacher to write with my right hand I would have been a lefty. But these days I do a little bit with both. I still prefer my right hand to write with and I am terribly out of practice with my left so I am not going to attempt the writing exercise. (And speaking of mirroring, I can mirror anything I write with my right hand with my left. If you flipped it you wouldn't be able to tell which was which.)
I will also randomly switch hands from day to day. Most mornings I don't know which I am going to use until I brush my teeth in the morning. Most people think I am kidding but I can assure you I am not. What is even more strange is the fact that I will reverse things when I am a lefty. For example, I will spend the day thinking that the A button on the keyboard is under my right pinky while the return button is next to my left. I will also reverse all the levers on the steering wheel in the car. Instead of flipping on the turn signal I will wash the windshield. I also believe this why I can only use my mirrors to drive in reverse. If I try to back-up looking over my shoulder I just switch hands rather than flip car ends.
But if you need further proof... Being a designer and an artist that works mostly digital now, I do most of my work with a mouse. I learned to use the mouse left handed years ago and now I draw almost exclusively with my left hand. So I write right-handed and draw left-handed. However, I paint with both. I also sculpt, use scissors and sew with both. And I can be very dangerous when I cook. One minute I am chopping with the left, stop to stir a pot and then go back to chopping with the right. Just a quick spin of the cutting board and I am off and running. I also eat like that too. And when I cut something with a knife, I never bother switching hands to put the food into my mouth. It speeds up stuffing my face!
I will also randomly switch hands from day to day. Most mornings I don't know which I am going to use until I brush my teeth in the morning. Most people think I am kidding but I can assure you I am not. What is even more strange is the fact that I will reverse things when I am a lefty. For example, I will spend the day thinking that the A button on the keyboard is under my right pinky while the return button is next to my left. I will also reverse all the levers on the steering wheel in the car. Instead of flipping on the turn signal I will wash the windshield. I also believe this why I can only use my mirrors to drive in reverse. If I try to back-up looking over my shoulder I just switch hands rather than flip car ends.
But if you need further proof... Being a designer and an artist that works mostly digital now, I do most of my work with a mouse. I learned to use the mouse left handed years ago and now I draw almost exclusively with my left hand. So I write right-handed and draw left-handed. However, I paint with both. I also sculpt, use scissors and sew with both. And I can be very dangerous when I cook. One minute I am chopping with the left, stop to stir a pot and then go back to chopping with the right. Just a quick spin of the cutting board and I am off and running. I also eat like that too. And when I cut something with a knife, I never bother switching hands to put the food into my mouth. It speeds up stuffing my face!
In school, I used to freak people out during class by switching hands effortlessly when one hand got tired of taking notes. It even got noticed in a few very long meetings when I had an office job. It doesn't make a big difference to the quality of my handwriting to use one hand or the other. My left hand is my go-to hand, as I'm slightly better with it and definitely faster, but I write just fine with my right. I can do sports and other things with both hands, as well, which helped me make teams when I was otherwise undeserving (read: I was no star athlete, but the idea of being able to fake out the other team was appealing enough for the coaches to let me make the cut).
Let's see:
Right handed.
Left handed.
I guess I'm stuck with being a righty.
Right handed.
Left handed.
I guess I'm stuck with being a righty.
I'm completely right-handed except swinging a bat or a golf club. I can only do those two things lefty. That used to embarrass me as a kid. Sometimes in Little league I would bat righty just to fit in. Not that it made a difference I struck out either way.
I used to throw like a girl with my left hand...it looked bizarre so I've worked on that and I'm able to fake it better nowadays.
I'm still weak on my left side with handball though...I'm just a total spaz when it comes to hitting on that side...on occassion I can even look *gasp* not athletic!!!
I'm still weak on my left side with handball though...I'm just a total spaz when it comes to hitting on that side...on occassion I can even look *gasp* not athletic!!!
I forgot about sports. I used to pitch baseball and I always did it left-handed. I also hit left too. I also bowl and throw a football left. But I have to play tennis right handed or I ended up knocking the ball into orbit. I also favor my right playing hockey.
Sorry. Should have been more clear. I was speaking more of dishes that require a steak knife. I was taught that you cut your food with the knife, lay the knife down, move the fork to the favored hand and then eat it. Supposedly it keeps you from impaling your fellow dinners since your favored hand would give you more control. (And most people don't even bother with a knife in the US these days. We barbarians eat with our hands. And most restaurants will include one even if the food they serve doesn't require it. I guess they think we might need it to spread the ketchup on the bun.)
Sorry. Should have been more clear. I was speaking more of dishes that require a steak knife. I was taught that you cut your food with the knife, lay the knife down, move the fork to the favored hand and then eat it. Supposedly it keeps you from impaling your fellow dinners since your favored hand would give you more control. (And most people don't even bother with a knife in the US these days. We barbarians eat with our hands. And most restaurants will include one even if the food they serve doesn't require it. I guess they think we might need it to spread the ketchup on the bun.)
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Gee, which one do you think wins?
