User Comments

1. 

   10/24/08

   ekim941

   I think we are born that way. It seems natural to me to work with one hand and then switch hands when that one gets tired. Most people think this is odd. What I think is odd is that I typically write with my left hand, I can write with both hands and I can write backwards with my right hand.

   [reply]
2. 

   10/24/08

   sinuousscribe

   no, i'm clumsy with my left hand.

   [reply]
3. 

   10/24/08

   mikodragonfly

   No. Wish I were though. Then I'd be really capable of multitasking!

   [reply]
4. 

   10/24/08

   CarolC

   @ekim941 - I almost did not recognize you with that new avatar! Cool! backwards with your right hand...:D so you are one of the lucky ones eh!
   
   @sinuousscribe - yes me too, I wonder though if I would have been made to use my left hand while young if it would have made a difference?
   
   @mikodragonfly - I am smiling, I hear you, thinking back to when there was a baby in the house, never enough hands!!

   [reply]
   1. 

      11/17/08

      SweetViolet

      I am definitely not ambidextrous, but my father is. One of my brothers writes and eats with his right hand, but throws and catches with his left (he also bats lefty and kicks with his left foot).
      
      My youngest son was ambidextrous until about age 4. He could eat with a fork in one hand, a spoon in the other, and do equally well with both. But he definitely favoured his right when it came to crayons and pencils.
      
      I also can write backwards with my right hand (mirror writing).
5. 

   10/24/08

   SailboaterRob

   I think us left handed folks have more of a tendency to be more ambidextrous. Not sure if it is internal or external.
   
   Sometimes I actually get confused when I pick up a tool or whatever, depending on which hand I hold it in, I have to think which way do I turn this thing???

   [reply]
6. 

   10/24/08

   jaffermaniar

   My right hand is the dominant one. But at the dinner table, I simply cannot hold the knife.
   So I shear with left hand and hold the fork with my right.
   
   I don't really know if we are born that way or if it is acquired.

   [reply]
7. 

   10/24/08

   CarolC

   @SailboaterRob - that's interesting about you being born left handed. I have heard of a few musicians who can play their guitars right and left, automatically pick it up and just start playing.
   
   @jaffermaniar - me too, I am right handed, but I hold the knife in my right to cut

   [reply]
   1. 

      10/24/08

      SailboaterRob

      The knife and fork at the table is interesting. Something I often notice about myself.
      
      As I said, I am left handed. So when I eat with a fork I use my left hand (as right handers would use their right hand). If I use the fork in my right hand it feels "un-natural." Hold this thought.
      
      Most people switch the fork to the opposite hand when they need to use a knife, a normal eating style. Then some will eat with the fork in the "wrong" hand and some will put the knife down and switch the fork back to their dominant hand.
      
      OK, back to my thoughts. As I said, if I hold the fork in my right hand and eat it feels un-natural, I can do it just fine but it feels weird. If I pick up my knife and hold it in my left hand, then eating with the fork in my right hand feels perfectly natural, whether I need the knife or not. Simply holding the knife in my left hand changes the fork in the right hand sensation from un-natural to natural.
      
      Am I weird?!?!?!? Think about it...
8. 

   10/24/08

   mlinauer

   I use both hands for everything except writting but I have been practicing with my left hand and it is changing very quickly. My father is left handed and my mother is right handed but they both wanted me to do things their way.

   [reply]
9. 

   10/24/08

   ooozzzie

   In the UK we have a snooker player called Ronnie O'Sullivan he can play both left and right handed, and one of the reasons he ranked No 1 in the World.
   It is a massive advantage.
   
   The knife and fork thing is interesting, as BOTH my kids eat with the knife and fork the wrong way, and both myself and wife do not!
   And tried and tried to switch the children back, but they never did, and still don't. So yes weird as they are both right handed.

   [reply]
10. 

    11/15/08

    OregonArtGuy

    Yes, I didn't know it, but it turns out that I can't do anything with either hand :-}

    [reply]
11. 

    11/15/08

    drjay1966

    I'm clumsy with both of my hands.

    [reply]
12. 

    11/15/08

    jackpayne

    I am a gifted nose picker. I pick the left nostril with my left index finger, and my right with my right index finger.

    [reply]
13. 

    11/15/08

    Anok

    Yup. Although I am out of practice with certain things, specifically writing, with my not dominate hand. But I can do it.

    [reply]
14. 

    11/15/08

    nplbjirel

    I also think we are born with ability to use only one hand.
    
    I have met one person who was right handed when he borned. Unfortunately, he lost his right hand in a car accident and there left not alternatives for his except using his left hand. It was difficult for him in the beginning but with many practice and continous use, he is easy nowadays with his left hand.

    [reply]
15. 

    11/15/08

    DomainMarvelous

    Can I be called ambidextrous? I use my left hand to do most of the things, but I can write (although not legibly ;-) ) and eat with my right hand...

    [reply]
16. 

    11/15/08

    ophase

    I saw one of my friends who is left-handed but he can play soccer his either foot..
    So you can be right-handed, but you can play the ball with your left-foot dominantly!!
    Tell me how is it managed by your brain??

    [reply]
17. 

    11/15/08

    CrankyChick

    Yes, I am (actually I taught myself to write w/ the left had (i do write with both hands) but to do stuff i.e throw a ball or punch someone I use my dominant right hand

    [reply]
18. 

    11/15/08

    kaylinmarie

    I write a bit better with my left hand, but other than that they are extremely equal. It would be wierd for me not to be able to control both hands equally, cause i've always been like that.

    [reply]
19. 

    11/15/08

    MadameX

    No, but my daughter is, and I didn't know it until she was 9 or 10. One day she wrote with her left hand in front of my mother, and my mother said, "I didn't know you were ambidextrous". My daughter came in to me and said, "Mom, did you know I'm ambidextrous?" and I said, "No, you're not. If you were ambidextrous, you'd be able to write with both hands."
    
    Oops.

    [reply]
20. 

    11/15/08

    thingys

    no, I'm a presbyterian primate

    [reply]
21. 

    11/17/08

    thingys

    no, but I'm a bilingual illiterate; I can't read or write in 2 or more languages
    
    Who is that impostor in the post above me?

    [reply]
22. 

    11/17/08

    carrieburrows

    Yes. I broke my right arm at the age where you're learning how to color/write and had to learn to use my left in school.

    [reply]
23. 

    11/18/08

    roentarre

    Yes and I could do write with both hands!

    [reply]