… or is it a left-handed thing?
We were asked by a Club member whether any of us also have problems with greeting people with a kiss, either on one or both cheeks. She said that she often ended up bumping noses or planting the kiss firmly (and embarrassingly) on the other persons lips because she always seemed to start on the wrong side.
We thought about is and realised that we all do the same – it IS a left-handed thing!
When we asked about what other problems people had we got a huge response. Some of the things that were mentioned were:
- Crossing other peoples paths/position on pavement
- Hugging
- Taking neighbour’s drink/bread roll at the dining table
- Direction of work, decorating/painting rooms
- Being helped to put on a jacket
- Receiving change
- Putting children’s socks and shoes on
- Feeling more comfortable sitting on the left hand side of things
- Putting belts on upside down
- Visualise things the opposite way around
- Trouble opening/locking locks
- Work stations flow the opposite way around
- Organising files “back to front”
- Undoing wine corks anti-clockwise
- Putting clothes back on racks the wrong way round
- Flicking through magazines from back to front
- Line dancing on the wrong foot
- Tying shoe laces
It seems that a lot of the quirks that we have are a result of being left-handed in a right-handed world.
You can see a longer list of these and a huge amount of feedback from Club Members here.
The quirk that started it all was social kissing, and you can read a selection of anecdotes about that on the kissing confusion page.
Click here to join the Left-Handers Club FREE if you want to keep up to date with our surveys and Club member responses – It ISN’T JUST YOU – a lot of left-handers seem to do the same things.
If you want to add your own thoughts or experiences, please add a comment below.
My next door neighbor is left handed. Our kindergarten teacher tied her left arm behind her back and to the chair with a rope to keep her from doing anything in a left handed way.
Maybe she didn’t notice my left handedness.
My parents tried to force me to use my right hand to eat.
I tie my shoes unlike anybody I know. It works though.
I organise my books and DVD’s so they go from the right to the left. My mother was right-handed, so when I had to replace one of her DVD’s, she would always, in a light-hearted way, tell me to “do it [her] way!”
When I always go out to eat. My mom and Uncle are right handed. I usually sit on the same side as my uncle in a booth. Which usually means I have to sit on the inside. Tables are easier for me. Every now and then my uncle will like to be a smarta** and sit in the inside of a booth. So it leaves us banging elbows. Fun part is leaving the hostess wondering why I don’t sit down right away. Because I’m trying to figure out where to sit.
We LEFTY, ARE IN, OUR RIGHT MIND !
Hi I’m a proud leftie and love to make things on my RIGHT handed sewing machine…really frustrating sometimes, especially trying to thread the needle!
Also my past attempts at trying to follow RIGHT handed knitting and crochet patterns..
It took so many people, so many attempts to try to teach me to knit, until a friend finally got behind me and put her hands over mine and knitted LEFT handed and lo and behold it all made sense to me!!
But trying to follow a pattern is so sò difficult when you have to reverse everything!!!
And those screw in mop and broom heads are RIGHT handed, they always unscrew when I’m using them!! Frustrating!
I am 100% left handed. My salvation as a child was my mother was also left handed. She showed me that I was able to read and write upside down, backward (right to left) and any combination there of. always made me feel special.
My mother was right-handed, but my grandmother on that side of the family, was left-handed. So, my grandmother taught her daughter to do things over a table, mirroring each other. This was a technique my mother then used to teach me!
I am a second generation lefty with a left handed child. My father was left handed but wrote with his right hand;
but in sports he was left. My son is left all the way. I am left in small muscle needs, eating, writing, drawing. Right in large muscle chores.
When I was in college, we had desks with a right arm rest and writing surface. The professor made the left handers move to the back of the room because he said we had an advantage for cheating in those desks. Discrimination!!!
When I was at school, I sat on the left side of the double -desks we had. As a cadet, unfortunately we didn’t have any rifles suitable for left-handed use, so I learnt to shoot right-handed. Even so, I was a crack shot!
I remember starting out life as a leftie and I also remember my parents forcing me to use my right hand until it became automatic. Does that make me a righty now or am I still a leftie because I started out that way?
Well, I am left handed and I am so odd in my family. I actually used to be both handed which was unique in my school cause I was the only one. And I loved to be so creative.