On 12/02/2023 14:26, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> I use the mouse right-handed because my first experience at using
> a mouse was at other people's desks and I was reluctant to move
> stuff around on someone else's turf. I'm pretty ambidextrous at
> most tasks, except for writing.

Interesting that you say you're left-handed and pretty ambidextrous
except for writing, because my impression is that left-handed people
seem to be more strongly polarised (less ambidextrous) than right-handed
people.

I'm right-handed (I can barely make a mark on the paper, let alone write
legibly with my left hand). But for most other tasks I'm fairly
ambidextrous: I can hammer or tighten a screw with either hand, and
often alternate to give one hand a rest. I tend to pour with my left
hand, mainly so I can stir/mix with my right hand as a pour in with my left.

I worked with a woman who was so strongly left-handed that she could not
open a door with her right hand if the handle happened to be on the
right as she approached it: she would always turn sideways so her left
hand was next to the handle. I remember her ranting that some of the
doors were "right handed" and this discriminated against people like
her. She was a bit flummoxed when I pointed out that every door which
had the handle on the right when you approached from one direction had
it on the left when you approached from the other direction (and vice
versa).

For me, it is only precision tasks like writing that I can only do with
my right hand. Everything else ("non-precision tasks" such as pushing
and pulling) I use whichever hand is closer - and maybe, less tired!

My mum is left-handed but is of the generation when children were
encouraged to do as much as possible right-handed, so as "not to be
different". So she uses a knife and fork in the conventional hands (fork
in left, knife in right). She started out using a mouse left-handed but
eventually got so fed up with the rest of us leaving her mouse on the
right hand side when we'd been helping her, that she got used to using
it right handed. I offered to swap the mouse buttons over but she said
that this was more trouble than it was worth: just because she held her
mouse in her left hand, she didn't see why she should want to left-click
with her right (index) finger and right-click with her left (middle)
finger. This is just as well: I find that I can use a mouse almost as
well with my left hand as my right, but what really stops me dead in my
tracks is if the buttons are swapped.

The one thing I've noticed with a lot of left-handed people is the
really awkward and painful-looking way they hold a pen when they are
writing. I realise that with a fountain pen, where the ink takes a
little time to dry, there is the added problem for a left-handed person
than they have to take care not to smudge the ink with their little
finger as it *trails* their writing hand that they are resting on the
little finger, whereas a right-handed person has their little finger
*ahead of* what they are writing. But even allowing for that, a lot of
lefties seem to hold their pen in an awkward contortion so it is at the
same angle as a rigthtie would hold it in, rather than a mirror-image.
And often with their wrist covering the previous line, so their hand is
bent back on itself, often gripping the pen between the knuckles of
their index and middle fingers, rather than having it below the line
that they are writing which looks more comfortable. I wonder how much is
finding out for themselves they most comfortable position and home much
is "even though you are left handed, you must try to hold your pen like
a right-handed person".

On 2023-02-12, NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
> The one thing I've noticed with a lot of left-handed people is the
> really awkward and painful-looking way they hold a pen when they are
> writing.

I'm not one of those. I just drag my hand across the text. That's
probably one of the reasons I favor fine-point ballpoint pens: less
ink to smear. It does take a little more effort to push the hand
across the paper than pull it. It's a little academic these days;
I haven't done much handwriting in several decades.

I am, however, inclined to use spiral-bound notebooks from back to front
to keep my hand away from the spiral.

> I realise that with a fountain pen, where the ink takes a

I've never used a fountain pen.

> little time to dry, there is the added problem for a left-handed person
> than they have to take care not to smudge the ink with their little
> finger as it *trails* their writing hand that they are resting on the
> little finger, whereas a right-handed person has their little finger
> *ahead of* what they are writing. But even allowing for that, a lot of
> lefties seem to hold their pen in an awkward contortion so it is at the
> same angle as a rigthtie would hold it in, rather than a mirror-image.
> And often with their wrist covering the previous line, so their hand is
> bent back on itself, often gripping the pen between the knuckles of
> their index and middle fingers, rather than having it below the line
> that they are writing which looks more comfortable. I wonder how much is
> finding out for themselves they most comfortable position and home much
> is "even though you are left handed, you must try to hold your pen like
> a right-handed person".

Some of it probably depends on what the teacher demanded of them. By
the time I went to school, they had pretty much stopped trying to
turn lefties into righties.

--
Cindy Hamilton

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 12 Feb 2023 23:49:15 +0000, NY
<me@privacy.net> wrote:

>
>My mum is left-handed but is of the generation when children were
>encouraged to do as much as possible right-handed, so as "not to be
>different". So she uses a knife and fork in the conventional hands (fork
>in left, knife in right). She started out using a mouse left-handed but
>eventually got so fed up with the rest of us leaving her mouse on the
>right hand side when we'd been helping her, that she got used to using
>it right handed. I offered to swap the mouse buttons over but she said
>that this was more trouble than it was worth: just because she held her
>mouse in her left hand, she didn't see why she should want to left-click
>with her right (index) finger and right-click with her left (middle)
>finger. This is just as well: I find that I can use a mouse almost as
>well with my left hand as my right, but what really stops me dead in my
>tracks is if the buttons are swapped.

