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 😳

[MulticolourMophead]

Oh, I meant to add that I've recently been watching a lot of Asian street food videos online, and it's been noticeable that so many people are left handed. I wonder if the attitude to left handedness is different to ours?

[sleepyhead]

I struggle to use left handed things now as I grew up having to just make.my way with the normal stuff.

Growing up, I'd have loved to have had left handed scissors. I always used to have a huge groove in my finger from using right hand ones. I think in general though, scissors are better made now so it probably doesnt matter as much.

[Fatted]

DH and I are both right handed and both of our DC are left handed. I always thought it was strange we had two left handed kids when neither of us were. There is left handed people in my side of the family though.

[fussychica]

Mid 60s left hander here. Do everything except eat left handed but I'm not the greatest at cutting. My mum and dad taught me to hold my knife and fork the conventional way probably before they realised I was a leftie.
I used to hate cheque book stubs which got in the way but that's no longer an issue and smearing written work, that still happens. Fixed pens in banks/ shops are always difficult and only the other day I remarked that something wasnt set up for lefties but I'm damned if I can remember what it was.. Iron wires which used to be fixed were a pain when ironing as the cord uses to wind up. Can't knit properly, no one seemed to be able to teach me. Most of the time though I don't think about it.

[Magpiecomplex]

@senua

It’s crazy to think people were forced to write with their right hand as if it mattered.
Try sitting next to someone of the opposite handedness at school - you clash elbows. Of course the world is so much more advanced and understanding these days. DC don't do writing any more, they type to computer keyboards. Have you noticed which side the numberpad is on?

I've only just realised why my leftie son never uses the numberpad! Obvious now you mention it... Although watching him mouse right-handed and simultaneously write notes left-handed is amazing. I'm jealous!

[RednaxelasLunch]

Advice - Don't bother with left handed scissors. DC will be doomed to carry their own scissors for life! Will be difficult and expensive to find specialist scissors e.g. kitchen scissors, nail scissors, wallpaper scissors, fabric shears, pinking shears to name the ones I've used in my lifetime. Use the right hand. It might take longer to develop the skill but totally worth it.

Knives often have the cutting edge on one side only. Cutlery and kitchen knives. Always check it's double sided before purchase.

My GM was a leftie as am I. Eagerly awaiting to see if either DC are

Never thought about the lefties club before. But yes I always find fellow lefties easy to get along with now i think about it!

[Livy178]

I’m a leftie. Late forties but I tend to do most things the right handed way including eating ,ironing and chopping. My much older sister was a leftie and continuously had her pencil hit from her hand to encourage her to write with her right hand . I did not have that at school but I do remember a very old school type teacher telling me that being a leftie was a disability.

[InMySpareTime]

I'm predominantly left-handed but only started writing with only my left hand at age 7 (before then I just wrote with whichever hand was holding a pencil). I can only use righty scissors, but use my left hand to phone type (either hand to keyboard type but mostly one hand at a time).
To this day I cannot remember which is the "correct" way round to set knives and forks.

[izzybobsmum]

I am a leftie. I am also a stationery addict, but I struggle using fountain pens because I always smudge. And I always buy spiral bound notebooks that open flat otherwise I have to start writing 2 inches in from the centre and waste loads of space!

School tried to make me write with my right hand, until my mum went in and told them to leave me alone.

My daughter uses her right hand for everything except eating. She holds her knife and fork the left handed way

[Ginkypig]

I really like being left handed, the world is built for right handed people (some would disagree)but nearly all of us have adapted either by learning to use the right hand for certain things where there wasn't an alternative available like left handed scissors or in other ways so most things have become annoyances rather than real issues.
The one thing that I still struggle with is cutting bread because I'm too tight to buy a left handed bread knife although it was only this last year I realised that it was the knife being serated on the "wrong" side and not me
Oh and fountain pens or wet ink pens can be harder to use because my hand can get in the way before it dries.

I read magazines or newspapers from the back page to the front and other small things differently which apparently is a left handed thing. It's something to do with left and right side of the brain but I don't know enough to be able to explain it.

