Are left handers an entirely different race?

Originally posted by dawnstar
I do think I tend to think differently from other people....something, I am sure a few here have noticed. I tend to bring in a bunch of seemingly unrelated items and tie them all in to make a point....but, I think that is just me...everything is related, at least in my head, and thus one thing will effect everything around it.

Im not sure if i have read any of your posts yet.. but i still i know what you mean. I kind of find the similarity in your post as to how i would think in my head or the difference from others compared to yours. And i keep feeling too also that i tend to think differently from other people.. but now i know enough to find out..most of the people are thataway..but when you are really thinking different is when you tend to think things in different way ..upon things that most people think same about and have same opinion on but you have a unique way of thinking the same matter and with different sort of imaganative power (unique in a sense that its sometimes even weird..BUT.. not in a bad way.. but things somebody would have never thought of saying, i guess i use it mostly while im joking with people and getting them to laugh. That sort of thinking comes in handy then because you always say the weirdest things in a way that they would have never thought of). Well i thought ,this uniqueness i found in me maybe due to the reason of my star sign. Now i have an another possibility to think towards to.. Maybe because im a leftie?


p.s = i understood you.. were you able to understand me? or i jus seem weird ?

I'm a natural lefty but my parents made me write right-handed when I was young so now I can only write right-handed. I can't write left handed even if I tried. No matter how hard I try though, my handwriting sucks, dunno if thats related.

Also, when I started playing golf at 6, I played left handed but then my instructor made me play right-handed since he said golf courses were designed for right handers. Now I regret doing it, since I always wonder if I'll be a better player as a left hander. I still play baseball left handed though.

My right hand is more agile now, but my left hand is stronger. For some reason, I naturally play guitar right handed.

And yea, I'm definetely "weird" in terms of thoughts...I always think differently than other people.

Yes, why yes I am superior to you all, being left-handed and what not.

In all seriousness...no.

someone may already have said this but i cba looking at every post there is a difference between left and right handed GENERALLY. according to the biological sections of the brain, the right love of the brain controls the left side and vice versa. no idea why, it just does. there was a test done, like someone got stabbed through the right side of the brain (this is gospel truth! he was the first person to survive having his brain impaled. niceeeeee ) and completely lost control of the left side of the body.

Again, GENERALLY it has been found left handers have a more artistic, no creative flare. emphasising this isn't always the case, right handed people tend to be more logical (not as in common sense logical obviously ) in the sense that right handed people tend to be more adept at mathematics, the sciences and other "intelligent" subjects and left handed people more adept at art, music etc.

I'm a good example, as i'm totally hopeless at maths, mediocre at the sciences, but you could put a musical instrument infront of me and in an hour i'll be able to play it. for example 25% of the worlds' drummer (on record) are left handed. put that against the fact that 9% of the worlds' population are left handed, its a pretty big proportion! feel free to correct anything ive said but as far as my psychology lessons go its all correct lol

I'm left-handed too, but I don't think I'm a different race...

Honestly, the most interesting thing about it is the difference between being right-brained or left-brained.

My whole life I've felt like the odd man out, not beause I use my left had, but because I feel like I have a completely different thought process going on. It's caused me more grief than I care to recall. It's part of why they considered being left haned a learning disorder back in the day, and honestly, that might be close to the truth. I don't know if I would go so far as to say it's a disorder, but it definitely requires a different approach.

I am constantly misunderstood, or misinterpreted. I can't solve Math problems using the same process as everyone else, and got bad grades because of it. I would get the right answers, but when 'showing my work' I was penalized because I did not follow the right formula or thought process they wanted to see. I didn't even understand it, so I couldn't pretend to fake it.

It doesn't have to be just a math problem either, to this day I have difficulty with group work because when we're faced with a problem I usually try to reason it out in the exact opposite way everyone else does.

Basically, I feel like I do everything backwards, including thinking.

When I was in first grade, you couldn't even read my name on my papers without using a mirror. I wrote everything exactly backwards, and to this day, I still can. It wasn't that they were trying to teach me to use my other hand, it was just something I did.

I would say I'm more atristic than most, but I think it's just because I have to struggle to express myself to others, and there is a lot more freedom and possibilities for complex concepts with whatever art form you lean to.