My mother had heard stories of parents tormenting their left-handed kids
to make them right-handed and she didn't want to do that, so she just
put the fork and glass or whatever where my right hand would find them.
I presume that means I had left-handed tendencies or was truly
left-handed or it wouldn't have been even thought of. Now I'm
right-handed for everything except throwing a ball and bowling, more
confirmation that I was born left-handed.

And my hand-writing is terrible. I can't even make a round O. I've
given up on script and I print and sometimes can't read my own printing.

My mother thinks that my handwriting is bad because when I broke my leg
in the 5th grade and was home for two weeks, and I didn't do the
handwriting homework the teache sent home (the only stuff she sent)
that's the reason I can't write right. I've never told her that it was
settled by the end of 1st or 2nd grade.

I use my right hand for the mouse and have no problem. I bat
right-handed. I wear a ball glove on my right hand but that's because
I throw with my left.

On Wed, 15 Feb 2023 00:12:36 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com>
wrote:

>In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 12 Feb 2023 23:49:15 +0000, NY
><me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>My mum is left-handed but is of the generation when children were
>>encouraged to do as much as possible right-handed, so as "not to be
>>different". So she uses a knife and fork in the conventional hands (fork
>>in left, knife in right). She started out using a mouse left-handed but
>>eventually got so fed up with the rest of us leaving her mouse on the
>>right hand side when we'd been helping her, that she got used to using
>>it right handed. I offered to swap the mouse buttons over but she said
>>that this was more trouble than it was worth: just because she held her
>>mouse in her left hand, she didn't see why she should want to left-click
>>with her right (index) finger and right-click with her left (middle)
>>finger. This is just as well: I find that I can use a mouse almost as
>>well with my left hand as my right, but what really stops me dead in my
>>tracks is if the buttons are swapped.
>
>My mother had heard stories of parents tormenting their left-handed kids
>to make them right-handed and she didn't want to do that, so she just
>put the fork and glass or whatever where my right hand would find them.
>I presume that means I had left-handed tendencies or was truly
>left-handed or it wouldn't have been even thought of. Now I'm
>right-handed for everything except throwing a ball and bowling, more
>confirmation that I was born left-handed.
>
>And my hand-writing is terrible. I can't even make a round O. I've
>given up on script and I print and sometimes can't read my own printing.
>
>My mother thinks that my handwriting is bad because when I broke my leg
>in the 5th grade and was home for two weeks, and I didn't do the
>handwriting homework the teache sent home (the only stuff she sent)
>that's the reason I can't write right. I've never told her that it was
>settled by the end of 1st or 2nd grade.
>
>I use my right hand for the mouse and have no problem. I bat
>right-handed. I wear a ball glove on my right hand but that's because
>I throw with my left.

Just before I started the 4th grade, my teacher fell off of her horse
and broke her right wrist, so for most of that school year she asked me
to come up and write things for her. She kept a diary on each of the
students, including me, so I had to make those entries, and of course I
had to record all of the test grades, etc. Why me? I had the best
handwriting of anyone in grades 1-4. The first 4 grades were in one
classroom, and grades 5-8 were in the other classroom.

On 2/14/2023 9:12 PM, micky wrote:
> In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 12 Feb 2023 23:49:15 +0000, NY
> <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> My mum is left-handed but is of the generation when children were
>> encouraged to do as much as possible right-handed, so as "not to be
>> different". So she uses a knife and fork in the conventional hands (fork
>> in left, knife in right). She started out using a mouse left-handed but
>> eventually got so fed up with the rest of us leaving her mouse on the
>> right hand side when we'd been helping her, that she got used to using
>> it right handed. I offered to swap the mouse buttons over but she said
>> that this was more trouble than it was worth: just because she held her
>> mouse in her left hand, she didn't see why she should want to left-click
>> with her right (index) finger and right-click with her left (middle)
>> finger. This is just as well: I find that I can use a mouse almost as
>> well with my left hand as my right, but what really stops me dead in my
>> tracks is if the buttons are swapped.
>
> My mother had heard stories of parents tormenting their left-handed kids
> to make them right-handed and she didn't want to do that, so she just
> put the fork and glass or whatever where my right hand would find them.
> I presume that means I had left-handed tendencies or was truly
> left-handed or it wouldn't have been even thought of. Now I'm
> right-handed for everything except throwing a ball and bowling, more
> confirmation that I was born left-handed.
>
> And my hand-writing is terrible. I can't even make a round O. I've
> given up on script and I print and sometimes can't read my own printing.
>
> My mother thinks that my handwriting is bad because when I broke my leg
> in the 5th grade and was home for two weeks, and I didn't do the
> handwriting homework the teache sent home (the only stuff she sent)
> that's the reason I can't write right. I've never told her that it was
> settled by the end of 1st or 2nd grade.
>
> I use my right hand for the mouse and have no problem. I bat
> right-handed. I wear a ball glove on my right hand but that's because
> I throw with my left.

