righty turning lefty

[zhul4nder]

I was thinking, would it be possible for a person that originally learned to write with their right hand to learn to be equally as dominate writing with their left hand.

I believe it would be possible but, could it be like language where it wouldn't be as effective if learned later in life?

Currently I am attempting to learn to write effectively with my left hand, I think I am making progress.

Anyone have any ideas?

[blindreper1179]

you could be good at it, but i don't think you'll ever turn dominant.

[GuidoHunter]

A friend of mine was a righty, then broke her arm in the first grade and learned to write with her left.

She's now a lefty.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[Tokzic]

Most ambidextrous people are trained, so yes, if you really wanted to, you could learn to use your left hand as efficiently as your right.

[Fractal_Monkey]

I believe that it is entirely possible to learn to write well with your non-dominant hand. There have been a number of cases of people who have lost their writing hand or arm in accidents, and have been forced to learn to write with the other hand.

I did a similar thing myself. I was born left-handed, but I "switched hands" at the age of four, when I was just starting to learn to write. (It wasn't for any medical reason - my parents tell me I didn't like the left-handed scissors that my local preschool brought in specially for me.) As a result, I write with my right hand. My handwriting is legible, but not very good. I can write with my left hand, but not as quickly. The legibility is about the same with either hand. However, I am predominantly left-sided - my left eye is dominant, and I kick mainly with my left leg. I play some sports left-handed, some right-handed, and some I switch hands depending on what I feel like doing.

In short, you can learn to write with your weaker hand, maybe even just as effectively as with your stronger hand, but it may take a while.

[jewpinthethird]

You simply have to condition yourself to be able to write with your non-dominate hand through practice. Just as you had to learn to control your scribblings as a child with your dominate hand. I was told that I was ambidextrous as a child, but chose my right hand.

I've contemplated learning to write with my left hand because I have terrible handwriting and handwriting does differ depending on which hand you use.

[i_like_ham]

What would you do with this new found power?

[sjoecool1991]

A lot of people in my family are ambidextrous.
My grandfather for instance, he goes fishing with a right handed pole, golfs left handed, writes left handed, played baseball right handed.


One person I know lost his right eye, and he is a lefty, so he learned in baseball, to bat right handed.
He has one eye, which means no depth perception, but he is an incredible outfielder, and also a great pitcher.

[jewpinthethird]

Originally Posted by i_like_ham

What would you do with this new found power?

Well...really the only benefit would be the ability to take notes extremely efficiently...as the binding would not get in the way if you were able to switch off hands.

Also, having two sets of handwriting could be handy if you ever need to write a ransom note.

[sjoecool1991]

Actually, you could play stepmania better, lol.
Also, piano players would benefit greatly.
Look at Revolutionary Etude, that song is ridiculous lefty work.

[tsugomaru]

Originally Posted by Tokzic

Most ambidextrous people are trained, so yes, if you really wanted to, you could learn to use your left hand as efficiently as your right.

Then I must be a special ambidextrous person.

I can do pretty much everything with both hands almost equally well. There are things where I do better with either left or right (but not by much), but there seems to be no consistent pattern. I play soccer better as a right footer, baseball as a left hander, football doesn't matter which hand I use, I shoot better with my left, but play darts better with my right. The list goes on.

Also, if you ever do wish to write with both hands because you want to write two different things at the same time, good luck. It takes an amazing amount of skill. I can write with both of my hands at the same time, but it is very difficult for me to write two completely different things.

Jewpin, you are right about the bindings. It's very, very useful. However, my hand writing for both hands are almost identical. But then again, you could say my hand writing is identical to that of my first grade teacher who taught me how to write. I guess the only noticeable difference is the fact that my left hand will smear my writing. My friend has tried writing with his other hand and I've noticed that his writing is different and I'd have to say it's because he's holding his pencil differently in each hand.

~Tsugomaru

[Izzy-chandess]

Well, with me, I was born left-handed but I learned on slate and I kept on smearing the letter and my teacher made me re-write it over again with my right because I just didn't learn how to use my hand efficiently... and it's not like my parents actually took the time to teach me how to write and read... they were always too busy for that...