My grandfather was also left-handed, and I spent a lot of time with him as a child, so everyone in the family just thinks I took after him, but I think it's really genetic.

I'm having the hardest time trying to articulate what I mean by feeling like my whole life has been backwards...

Any other left-handers feel that way?

Thanks for that little bit at the bottom by the way, to whomever, but I was referring to difficulty with describing the situation. I already read that others feel backwards. Now I'm wondering how to deal with it.

[edit on 26-10-2005 by LucyStoner76]

OMG i used 2 write backwards! only as a child, but still. i know what u mean with the maths thing as well, but the thinking backwards? i'm not sure about that. as far as i can tell i've got a different thought process than most, but i don't see it as backwards, just i see things from a completely different point of view.
As for it being genetic i'm not too sure either, because i've got no left handers in my family at all, including grandparents, not sure about further back, but as far as i know there are none. think you're right about the diff thought process, but don't see it as backward. it's different, which is good. if everyone was the same, the world would be a damn boring place!

When I was growing up, I faced the same problems that most lefties here have faced. Notebooks with the spiral on the "wrong" side, desks that only left that little kidney shaped piece left to write on, the "special" scissors that couldn't cut butter, let alone paper...the list goes on.
However, I think it made me adapt and become better suited in today's environment. Cars are for righties (gear shift), as are can openers, credit card swipers at stores, computers mouse, printers, etc. I like it that way. I don't want to have to relearn how to cut, or open a can of corn just because I am left-handed. Nowadays, for the kids, they have "wireless"
notebooks, bi-dextrious desks, and unilateral scissors.
I have an IQ of 132, I am great at drawing and writing, stink at math..but I don't think it is because I am female, or an Aries, or left-handed.
I think that I am who I am because I made myself that way.

About righting backwards. All my mates used to spin out when i used to write in the misty windows on the bus, doing it backwards so people could read it outside. I could do it as fast as writing normally. They would just say a word and l would scribe in the mist.
Never thought it could be something to do with being a lefty. Mind you i never had any trouble with my handwriting was always one of the neatest in the class, despite having to curl my hands in a totally awkard fashion to stop that damn smugde.

I've seen a study somewhere that said that the entire population is half right-handed and half left-handed. It's the influence in our early years, that forces us to be right-handed. Even simple things like setting the table for right-handed people.

Interesting note: We discovered at my local aviation school, that aviation mechanics are primarily left-handed. Anywhere from 70% to 90% are left-handed. Might have just been just a one time deal, but interesting.

Wow! I can't wait to tell my Mom I'm not the only kid that would write everything backwards! She always just thought it was some weird quirk from the teachers trying to get me to use my right hand, even though I would insist they never did...

And the description is the same, too, how cool! It's an easy thing for me to do too, and I can stun people when they see me do it with the same speed I would write my name forwards... It actually became a lot easier when I learned cursive...

I realize I might be off topic, but that was just really cool to find out I'm not an anomaly...

I have an uncle that supposedly would speak in tounges like he was possessed when he was two. Had the deep voice and everything, and it terrified my normally level-headed grandfather... I always thought there must have been something strange with our family's "wiring" so to speak. Maybe someday it will be figured out and recognized as a legit phenomenon...

[edit on 27-10-2005 by LucyStoner76]

Originally posted by cyberdude78

Originally posted by hungryhippo
I've also heard that lefties are a bit more artistic.

If thats true I'm an exception.

As for lefties being smarter, I wouldn't call us smarter. It just so happens that many of us (including me) think differently which gives the illusion that we're smarter, that or it's a more efficent thinking process. Of course I strongly doubt my thinking process is all that efficent, so I might just be an exception.

So I gotta say, if aliens did a bit of genetic work with lefties I probably got the short end of the stick as far as artisticness goes. But like I said, I think it's just a different lifestle.