[wowfudge]

I never really got on with knitting, but crochet is fine - there's the odd pattern where something can end up on the wrong side because of working differently.

[StressyMcStressFace]

All the males in my DH family are left handed - including our son

[sleepyhead]

Im a total whizz at the numberpad due to a previous job. Also didnt realise that most people couldnt use the mouse and take notes simultaneously until recently.

Sometimes it pays off having 2 "strong" hands through necessity, even though I'm very left dominant.

[roundtable]

Both dh and I are left-handed but children are not.

I was convinced they would be!

[sitckmansladylove]

I'm a leftie. Once pulled off my handbrake dc is a leftie too.

[roundtable]

@sleepyhead

Im a total whizz at the numberpad due to a previous job. Also didnt realise that most people couldnt use the mouse and take notes simultaneously until recently.

Sometimes it pays off having 2 "strong" hands through necessity, even though I'm very left dominant.

It has honestly never occurred to me that right handed people can't use a mouse and take notes! I do that without thinking

[InMySpareTime]

@thefemaleJoshLyman turn the ring binder 180 degrees so it opens to the right, and punch holes on the right of pages.
Likewise with spiral notebooks, most have even feint lines so you can write in them with the book "upside down" so the spirals are on the right.

[ItchyScratch]

Very interesting replies!

I think right handed people (and I speak for myself here too) don’t consider any of these points or notice when people are using their left hands.
UNTIL they then have a left handed child.
And now even more so now that I have read your replies.

[wowfudge]

I've had to remember to make sure I can see the gauge on a kettle whenever we've needed a new one - they're often on the left from the handle so if you hold it in your left hand you can't see it. Also mugs that have a picture/pattern on the inside are a waste of time as you don't see it if you're using your left hand to hold the mug.

[MulticolourMophead]

Fountain pens are no longer a problem for my left hand. You don't even need a left handed pen. You just need a standard nib, with either a ball at the tip, or cut straight across (not at a slant), then you can use that same pen in either hand. It's a bit of a myth that fountain pens adapt to the owner's writing style, that could take many years,

My pens are standard cursive nibs and I use them in both hands. The reason I don't let other people use them is because they are mine and weren't cheap.

[Mumoftwo12345]

I'm a leftie and my youngest DD (4) looks like she will be.
I guess I've just adapted as haven't found anything too tricky. I maybe smudged writing in a notepad?
My parents always tried to get me to use my right hand, I think a teacher may have encouraged them to do it (1990's).

[JoshLymanIsHotterThanSam]

@thefemaleJoshLyman nothing helpful to add to your post...I just wanted to congratulate you on your user name

[MilkRunningOutAgain]

I’m a lefty, so is my sister, but no one else in the family. I find right handed scissors difficult but otherwise use stuff designed for righties with no problems. No one tried to make me write with my right hand thank goodness, I’m 53. I did hope the kids would turn out to be lefties, but no, they are right handed. I don’t think I’m that strongly left handed, I can write slowly with my right hand, I did this as a kid to disguise my writing, it’s quite a different style with the right hand. I love being left handed, it is an important part of my identity, though no idea why!

[Lozz22]

Left handed but apart from writing I do pretty much everything else right handed, except if I'm using just a spoon or just a fork then it's in my left hand because I have better control over it from hand to mouth without stuff spilling off it. I also butter bread left handed too

[Raahh]

My gran, mum, dad and sister (and me) are all left handed. None of my 3 children are, don't think my niece is either. None of us (even my 90 year old gran) have ever been expected to write with our right hands. My gran has gorgeous handwriting.

My mum and gran are expert knitters, but found it hard to teach me.

I've never had a problem with being a leftie- when I learnt to write, I taught myself perfect 'mirror' writing, which (at 48) is my party trick.

I do find a lot of things are right handed- and dh doesn't understand my frustration. Random things like the oven gloves we have- they are definitely designed for right handed people. It is hard to explain but they definitely are (they are the type with actual thumbs, and somehow I always try to put them on upside down) .

I used to have a left handed cheque book. One of those 'never realised you needed it, til you had one' things.