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SUPERHERO TO THE GODS
by Super Logica

previous entry: Wildflower photos

next entry: My life would suck without you

A left-handed crusade

08/12/2010

Being left-handed has its downsides. Sure, we are historically part of a rather creative/intelligent subset of society and can count among our numbers Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Aristotle, Neil Armstrong, Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, Barack Obama, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Eminem, Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Sting, Lewis Carroll.... but we also have to put up with life in a right-handed world. We are the victims of one of the last acceptable prejudices!!

All this has come to mind because someone wrote on a blog that I follow that they would like a left-handed Filofax. Now for those who aren't British/geeky, a Filofax is an organiser/diary that is a ring binder, usually made of leather, and you buy your own inserts for it. They are, basically, the highlight of the world of organisers. CHECK OUT THEIR AWESOMENESS.

I immediately leapt to my left-handed companion's defence and said "I WANT ONE TOO." (That's another good thing about being left-handed: you automatically get admittance into an elite group of awesome people, and you can immediately bond with strangers over the fact that you too are left-handed.) Unfortunately, a right-handed person questioned my response and said "Tell me how a left-handed Filofax would be different". "Ho ho ho", I thought to myself, because I'm secretly Father Christmas, "Time to unleash guilt on to the world of right-handed people." I wrote a list of everything I could think of off the top of my head that is difficult/different if you're left handed. It reads as follows:

- Can't use can openers (can buy a left-handed one for more money though)
- Can't use veg peelers (can buy a left-handed one for more money though)
- Can't use cork screws! (can buy a left-handed one for more money though)
- Can't use scissors properly (can buy a left-handed pair for more money though)
- Rulers and tape measures run the wrong way (can buy left-handed ones for more money though)
- Pencil sharpeners turn the wrong way! (can buy a left-handed one for more money though)
(Traditionally I should now mention ink smudging, but I still learnt to write properly despite being left-handed so I don't smudge my ink )
- Have to buy a special guitar! (I don't, I'm shite at guitar anyway!)
- Pretty much can't use power tools at all unless I want to accidentally maim/kill myself
- Have to learn sports backwards to your right-handed teacher
- Have to learn to knit/sew/write/paint/do woodwork/etc backwards to your right-handed teacher
- Number section of keyboard is on the wrong side
(- Lots of people struggle with computers being laid out wrong, but I actually don't mind using a mouse with my right hand)
- Key turning in locks is difficult
- Have to use handbags backwards, because most designs only have the pattern on one side and the zip is the wrong way round for left-handed people (people never believe me on this one, but find a left-handed friend and ask them to show you!)
- Collecting change from a cashier is awkward, because people instinctively go for the right hand
- Belt designs are often upside down

And finally, something that particularly irked me at school: When you fan your cards out while playing cards, you can't see the numbers or suits if you're left-handed! You have to fan them "backwards" (i.e. right-handed) to see them, and that doesn't feel right!

So I wrote this list, and then realised that Filofax at least are left-hand friendly. The main issue with notebooks is that the binding is too tight and left-handed people struggle to right on the right-hand side because your hand knocks against the spine (this is true for right-handers writing on the left page, but traditionally society writes on the right-hand side). If you have that issue with a Filofax you can re-organise it.

All you right-handed people are now thinking either "What a pointless entry" or "OMG I SEE THE WORLD IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT". All you left-handed people are nodding!

Left-handed people of the world, unite!

Incidentally, tomorrow is left-handers day, when we get to celebrate how awesome we are. See, life isn't all bad. Good luck having a right-hander day, losers!

previous entry: Wildflower photos

next entry: My life would suck without you

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Matt and my sister are lefties. Matt likes being lefty, plays lefty guitar (unusual - most lefties learn right coz it's cheaper). My sister is a total SPAZZ and can't do the SIMPLEST thing cackhanded. I think she is actually NO-handed.