Im lefthanded, but not all that artistic.. i did draw 2 black and white paintings when i was like 11 or something and got them in an exhibition.. it wasnt that great really... but if you ever gone to an exhibition you know you will find some paintings youll look at and wonder how the hell did this painting get there any 6 year old could have done better, then you look at the price tag and wonder why you dont paint yourself... my grandfater is right handed and hes a real artist, so dunno about the lefhanded artist theory but still it could be that more % of us lefties are musicians and artists or something.. (:

Maybe we lefties do think differently, i think i often see flaws in designs other people overlook and such.. maybe its just some natural strive for perfection, or maybe we use the opposite sides of the brain compared to right handers, or maybe use both sides more.. not sure really.

Atleast i know the skill of trying to dodge a person on the sidewalk and constantly getting back in front of the person thats dodging in the opposite direction from the other side

I guess I should reply since I'm also a lefty.

Speaking about writing backards, in high school I would write complete little stoies backards. The strange part was when I would turn the paper around and hold it to the light, the writing I saw was not mine. It was actually neat and legible! As for math, I was always pretty good and did get a degree in engineering. I used to draw pretty well too, but now days I don't have the patiance. But my spelling is and always has been terriable!

How about leg dominance? I'm completely left-handed, but right leg dominant, as in soccor, football, etc.. Are left-handed people usually left leg dominant? I have no idea. Anyone?

I highly doubt it. If that were the case, than Id be a race changer. I was born left handed, and when I was learning to write, I held the pencil in my left hand. But the teacher forced it into my right hand, and the doctors kept telling my mother to force me to use my right, so I was then made a right hander, which is why I have sloppy writing and left to right coordination problems.

We are still human.

As a left handed person,
I am shocked and outraged
at the title of this thread!

Outraged?? Stress less! I just thought it would be a good header to grab peoples attention!! Not meant to be taken literally really. Just wanted other peoples thoughts on why they think its not 50/50 or otherwise. Even if l was it would only make me happier. Im just glad society got some common sense and let me carry on unlike some other people that got forced right, like my Dad. Thats an outrage.

I'm another one in the "leftys" club. I was shouted at and berated for using my fork "in the wrong hand" when I was 5 (!) by a dinnerlady. That was traumatizing, but not as traumatizing as my grandmother calling me stupid for not writing with my right hand at a similar age

I'd go along with the "musical, creative, recreational" theory, it seems pretty apt in most cases, and I for one get on better with them than anything "logical", like driving a car or fixing a blown fuse.

I can use right handed scissors, but not left handed, and I'm better on a right handed guitar than a left, but Tin openers and golf clubs.....grr

Tin openers are bad for me as well. I always feel really dumb not being able to open a simple can. I've tried different types too. I don't have one now, but electric ones work fine - so do pull-tops. Cans of tuna though - ugh! I go round and round...

Has anyway tried a left handed can-opener?

Originally posted by nikelbee


Has anyway tried a left handed can-opener?

Yep...I don't know if it was upside down, back to front or inside out, but it wasn't opening tins. I try to stick to ring pulls

Yeah - I tend to shop for tins of food based on pull-tops. Lots of baked beans, lentils and sweet corn.

This place is London is fun to browse; expensive but some amazing things you never thought they would come up with.

www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk... (they do golf clubs and those expensive pens I mentioned earlier on this thread).

I'm a lefty too, but like alot of others I do things righthanded as well. I remember that I was a minority in public school, late 60's early 70's but it wasn't a big issue, my friend was a lefty but completely, I play all sports and physical activities right but wear my watch and and pins buttons etc. on my right side which is what a true lefty would do. My friends didn't even notice for years when playing darts, one friend finally pointed out I was throwing with my right hand and writing with my left. He thought it was neat freaky, I thought it was special as for trying to write forehand, forget it I'll take the backhand slant anyday, afterall that's what comes naturally to me. I remember trying to write forehand in public school and most times my hand and arm world start to ache with that pins and needle kind if feeling, not to mention my writing was atrocious, my friend the true lefty, would turn her paper almost upside down just so she could write forehand, her parents insisted on it. Thank goodness my parents didn't because one of my brothers is a complete lefty too, and is an amazing sketch artist. Could you imagine if all people were to be right-handed, how it might have changed some history in the art world, if some were to be forced to use a hand that wasn't natural to them, would some never recognise even their own talents, by not being allowed to even explore. I think I like living in this century