I'm sure if I practice hard for a long time, I could improve it, but I really have no reason to right now. I do most of my tasks with my right hand...eating, writing...I can hold a cup with both, and since I play violin, my left hand is actually a bit more nimble than my right, but my right arm is stronger. I shoot a rifle better right handed, but that's more of an eyesight issue. Pistol shooting, I use my left eye and my right hand...or left eye and left hand, and can shoot just as well in both set-ups.
I'm a lefty and so dependent on my left hand that if I lost use of it I'd be seriously frakked. I do NOTHING better right handed, and I lead all my physical movements with my left side. I can't hold a pen or a fork with my right hand, and sometimes the simple motor movement of closing fingers over a bag handle is difficult on my right side.
I've never seen anyone's else's handwriting that looks even close to mine. A school counselor analyzed it one time and said my penmanship was that of a sociopathic male rather than the blocky, pneumatic cutesy-looking handwriting a lot of my female classmates cultivated. I tried to do some left/right samples for this thread, but discovered I cannot even hold a pen in my right hand in such a way to get the ink end onto the paper.
Thank god I learned to type efficiently.
So definitely no ambidexterity here.
I've never seen anyone's else's handwriting that looks even close to mine. A school counselor analyzed it one time and said my penmanship was that of a sociopathic male rather than the blocky, pneumatic cutesy-looking handwriting a lot of my female classmates cultivated. I tried to do some left/right samples for this thread, but discovered I cannot even hold a pen in my right hand in such a way to get the ink end onto the paper.
Thank god I learned to type efficiently.
So definitely no ambidexterity here.
I forgot about sports. I used to pitch baseball and I always did it left-handed. I also hit left too. I also bowl and throw a football left. But I have to play tennis right handed or I ended up knocking the ball into orbit. I also have favor my right playing hockey.
Sorry. Should have been more clear. I was speaking more of dishes that require a steak knife. I was taught that you cut your food with the knife, lay the knife down, move the fork to the favored hand and then eat it. Supposedly it keeps you from impaling your fellow dinners since your favored hand would give you more control. (And most people don't even bother with a knife in the US these days. We barbarians eat with our hands. And most restaurants will include one even if the food they serve doesn't require it. I guess they think we might need it to spread the ketchup on the bun.)
That's a very American approach. British eaters cut with their right hand and use the fork in their left hand regardless of how they write. Which made life difficult for me, because I could never get the cutting motion with my right hand - I'd usually end up pressing down with the knife and using the fork to move the meat across it. This wasn't exactly efficient
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Heh, I'm forced to be ambidextrous with a few things due to my right arm not being nice.
Oh I forgot I can also do the Vulcan greeting with my left hand, but I can't do it with my right.
Hmm let's see, I'm nominally right handed, but I'm reversed for a few things:
-Right handed writing, but like Zion, I can sort of mirror write with my left (right to left). Not that my normal hand writing is of high quality
-Despite being brought up in Britain, I cut with my left, and use the fork on the right hand, which is opposite to the British approach. Though I'd perhaps put this down to poor co-ordination, since I've somehow managed to stab myself in the teeth with a fork before without realising what was happening....
-I wear my watch on the right arm, which I'm told is left handed.
-I was taught to touch type at an early age, so neither of my hands is to bad if they have to type by themselves, though I have to look at the keyboard if I'm only using the one and have to travel to the other hand's 'side' of the board.
-I don't favour either hand when it comes to holding a drink.
I think on the whole though, my left hand is steadier than my right, though my right can move faster than the left, especially when it comes to fine motor control. Though my fine motor control is fairly lousy anyway
-Right handed writing, but like Zion, I can sort of mirror write with my left (right to left). Not that my normal hand writing is of high quality
-Despite being brought up in Britain, I cut with my left, and use the fork on the right hand, which is opposite to the British approach. Though I'd perhaps put this down to poor co-ordination, since I've somehow managed to stab myself in the teeth with a fork before without realising what was happening....
-I wear my watch on the right arm, which I'm told is left handed.
-I was taught to touch type at an early age, so neither of my hands is to bad if they have to type by themselves, though I have to look at the keyboard if I'm only using the one and have to travel to the other hand's 'side' of the board.
-I don't favour either hand when it comes to holding a drink.
I think on the whole though, my left hand is steadier than my right, though my right can move faster than the left, especially when it comes to fine motor control. Though my fine motor control is fairly lousy anyway
I would give my left arm to me ambidextrous.
I'm primarily left-handed, and I use my left hand to write or hold a knife or participate in sports. In fact, the left side of my body is overall stronger than my right (left arm stronger than my right, vision in my left eye stronger than my right, etc.). However, I can use my right hand to perform many tasks. I'm not so left-hand-dependent that I have to switch everything around. I use a computer mouse with my right hand (I know some lefties who use the mouse with their left hand... I find it odd).
This doesn't make you ambidextrous; it makes you normal.
Sorry. Should have been more clear. I was speaking more of dishes that require a steak knife. I was taught that you cut your food with the knife, lay the knife down, move the fork to the favored hand and then eat it.
That's a very American approach. British eaters cut with their right hand and use the fork in their left hand regardless of how they write.
Yeah, that's what I was going for. The idea of switching hands to use a fork or cutting your food up first rather than using knife and fork simultaneously never ceases to perplex me. Fork in the left hand, knife in the right, never need to switch. That's why they're laid out like that on the table!
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