Can you tell your left from your right?

[TeaAndCakeMakeThingsBetter]

Had a random conversation yesterday where a friend and I discovered that neither of us instinctively knew our left from our right. It was part of a conversation around neurodiversity and it got me wondering whether it’s just a random blip in our brains or part of something wider. So - do you just KNOW left from right or does it not come automatically? I also struggled at school with random bits of timetables (6/7/8s - could never remember the ones where the answers were somewhere between 40 and 50, but had absolutely no problem with maths overall and got straight As st GCSE. That’s not a boast, more just that it wasn’t linked to academic intelligence!). Am also left handed if that’s relevant (but still have to consciously think about which hand I write with if asked 🙈).

YABU- duh, obviously I can tell left from right 🙄
YANBU - No! I have to really think about which is which 🙈

This has been a revelation to me! The 'middle tables' were a horror for me. We used to have to stand up & recite tables at school in front of our classmates (this is early 70s) and the 'middle tables' were the ones I dreaded! I taught myself methods to deal with it.. but I remain scarred!!

Yes of course I can but unless they're marked H and C, the only way I can tell which tap is hot and which is cold is to sing the Katy Perry song, as they're mentioned in order of how they appear in the sink or bath.

Lol no, never have been able to. My DH says it’s as instinctive as up and down but I think he’s lying or showing off.

It took me a long time to but now I do know it automatically. But that little voice in my head still says ‘I write with my right’ every time.

The best way for East and West is Never Eat Shredded Wheat - North, East, South, West when going clockwise

It's funny how our brains work. Left and right are as natural to me as up and down, but I do have a problem naming colours. It's weird, but I have to think about the names of basic colours.

I have to say to myself, you RIGHT with this hand.
My daughter says it's a sign of intelligence....LoL
I'm also ambidextrous.

Have trouble telling left and right apart. Up / down no issue, compass no issues though use news. Timetables no issues. Tests were you have to flip shapes lots of issues. Telling time on old clock difficult. Generally straight As. Do have autism in family but not me. Husband no issues. Lots of trouble with alphabet as child and spelling difficult but not dyslexic afaik.

I’m a Catholic. When I first started school the nuns would say eg: turn right and if we (5 year olds) were confused, they then say: the hand you bless yourself with. That’s how we learned left from right.

As a child I mixed up Tuesdays & Thursdays Wednesday’s & Fridays. Also Left & Right. I always thought I was dyslexic but now believe I am also ADHD after my son got diagnosed at 36.

Love sarcasm.

I have to wear specialist pressure stockings. They are made to my very precise measurements so it's very important to get them on the right leg. These socks say left or right on the label but I still have to look at my hands and make the L sign in order to know which leg to put them on. Every single time. 😂
Left handed and struggle with travelling south. Also absolutely no spatial awareness and have difficulty visualising anything in 3D.

I remember left because I'm left handed.cant everyone do it that way?

I write with my right hand, that's how I know. I definitely don't know without thinking!

I think it's more of a dyslexia thing.

Anecdotally, my son (ASD, left handed) has a great sense of direction, no issues with left / right, and is brilliant with numbers, maths, etc.

Whereas me (Left handed, many ASD traits) cannot do left or right, fractions, or clock reading, have a terrible sense of direction and map reading, lack of facial recognition out of context, huge problems with dyscalculia.

I was diagnosed dyslexic in my twenties. It was never picked up on when I was at school, because I was a keen reader and no issues with words.

I have to pretend I'm writing to be able to to tell left from right.😂 Been like that forever.

We'd better not have a conference, we'd never get there. 😂

I can't, but I'm cross-dominant. Tbh I thought it was just me.

I have to think about it. I think of a piano keyboard and that's the only way I can decide!

Dyslexic and dyscalculaic here and no I can't, I really have to think about holding a pen to figure it out. Also I'm ambidextrous which doesn't help 😂 learning to drive was not fun.

No, I don’t. It’s part of a general spatial incompetence.

When my kids are directing me to drop them off somewhere, they say, “Next turning my side.”

Right-handed. Not at all dyslexic. High IQ.

Also, can only read a map if I’m going up it.

This made me laugh 😂😂. I’m actually pretty good at map reading and can even manage the ‘turn right at the next junction’ type of directions, but if I’m under pressure I’ll be guaranteed to get it wrong! Suspect that satnav actually saved my marriage as the only time we ever really argued was in the car!

I can just tell, but we're just all different. I'm more likely to get words jumbled up (escalator and elevator constantly confuse me) but I can pull random equations out of my head with no thought. I always have to work out the date by starting "week commencing..." and then work my way up from Monday, but that's probably years of my line of work

No I think the comment was about left wing/right wing people, and it was a jokey response.

Agree that the poster was trying to be funny re: left/right wing politics- but I always think it’s a shame when people try to be clever and completely derail an interesting thread!