Now I write and draw with my right hand but I can do other stuff just as well with my left. It's kinda nice, I guess? ^.^;

[Kamunt]

I would love to be ambidextrous. I agree completely on the bindings-thing, it gets really annoying trying to write with just my right hand there, sometimes. At least ambidexterity isn't seen as a sign of Satan's influence, or a witch, or whatever....or was that just left-handed exclusive people? Well, that's unimportant. To summarize, I'm right-handed.

[devonin]

Originally Posted by Kamunt

At least ambidexterity isn't seen as a sign of Satan's influence, or a witch, or whatever....or was that just left-handed exclusive people?

You're thinking just the left hand.

As an aside, when my father (who was left handed) was in elementary school, his teachers used to tie his left arm behind his back so that he would be -forced- to use his right hand.

As a result he's what I call "Omnidexterous" rather than "Ambidexterous" and it seems like more people here are the former than the latter. To me Ambidexterous means "You can do all things with both hands equally well" and I define Omnidexterous (Which is basically I word I made up, I suppose Bidexterous works just as well) as being "You do roughly an equal number of things with each hand, but do them better with the preferred hand than the other"

So if you throw left, write with your right, kick right and bat left, I don't say that you're ambidexterous, because you aren't -equally- proficient with both hands in all cases.

[Relambrien]

Originally Posted by devonin

You're thinking just the left hand.

As an aside, when my father (who was left handed) was in elementary school, his teachers used to tie his left arm behind his back so that he would be -forced- to use his right hand.

As a result he's what I call "Omnidexterous" rather than "Ambidexterous" and it seems like more people here are the former than the latter. To me Ambidexterous means "You can do all things with both hands equally well" and I define Omnidexterous (Which is basically I word I made up, I suppose Bidexterous works just as well) as being "You do roughly an equal number of things with each hand, but do them better with the preferred hand than the other"

So if you throw left, write with your right, kick right and bat left, I don't say that you're ambidexterous, because you aren't -equally- proficient with both hands in all cases.

I believe the common term for this is "mixed-handedness," (Wikipedia calls it "Cross-Dominance") though I'm not sure. It isn't ambidexterity, as you said, because ambidexterity implies the ability to do things equally well with both hands, whereas mixed-handedness implies different hands being dominant for different situations.

I'm mixed-handed, for example. I write with my left hand, kick with my left foot, etc. But any sort of "stance" I take is generally a righty's stance. A baseball batting stance, a boxing stance, riding a skateboard, etc.

I've got it down to the general idea that I manipulate better with my left side and hold better with my right side. There are exceptions, but this is generally what happens to me.

[bobbycat73]

Rafael Nadal is right handed.

[zhul4nder]

anyone have any ideas on HOW to learn to be left handed or ambidextrous?


for starters: practice?

well, because I am an idiot, i decided to do a test with my left hand

it wasn't too bad considering that it was a mutliple choice test :S

[tsugomaru]

I suppose you're right about the ambidextrous thing Devonin, I like your definition better. However, I still can't help but feel that I'm closer to being your ambidextrous definition than your omnidextrous definition. I can do things almost equally well with both hands, but that's because I grow a preference to which hand I want to use after a while. Maybe it comes with repeated practice with my left or right.

By the way, you can always learn to do anything with your other hand. It's just part of the way you adapt. If you loose your dominant hand, what then? You're not screwed for life, it's always possible to learn to do things with your other hand.

I'm surprised not a single person has yet to mention, "this is not a critical thinking topic." It really should be moved.

~Tsugomaru

[devonin]

I'm surprised not a single person has yet to mention, "this is not a critical thinking topic." It really should be moved.

I agree, but when I saw the thread, GuidoHunter had already posted in it. To me, a mod seeing and reading the thread and then responding to it implies that they've decided it is in the right place, so I didn't say anything.

[dore]

Originally Posted by tsugomaru

I'm surprised not a single person has yet to mention, "this is not a critical thinking topic." It really should be moved.

It's nice for people to be talking about a more serious topic (not necessarily CT worthy but still serious) without having to wade through spam and horrible grammar.

It's really all about comfort. It's pretty easy to do something with your non-dominant hand just as long as you practice something enough to be comfortable. For me, I do pretty much everything with my right hand, but when it comes to stances I generally use the left-handed stance (For example, I shoot a basketball with my right hand, but step into the shot with my right foot usually; I prefer to spin to my right than my left (a generally left-handed trait); I skateboard/snowboard with my right foot in front; and for swimming starts I start with both feet on the edge of the block, giving no precedence to either foot.)