I don't know how many other lefties are out there but I just thought I would share a book that I've been reading that is pretty interesting. http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/left-handed-history.html It is definately slanted as to how outstanding lefties are but none the less a very interesting read. I was describing it to Kathy Durham (as one of her sons is lefthanded) and I couldn't remember the author. When I looked it up I had to giggle. His name is Ed WRIGHT!
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
The new Prez is a lefty.
Posted by Dan Beach (Member # 9850) on :
Yes, it is indeed true that lefties rule!
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Several of the last few presidents were lefties. This book points out that aproximately 10% of the population are lefties but a disappropriate number of them were leaders. It tries to make the point that because of the fact that lefties have to constantly "adapt" to the right handed world (use right handed tools, scissors, measuring cups, etc.) from birth on, they tend to sometime take a different path to get to the same goal. I liked this sentence... "While the minds of right-handers tend to be wired the same, in left-handers there is more variability, more risk, greater uniqueness, perhaps justifying the folk wisdom that left-handers are more likely to be geniuses, but also more likely to be morons." hehehe Like I said, it is a very interesting read...can't always agree with ALL of it's conclusions (like it says I should be good at Math!) but I am enjoying it.
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Actually, "Lefties" or "Southpaws" are probably the most sinister people on this Bulletin Board.
They have to overcome the fact that the alphabet was designed to be written going from left to right, and so they are having to compensate to avoid dragging their hand through the letters they've just written. That has to be a significant "handicap" for one who aspires to be a signwriter. Most "backhanded" styles of lettering originated from the hand of these sinister folks.
Before I get flamed for labelling those of the left persuasion with the term "sinister", here's how Noah Webster defines that word:
My wife, son, daughter-in-law and neice are all lefties. One interesting thing about this is that the whatever hand you use tends to correlate with your "hair sworl"; that little spiral cow lick on the back of your head. Mine sworls clockwise, I'm right handed. My son, on the other hand, has two sworls spiraling in opposite directions. He eats, writes and shoots his rifle LEFT handed, but shoots his bow and arrow RIGHT handed (he's deadly accurate with both the gun and the bow too), and plays his guitar and dobro right handed.
[ January 23, 2009, 12:47 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
Posted by Pat Welter (Member # 785) on :
"The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it." Lefty Johann Wolfgang von Goethe And "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Lefty Martin Luther King Jr. And yes I'm left handed, Thanks Jane, will have to look that one up. Pat.
Posted by Graham Parsons (Member # 1129) on :
It is a duty of all left-handers to create chaos at a round dining table by using the "wrong" side plate, wineglass, etc, and then watch all your right-handed friends try to follow on around the table!
Ah ha! Revenge is ours!
(Yes, I'm left-handed and proud of it, damn it!)
Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
I'm not left-handed, but I'm left-eye dominant.... so I guess that's why I shoot rifle, shotgun and pistol left-handed. But like Wayne said, I shoot bow right-handed. Throw baseball right-handed, but throw Frisbee left-handed... usually when eating, I get a spoon in my left hand, fork in right, and go at it with both hands.....
So basically, I don't know if I should lead, follow or get out of the way.
\manners, schmanners..... //the eating thing was actually a joke \\\I usually just eat with both hands with-out a spoon or fork ////I LOVE SLASHIES
/
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
I write right handed, but I do everything else with my left hand (hammer, saw, paint, brush teeth, etc). What does that mean?
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Isn't the hand/arm opposite your writing hand usually stronger? Or do I have that backwards?
[ January 23, 2009, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: Todd Gill ]
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Raymond, you probably would have written left handed if you were younger...what I mean by that is my brother, who was 13 years older than me was the same way. He wrote as a righty and did pretty much everything else left BECAUSE when he got to school, they "switched" him. He used to tell stories about one teacher who used to swat his hand if he used the wrong one! The good thing that happened to him though was he used to be able to start hand-lettering the truck door with his left and finish it with his right! But in the early 60's teachers got a little more lenient about the lefty thing and now they PROVIDE lefty scissors, etc. I was in between...I write, hammer, use most tools, paint, etc with my left. But there were so many things that I just couldn't find a left handed version of...bowling balls, guitars, etc. or if you could, it wasn't easily or cheaply. I just learned how to bowl or use a scissors right handed. I always think it is funny to challenge friends to do some things whit their left hand that they don't normally think about doing. Try using a scissors with the "wrong" hand....it will give you new respect for what little kids who are lefties have to endure.
