Left handed people

[ItchyScratch]

Do you know today is
‘International Left Handers Day’

I am not left handed but all 3 of my kids are (which I find weird!)

Do you have any tales to tell as a left hander?
Are you proud to be one or is it a nuisance?
Did you grow up in the era when it wasn’t allowed 😳

[ErrolTheDragon]

@DGRossetti

The question this raises is why more right-handers don't use their left hand for the mouse.

because it requires a degree of effort and practice that few are prepared to put in ...

Also do you swap buttons ? I do, which is what makes using my mouse very difficult for right handers

Working on 3d graphics in the 80s, before the paradigms were more or less standardised, and in a small team in which lefties outnumbered righties (yeah, that techie stem thing again) we designed all the mouse actions to be fully customisable.

[DGRossetti]

Working on 3d graphics in the 80s, before the paradigms were more or less standardised, and in a small team in which lefties outnumbered righties (yeah, that techie stem thing again) we designed all the mouse actions to be fully customisable.

I have a very vague memory of MOUSE.INI having a line for swapping buttons under MS-DOS in the early 80s.

I thought graphics bods preferred trackballs and joysticks ? Certainly all the CAD terminals at uni (Techtronix ...) had joysticks.

[Dreeple]

@PickAChew

I mouse with either hand. Ditto typing on my phone. If I rest it in my right hand to type with my left I end up accidentally turning it off!

What I don't understand is how right handers successfully and accurately transfer food from their plate to their mouths with a fork in their non-dominant hand.

Because otherwise they’d be hungry.

[PickAChew]

@Dreeple 😅

[NatashaAlianovaRomanova]

I'm the only right handed one of 6 siblings!

We thought DD would be left handed but she's ended up fairly ambidextrous & it depends on the task which hand she'll use.

DS is fully left handed though which is the only thing he got from my side of the family!

[ErrolTheDragon]

We didn't find joysticks too useful in practice; trackballs were quite fun. But the mouse won out as allowing natural enough rotations and translations plus fine cursor control for selecting objects. (Sorry, OT!)

[Ulysses]

I’m On my Phone and notice that I scroll with my right hand . I use the space bar on the keyboard with my right hand too.

My mouse is on my left hand but I haven’t changed the mouse clicks. I really can’t use the mouse with my right hand at all.

[EBearhug]

It also always surprises me that string instrument players generally use their subdominant hand for fingering which requires more fine motor control.

Yes, but just because one hand is dominant, it doesn't mean you can't train the other. It's just muscles. Dominant doesn't mean the other side doesn't work at all.

[DGRossetti]

It also always surprises me that string instrument players generally use their subdominant hand for fingering which requires more fine motor control.

Still find it odd there's no apparent demand for left handed pianos. Or indeed mechanical woodwind instruments like clarinets or saxophones .... (could be exhibit "A" in a case that left-handers are just making it up )

[ErrolTheDragon]

Maybe people who are particularly strongly handed one way or the other don't get very far with instruments, sports etc requiring both hands?

Someone has built a left handed piano ... www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/piano/lefthand-piano-christopher-seed/

[DGRossetti]

Someone has built a left handed piano ..

Yes, I know .

LIGHTHEARTED
But it's interesting that lefties whinge on (and on) about needing left handed guitars (for example) which are a PITA to make. Yet now we can deliver a left handed piano at the flick of a switch, there's zero demand. After all, 10% of pianos sold should be left handed ?
END-LIGHTHEARTED

My bugbear isn't instruments, it's playing cards. I didn't realise I was left handed until I left home and started playing with shit playing cards. rather than the nice 4-pip Waddingtons. I'd be useless in a casino.

[EBearhug]

Aren't playing cards just cards? Rectangular bits of card. How does handedness affect them?

[Knittingnanny]

Left handed infant teacher here. I’m mid 69’s but was never made to write with my right hand. I can do most things with both hands except write!
My kindle is annoying though as the page turning is definitely biased towards right handers. I learned to play recorder, piano and violin ok and also to see, knit and crochet.
The first thing I always taught left handed infants was to tilt their writing page so the tip left corner pointed to 11 o’clock and to use a softer leased pencil. I also sat them on the corner of the tables so they didn’t clash elbows.
Re the chequebooks, I was offered a left handed version by Nat west in the 1990’s which was extremely useful.

[ErrolTheDragon]

@EBearhug

Aren't playing cards just cards? Rectangular bits of card. How does handedness affect them?

They typically have rotational symmetry, not mirror.

If a right handed person fans out a hand in the natural way, you can see the 'pip' in the top left of each. If a left handed does a mirror image of the same fanning action they'll see empty corners on the lower cards - unless there's 4 pips.

[DGRossetti]

If a right handed person fans out a hand in the natural way, you can see the 'pip' in the top left of each. If a left handed does a mirror image of the same fanning action they'll see empty corners on the lower cards - unless there's 4 pips.

Which arguably makes using right handed cards in a casino better for right handers, if you are playing poker ? Since a lot of casino cards are cheap and nasty 2-pip designs.

As I say, Waddingtons classic are perfect and well worth the premium.

[EBearhug]

Ah, I see what you mean. It's a long while since I played with actual cards, rather than on the computer...

[bettsbattenburg]

If a left handed does a mirror image of the same fanning action they'll see empty corners on the lower cards - unless there's 4 pips.

What pips? I've never noticed the pips on playing cards!

[DGRossetti]

@bettsbattenburg

If a left handed does a mirror image of the same fanning action they'll see empty corners on the lower cards - unless there's 4 pips.

What pips? I've never noticed the pips on playing cards!

Care to join my next poker game ?

[bettsbattenburg]

Care to join my next poker game ?

How do they help you though? I mean I've played cards for years and never noticed or used them so they can't be much use.

[DGRossetti]

@bettsbattenburg

Care to join my next poker game ?

How do they help you though? I mean I've played cards for years and never noticed or used them so they can't be much use.

If you are left handed and are struggling with right handed cards you find yourself forever having to rearrange them to be able to see what you have. Can be a dead giveaway to a skilled eye.

[alliejay81]

@Ulysses

I’m On my Phone and notice that I scroll with my right hand . I use the space bar on the keyboard with my right hand too.

My mouse is on my left hand but I haven’t changed the mouse clicks. I really can’t use the mouse with my right hand at all.

I'm right handed but am currently scrolling with left hand. Which I'd assumed was normal, will have to watch my left handed DS later.

[DGRossetti]

I'm right handed but am currently scrolling with left hand. Which I'd assumed was normal, will have to watch my left handed DS later.

Of course physical button placement on phones is right handed too ...

[Jojobar]

Leftie here as is one of my DC. The other is a latent Leftie (you can tell by how you cross your arms, if you go left hand first that's means you're latently left handed. He was pretty much ambidextrous until about 8 but I think used his right hand because everyone else in his class was).

I used to have team of 8 at work and 4 were lefties, completely coincidental

[ErrolTheDragon]

@bettsbattenburg

Care to join my next poker game ?

How do they help you though? I mean I've played cards for years and never noticed or used them so they can't be much use.

We're specifically talking about the 'corner index Pips' . I can't imagine how anyone plays cards without using them.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pip_(counting)

[bettsbattenburg]

f you are left handed and are struggling with right handed cards you find yourself forever having to rearrange them to be able to see what you have. Can be a dead giveaway to a skilled eye.

I must have a look next time I hold some cards, I don't have to rearrange them to see what I have, I just have them in a fan and can see at a glance what I have, I was playing cards last night and didn't have any problems.