Thread: Are you left handed?

I am a righty, as are my wife and oldest daughter.
The youngest is stil not certain. sometimes she favors her left, sometimes her right.

I shave with both hands without a problem.

I'm a lefty alright.. i write crooked and all. Shaving has been interesting but noticed that i shave the cheeks better on the left side and under the cheek on the right side. {not hands, but face}

Right now I guess that I am left handed. But if I was not injured, I would be right handed and left foot.

I am left handed and my left eye is dominant.( for two eyes open shooting)
I write with the right hand but it is easy for me to write with the left.
I tend to favor my left hand for the finer tasks, except writting.

Lefthanded. I love it. I always had the advantage in fencing because most of my attakcs came from a side that people weren't used to parrying.

Haven't fenced in years though. Still don't mind being a lefty.

Also right eye dominant. I shoot with 2 eyes open and focused on the target.

I am right handed currently. When I was a small tot I was left handed but my grandmother told my mom it was the mark of the devil. Soooo every time I picked something up with my left mom smacked it, didn't take long for me to become a righty. My sister was also born lefty but mom didn't listen to granny by then so she is still lefty. Her hand writting is much neater than mine so just goes to show. My son is also a lefty.

I voted left-handed because I prefer to write as a lefty. I also throw a ball, shoot a bow, fire a rifle/shotgun, etc. as a lefty.

OTOH (no pun intended) I golf, bat, shoot a pistol, brush my teeth, use scissors, and a number of other things predominantly as a righty. I can also write right-handed, but don't often do it.

There are many things I do ambidextrously. Both hands work equally well for me when I use eating utensils, comb my hair, and use most hand/power tools (hammers, drills, saws, etc.). Shaving fits well here also, but stropping and honing are better as right-handed activities for me.

I thought ambidexterity was more uncommon than it appears in this thread, or maybe the thread title is just teasing it out of the woodwork. My mother claims to be ambidextrous, but I think she strongly favors her right hand.

Even though I do possess both a left and right hand, I am said to be right-handed since I favor my right hand in daily use. My left hand can do anything that my right hand can do though, and vice versa. Anyone who has two functional hands should be able to verify this with their own hands. To me, using a non-favored hand until it performs as well as the favored hand is similar to learning a different language. It's a matter of assimilating the concepts of an unfamiliar task into the procedural applications necessary to perform the task. The brain is a marvelous tool!

I think what's being said here is that many people are, at least to some degree, cross-dominant. I believe that's what I described for myself, although I termed it ambidextrous.

From wikipedia:

Cross-dominance, also known as mixed-handedness, mixed dominance, or hand-confusion, is a motor skill manifestation where a person favors one hand for some tasks and the other hand for others. For example, a cross-dominant person might write with the left hand but grab primarily with the right. Ambidexterity is a well-known variant of cross-dominance, but cross-dominant people may also be left or right-handed rather than ambidextrous.

It can also refer to mixed laterality, which refers to a person favoring eyes, ears, feet, or hands on one side of the body. A person who is Cross-dominant can also be stronger on the opposite side of the body that they favor; for example, a right-handed person can be stronger on the left side. Cross-dominance can often be a problem when shooting or in activities that require aim.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

To me, using a non-favored hand until it performs as well as the favored hand is similar to learning a different language. It's a matter of assimilating the concepts of an unfamiliar task into the procedural applications necessary to perform the task. The brain is a marvelous tool!

In theory I'd agree, but in practice I haven't found it to be particularly true. A friend of mine has Dystonia which has affected her right hand for the past 4-years. Although she has tried valiantly, she still cannot write with her left hand.

You might find it to be an interesting experiment to, say, brush your teeth or wipe your butt (no grossness intended) with your "non-favored" hand and see how long it takes you to get as proficient as with your preferred hand. You may find that, like learning a foreign language, you will always have an "accent" . However, a truly ambidextrous person will achieve equal dexterity in a similar setting. YMMV