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
So is that why I get flamed on every post? Because I am left handed!
My father gave me a book called the "Southpaw" by 'Don Hamilton Haines'. he recieved in 1936 at school.
He gave this to me because I was the only one of many children that was lefthanded and felt out of place. He himself is not a lefty! But told me to go on with the strenght of hand and mind.
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Jane - no, I was writing with my right hand before I started school and it was just a natural thing for me. I can letter with both hands, but my dominate hand to do almost everything is my left.
When I write on a chalkboard I use both hands.
My father was left handed and my mother was right. Two brothers - one left handed, one right.
"So is that why I get flamed on every post? Because I am left handed!" ...yea, that's probably the reason, Stephen.
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Raymond
I do everything left handed! But there is one thing I do right handed! Hold my wifes' Heart at night, when she is asleep.
Posted by Pat Welter (Member # 785) on :
Ya, Jane I to got it from teachers, like to for get those years...Told my Dad I wanted to be a pitcher, so he got a big jam pail the size of a catchers glove and nailed it to a grainer wall the hieght of a catchers glove, march of the distance to the pitching mound and said "put the ball in the pail"...Every night after school for a 1/2 to 1 hour I would practice putting that ball into that pail. Got pretty good at it too...In high school I had a 90+ mile an hour fast ball...watching batters swing was like watching a delayed reaction (looked pretty funny). We took the Provincial(state) that year cool...But the lesson learned was, if you want something bad enough, figure it out march it off and practice...And you will get good at it, I promise.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
When doing window splashes or when walldogging...it is fun to see the look on people's faces when I start with my right hand and continue across by switching to my left hand,and vice versa.
It comes in very handy because I don't hav tomove as often!
Now all I have to do is learn to spell.
[ January 23, 2009, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: Si Allen ]
Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :
Interesting Pat, southpaw pitchers are always in high demand and have well documented advantages. Of course left handed catchers are rare for different reasons.
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Another lefty here.
Actually, I swing both ways, sorta.
Gotta write with the left, but used to write with both 'cept when I used the right hand, I wrote everything backwards.
Can't use lefty scissors.
Can use a regular or goofyfoot stance for board sports.
Tools, paintbrushes, airbrushes and other things I can use both hands.
Can't play a guitar anymore but I used to play a regular guitar lefthanded with it turned upside down.
Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :
Here's one. With all the left handed batters in baseball, what looks to be equal amounts of right and left handed shooters in hockey, and so many of both sides in baseball, why is there a rarity of left swinging golfers? On the pro tour I can think of 3 or 4 tops.
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
I'm like Si ,,, I prefer right with a brush, but can switch to left just as easy painting.
Is an art old walldogs learn?
Jon ... I'm a bit like you too!
Is it in the JON name?
Or just hand/eye co-ordination skills both my friends have?
My major problem is when last year I dislocated my right shoulder and tore the ligiments off the front of the joint. Sorta slowed me up a bit signwriting for a while.
Went back left hand but it is weak with nerve damage in the elbow (landing on funny bone?) Numb last two fingers still.
Surgical solutions to both not recommended after scans X-rays etc .... 50-50 chance fixing or making worse. Physio exercises ... hot jet spa pool and use the brain in the middle to pace the pain!
WORKED!
[ January 24, 2009, 03:45 AM: Message edited by: Jon Butterworth ]
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
There is an old saying.
Those that use their right hand are using the left side of their brain.
Those that use their left hand are using the right side of their brain.
That will make all lefthanded people 'Right'!
My wife gave me a birthday gift one year... 'A lefthanded coffee mug.' Plus a lefthanded sketching book!
