Lefties, care to share your left handed experiences?

My mom is lefty. I wouldn’t call this particular thing I’m going to name a struggle, but I know she tries to sit at the end of the table where her left elbow won’t hit the person next to hers right elbow when eating at a place that people are sitting very close.

In jr. high she had one teacher who used to insist she write with her right hand. I don’t think that happens anymore.

My mom writes lefty, but she cuts with scissors and cooks (stirs and mixes) righty, so she doesn’t have some of the struggles some lefties have.

Cartridge and shell casings eject into my line of sight when shooting most pistols, rifles, and shotguns. I must wear safety glasses, but that is always a good idea anyway.

I, too, try to sit at the end or left side of the table at a restaurant so elbows don’t touch.

Being a lefty was actually an advantage in karate class. During bouts (note they were not called “fights”) most of my opponents were righty so I was more used to their moves. Left was so rare they were not used to mine. I could often end it quickly – if they did not know me.

Haha, yep, all of those and pens on chains that are always on the right. Yep, gotta sit at the end of the table or, because I like to lean to the left I want the movie seat to my left or plane seat or whatever seat to be vacant. I want to sit on the left side of the couch to lean in the left armrest too, but ya know, the annoyances are worth it because we’re brilliant right? lol

According to family lore, my mother “cured” me of being a lefty.

That said, I still do a number of things ‘backward”, especially in the kitchen.
The markings my measuring cups are metric and my pot strainer has the lip on the wrong side.

I heard a lefty complain that while the Apple watch can be turned upside down for him (putting the crown on the correct side) the microphone still faces away from his mouth.

Every time a document is placed in front of me to sign, it is angled the wrong way (for a rightie).
School desks were backward.
While I do most things left-handed, I throw right-handed, because that’s the way I was taught.

I write sideways. Whenever I’m presenting something by writing on a chalkboard, I tend to slant sideways. It’s distracting and difficult to read, which is a problem I face because I want to go into teaching. In fact, writing on chalkboards feels just plain awkward.

(I suppose there are righties that also write sideways, but I remember even in elementary school, the righties always kept their papers straight while they instructed the lefties to angle their papers.)

I write left handed. On a blackboard I write right handed. I bowl and bat (softball) right handed.I use scissors right handed, I crochet left handed. Knit right handed. (mixed lateral dominance?) I think I just have things I do left handed and others I do right handed. (apropos of nothing at all I am able to write left handed backwards while simultaneously writing right handed forwards.)

My first grade teacher showed us (everyone) how to “slant” the paper. My left hand covers what I am writing and and the side of my hand drags through what I have written. Makes for messy papers until I got hard lead pencils. Ball point pens (the earlier versions) were a nightmare. All you could see was smeared ink!

Dad said I wrote “upside down and backwards.”

Leftie here. Fortunately, Mom had a sibling born left-handed who was forced to convert and witnessed what a struggle it was for her sister. When I came along, she was sensitive to how my needs might be different. When old enough to use proper scissors, she bought me a left-handed pair. She also gave me a vegetable peeler with blades that work in either hand.

School classes with the right-handed desks were a challenge, as well as the notebooks and binders with the spirals/rings on the left. Also chalkboards.

Certain sports pose a challenge for lefties, especially if the coach insists that they play right-handed. I bat left-handed, so that means when I actually hit the ball, it requires turning around to run to first base. Archery and golf teachers encouraged sport the “right” way. A On the other hand (pun intended), being a leftie playing tennis had its advantages.

Some of the points mentioned by others are so true: chained pens on the right side of the counter, being handed documents requiring a signature at an unnatural angle, measuring cups with markers on the “wrong” side, preferring to be seated on the far left or end of a rectangular dining table so as to not knock elbows.

On the topic of dining, there is a lot of moving the silverware and glasses around during a meal to accommodate the dominant hand.

Because we lefties are in the minority and the challenges the difference poses are often trivial, we learn to adapt without a fuss. It is always appreciated when takes our needs into consideration.

My dad was left-handed (I am not) but he was somewhat ambidextrous.

In college he would make a little beer money by playing tennis right-handed, inviting spectating strangers to play for money, and then switching to his left hand.

Advantage, Lefty!

@LuckyGuy, it’s similar for me, I am one of the only people in my Karate Class who can easilly change stances, from left leg forwards to right leg forwards when we are sparring

@ibstubro, that is why it is good to be a leftie using the metric system, because it always faces towards you (on most measuring cups)

@SecondHandStoke, I often have that problem with watches, I wear them on my right arm, but the little knob that you use to change the time, it always digs into my hand

@si3tech, It was always a struggle for my mum to teach me how to knit, she would show me one way (right handed) and I would go and reverse it and do something else strange. It also takes me longer to knit because of the way I hold the wool/yarn

@Pied_Pfeffer My mum did similar things, she put aside a veggie peeler that had a sharpened blade on the side I would use, she also bought me a pair of left handed scissors (which are very comfortable and seemingly only I am able to use). My dad also bought me a set of left handed golf clubs when I played it when I was younger; I actually played it not long ago, for the first time in ages, and found that I now prefer to swing and hit like right handed people. My grandmother would always get cranky at me when I set the table, because I would set it ‘backwards’.

I have also noticed that in lots of twins, one is almost always left handed, or ambidextrous.

@iheartMypuppy Twins can have mirror traits, they are called mirror twins or mirror image twins. Not only their dominant hand might mirror (one twin is lefty and one is a righty) but even one of them can have their heart towards the right instead of left, and facial features might look obviously mirror image, plus even things like birth marks might mirror on their bodies.

@JLeslie that’s strange, but cool too

^^I think the commonly held belief now is that when the egg splits a little later than usual you are more likely to get mirrored twins rather than both having the same features in the same direction. Both types of identical twins would be perfect matches genetically though. Mirror is rarer then perfectly matched, but not extremely rare.

@Magical_Muggle Use that ability to your advantage. You walk out giving no hint of preference and then strike fast and hard. Very effective.

Good to see you, @LuckyGuy.