[Mojo JojoStar|0 likes] [|reply]

LOL, I enjoyed this entry. I am left handed. Incidentally, I also happen to have a nerve problem with my right hand, so I've learned to type quickly entirely with my left. But I hate always moving the mouse. Also, I still smudge pencil markings and ink. And growing up, those stupid turn handle pencil sharpeners in classrooms made me crazy.
I could make my own list

[stars may collide|0 likes] [|reply]

You should do a list! I, however, can't view your blog so I won't see it

[Super Logica|0 likes] [|reply]

Apart from writing and using a mouse I do every else left handed, I've never had a problem using any of the above. I'm weird when I eat though, I can only cut with my left hand, and use a fork with my left hand, so I have to cut, then swap my cutlery around so the fork is in my left hand, and then eat. You don't need a special guitar if you're left handed, you simply change the strings and strap position.

[Transit|0 likes] [|reply]

Or you know, you could just try to adapt and be semi-ambidextrous... just a thought...

I know I did...

[kein mitleidStar|0 likes] [|reply]

how can a belt be right handed? all my belts do up on a different side. just depends where i buy them from as to which way they do up (lowlife is to the right, dodge is to the left). also, how can lefties be awsome if they live on average 9 years less than a righty.

[*RAWKMONKEY*|0 likes] [|reply]

That statistic is skewed because in the olden days (like, even a couple of decades ago) left-handed people were more likely to die in accidents, etc. It's the tool issue all over again.

[Super Logica|0 likes] [|reply]

Come on people, let's give the girl a hand!

[Big Bruv BloopStar|0 likes] [|reply]

.... SHAKING HANDS. I have the urge to do it with my left, but then it just gets awkward! I pretty much only write and eat left-handed now though. I can do everything else with my right, including write and eat! but left feels more comfortable to do those things lefty. x

[The RyanStar|0 likes] [|reply]

I'm left handed and don't have to deal with a lot of the stuff you wrote about because I was taught to do the majority of it with my right hand. I never even thought of trying to use a computer configuration (mouse, etc) on the left side til I visited my uncle who was left-handed as well and his mouse was on "the wrong side". Though I can easily use it on either side with buttons normal or reverse. And I think I would be awful typing 10-key with my left hand.

I can't believe all the things our stupid right-handed society has force me to do with my weak hand!!!! Imagine how much better I'd be at all of these tasks had I been taught to do them with my dominant hand! lol.

oh, and I wanted to add... along the same lines with the change thing... It drives me NUTS when you have to sign for something and the person tries to put the pen in your right hand! It's very awkward!

[Loving Ciaran|0 likes] [|reply]

My sister is left handed yet I didn't know about half of these. Interestingly there seems to be an above average number of lefties in our anaesthetic department.

[~RedFraggle~Star|0 likes] [|reply]

Yeah, there was something else I was reading the other day where there was a higher than average number of lefties in a vocation... Oh, it was pilots! They think because they're more comfortable dealing with knobs and buttons and things with both hands.

Bloop seems to have a high proportion of lefties too!

[Super Logica|0 likes] [|reply]

don't by a special guitar, just re-string a normal one. on an electric it just means the knobs are the other way round. my brother did it that way lol. "fuck buying a special one, i'm not stupid!" he's more ambidextrous these days anyway.

i've never had a problem handing over change. i just dump it in whatever hand you present me with.

[& skull.|0 likes] [|reply]

ahh, my Dad was a lefty, but I never really noticed- the fate of an englishman born in 1921 lefthanded was to be forced to write with the right. he also had no real trouble with any manual tasks, having had manual jobs his whole life. I suspect he was fairly ambidextrous, im not too bad with old lefty myself. i eat lefthanded. can I have a eating lefthanded day?? .

[mrs mandy mooStar|0 likes] [|reply]

Sure you can! I eat right-handed, as it happens. Most left-handed people do apparently, because society never really adapted on the eating front!

[Super Logica|0 likes] [|reply]

Gosh, that is so true about handbags - that is why I like the kind that close with a press stud. However, I've never thought about it till right now, and realise that the new handbag I just bought is totally the wrong kind because it zips up! Actually, I've never paid attention to a lot of these things (other than scissors which really annoy me!) because I'm clumsy anyway. I do hate that our writing system is left to right though, so we have to push the pen rather than pull it, so lots of pens don't write smoothly for us! Gosh, I could write a whole emo sob story on it!

[PUCK POWERStar|0 likes] [|reply]

previous entry: Wildflower photos

next entry: My life would suck without you

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