[ January 24, 2009, 05:48 AM: Message edited by: Stephen Deveau ]
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
Us Ozzies drive on the left side of the road ... right? Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
DAVID, most lefties, have figured out GOLF is a STUPID WASTE OF TIME...why do it))))))))))))) LEFT HANDED BOWLERS....are the best...natural HOOK, 1st time i picked i up a bowling ball, and threw it, some guy watchin me...jumped up and said, man i wish mine would HOOK like that. i missed all the pins, untill i moved to my right, on approch, and threw the ball to the left gutter, it would look like it was gone in the gutter, THEN IT JUST TOOK A RIGHT TURN....))))))) left handed BOXERS, are not liked in the game. problem for right handers, and most lefties got a jab, if they box righthand stance, will drop most it hits. i think MARCIANO, JOE LEWIS was lefties. its also good if you play ACCORDIAN!!!! left keyboard is rhythm maker. POTTERY, left is better, due to most wheels turn counter clockwize!!!!!! michealangelo, divvinci where left handed.
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
I used to "walldog" with a "leftie"
Great team work!
He would start at one end of the 16ft plank 16ft in the air and we wold finish meeting in the middle real fast!
Posted by Mike O'Neill (Member # 470) on :
Lefty here...
...and I know which way I swing
quote: Actually, I swing both ways, sorta
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
AC DC?
Posted by Donald Thompson (Member # 3726) on :
I'm a lefty also. Two of my three daughters are lefties. I have had people in this industry see that I'm left handed and say that I'm "blessed." The problem is, if you don't have talent to go with a blessing, then it is not of much use. I am so blessed in many other ways though, not just being a lefty.
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
As being lefthanded person, I have painted, all my artwork from right to left!......Graphics and Text. Shame on me!
[ January 27, 2009, 12:47 PM: Message edited by: Stephen Deveau ]
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
Left-handed here....is there another way?? )
Posted by Tony Ray Mattingly (Member # 469) on :
I am left handed but right eye dominant. When I was on the Police force (retired) I had to shoot the pistol with my head leaned over and I had to shoot the shotgun right handed.
Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :
Tony Ray Mattingly sounds like a southpaw pitcher in the big leagues somewhere. Has that ring to it.
Posted by Michael Boone (Member # 308) on :
whats really ironic is Wright on a leftie post...
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
I once took a friend to a Cincinnati Reds try out camp where he tried out as an ambidextrous pitcher...no kidding...of course he didn't tell them that until he got on the mound to show them his stuff...he threw both left and right handed...though his left wasn't that fast and he had some control problems...still he threw better than anyone I had ever seen throw with their opposite hand...I wont try to tell the whole story...but it was one of the funniest days of my life...after throwing a few balls righthanded with the scouts looking on assessing his talent...he pulls his glove off and somehow crams it on the other hand and announced to the catcher he would now be throwing with his left hand...needless to say he had everyone's attention as his first pitch as a lefty soared over the catcher's head and with such perfect projectory as to go through a small opening between where the backstop and the press box screens overlapped...loudly shattering one of the windows in the press box behind...you could have tried all day to duplicate the feat and never succeeded...the expression on the faces of the Reds scouts...some in official Reds uniforms...was priceless...as well as that of our young red-faced friend standing on the mound with his glove crudely stuck on the wrong hand...you had to have been there...though the Reds didn't need an ambidextrous pitcher on that day it was still well worth our long drive for the laughs and the memories...it's been about 35 years now since Phil's famous tryout with the Cincinnati Reds...but he still remains our hero and not once have we let him forget how impressive he was on that fateful day...true story
[ January 29, 2009, 12:21 AM: Message edited by: Rusty Bradley ]
Posted by Lori Wilcox (Member # 8042) on :
![[For Your Information]](graemlins/fyi.gif)
Before I get flamed for labelling those of the left persuasion with the term "sinister", here's how Noah Webster defines that word:![[I Don t Know]](graemlins/dunno.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
)