My left handed older sister was forced by her school to write with her
right hand. That probably messed up her whole life. She never had much
confidence in anything.

I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

On Thu, 16 Feb 2023 01:53:17 +1100, Bob F <bobnospam@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 2/14/2023 9:12 PM, micky wrote:
>> In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 12 Feb 2023 23:49:15 +0000, NY
>> <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> My mum is left-handed but is of the generation when children were
>>> encouraged to do as much as possible right-handed, so as "not to be
>>> different". So she uses a knife and fork in the conventional hands
>>> (fork
>>> in left, knife in right). She started out using a mouse left-handed but
>>> eventually got so fed up with the rest of us leaving her mouse on the
>>> right hand side when we'd been helping her, that she got used to using
>>> it right handed. I offered to swap the mouse buttons over but she said
>>> that this was more trouble than it was worth: just because she held her
>>> mouse in her left hand, she didn't see why she should want to
>>> left-click
>>> with her right (index) finger and right-click with her left (middle)
>>> finger. This is just as well: I find that I can use a mouse almost as
>>> well with my left hand as my right, but what really stops me dead in my
>>> tracks is if the buttons are swapped.
>> My mother had heard stories of parents tormenting their left-handed
>> kids
>> to make them right-handed and she didn't want to do that, so she just
>> put the fork and glass or whatever where my right hand would find them.
>> I presume that means I had left-handed tendencies or was truly
>> left-handed or it wouldn't have been even thought of. Now I'm
>> right-handed for everything except throwing a ball and bowling, more
>> confirmation that I was born left-handed.
>> And my hand-writing is terrible. I can't even make a round O. I've
>> given up on script and I print and sometimes can't read my own printing.
>> My mother thinks that my handwriting is bad because when I broke my leg
>> in the 5th grade and was home for two weeks, and I didn't do the
>> handwriting homework the teache sent home (the only stuff she sent)
>> that's the reason I can't write right. I've never told her that it was
>> settled by the end of 1st or 2nd grade.
>> I use my right hand for the mouse and have no problem. I bat
>> right-handed. I wear a ball glove on my right hand but that's because
>> I throw with my left.
>
> My left handed older sister was forced by her school to write with her
> right hand. That probably messed up her whole life. She never had much
> confidence in anything.

There is no real evidence that that caused her lack of confidence or messed
up her whole life.

> I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 15 Feb 2023 06:53:17 -0800, Bob F
<bobnospam@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 2/14/2023 9:12 PM, micky wrote:
>> In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 12 Feb 2023 23:49:15 +0000, NY
>> <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> My mum is left-handed but is of the generation when children were
>>> encouraged to do as much as possible right-handed, so as "not to be
>>> different". So she uses a knife and fork in the conventional hands (fork
>>> in left, knife in right). She started out using a mouse left-handed but
>>> eventually got so fed up with the rest of us leaving her mouse on the
>>> right hand side when we'd been helping her, that she got used to using
>>> it right handed. I offered to swap the mouse buttons over but she said
>>> that this was more trouble than it was worth: just because she held her
>>> mouse in her left hand, she didn't see why she should want to left-click
>>> with her right (index) finger and right-click with her left (middle)
>>> finger. This is just as well: I find that I can use a mouse almost as
>>> well with my left hand as my right, but what really stops me dead in my
>>> tracks is if the buttons are swapped.
>>
>> My mother had heard stories of parents tormenting their left-handed kids
>> to make them right-handed and she didn't want to do that, so she just
>> put the fork and glass or whatever where my right hand would find them.
>> I presume that means I had left-handed tendencies or was truly
>> left-handed or it wouldn't have been even thought of. Now I'm
>> right-handed for everything except throwing a ball and bowling, more
>> confirmation that I was born left-handed.
>>
>> And my hand-writing is terrible. I can't even make a round O. I've
>> given up on script and I print and sometimes can't read my own printing.
>>
>> My mother thinks that my handwriting is bad because when I broke my leg
>> in the 5th grade and was home for two weeks, and I didn't do the
>> handwriting homework the teache sent home (the only stuff she sent)
>> that's the reason I can't write right. I've never told her that it was
>> settled by the end of 1st or 2nd grade.
>>
>> I use my right hand for the mouse and have no problem. I bat
>> right-handed. I wear a ball glove on my right hand but that's because
>> I throw with my left.
>
>My left handed older sister was forced by her school to write with her
>right hand. That probably messed up her whole life. She never had much
>confidence in anything.

That's a shame. My mother's plan may have screwed up my handwriting,
but not the rest of me.
>
>I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

L

Not LOL because I've heard it before, but I'm happy to hear it again.