Dexterous, ambidextrous, or sinister?

HAL9000

Inspired by the thread about pedalboards working from right to left…

How did it ever come about that being left-handed was, until relatively recently, considered wrong? Even the word sinister doesn’t have great connotations does it?

I have an early memory of one of my grandparents rapping my (left) knuckles for using my left hand! I also recall at school dinners being told to hold my knife and fork the ‘correct’ way round. As an adult I’m ambidextrous when it comes to cutlery, tools, etc, left handed for a small number of things, but generally have a slight preference for right-handedness. I’ve often wondered if things would be different if I’d been allowed to develop my own ‘handed-ness’. I suspect a bit more ambidextrous but of course I’ll never really know.

bertie

the "sinistral"  I think comes from a type of snail shell spiral ?    and the whole left handed from swords and other hand held weaponry 

fretmeister

My mum is naturally left handed but was forced to write right handed at school because lefties are evil and in league with satan.

Needless to say, it was a Convent School.

guitars4you

I can recall a visit with my daughter, lot younger then, to either Beamish (N East) or the Black Country Museum - They encouraged kids to sit in a real life 'Victorian/Georgian' class room for an hour - The teacher asked if anyone was left handed and  a few kids said yes - She said sign of the devil and told everyone it would be taught out of you - Remember then that just about all education was run by the church - Not sure how correct this was, but it stuck with me

Not sure if true or not by I was told that left handed people are generally far more ambidextrous - Think it came from a cricket chat one day - As they were talking about Broad, Anderson and Stokes who all bowl right handed yet bat left handed - And there are many other examples

There is a host of famous and very talented guitar players who are left handed, yet play the 'conventional/right handed' way

AL ANDERSON - BILLY BOB THORNTON - BILLY CORGAN - BOB BROZMAN - BRUCE COCKBURN - CALVIN NEWBORN - CARL WILSON - CHRIS MARTIN (Coldplay) - CHRIS REA - DANNY GATTON - DAVE HOLE - DAVID BOWIE  DAVID BYRNE  DUANE ALLMAN  ELVIS COSTELLO  ERIK DARLING (The Rooftop Singers)  GARY MOORE  GEORGE BARNES  GEORGE VAN EPS  GILES HEDLEY (Giles Hedley Blues Band, The Aviators)  INORAN (a.k.a. INOUE KYIONOBU)  JANICK GERS (IRON MAIDEN)  JIMMY RAINEY  JOHN WETTON (KING CRIMSON)  JOHNNY WINTER  JULIA ROBERTS  KEANU REEVES  KEITH CARRADINE  LEFTY FRIZZELL  MARE WINNINGHAM  MARK KNOPFLER  MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO  MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD  MICHAEL HEDGES  NICK LOWE  NOEL GALLAGHER (Oasis)  PASCAL PERIZ  PAUL LE MAT  PAUL SIMON  PHIL HILBORNE  PRESTON REED  RIK EMMETT (Triumph)  ROBERT FRIPP  RUVANE KURLAND  STEVE CROPPER   STEVE MORSE  TED GREENE

CavemanGrogg

guitars4you said:

I can recall a visit with my daughter, lot younger then, to either Beamish (N East) or the Black Country Museum - They encouraged kids to sit in a real life 'Victorian/Georgian' class room for an hour - The teacher asked if anyone was left handed and  a few kids said yes - She said sign of the devil and told everyone it would be taught out of you - Remember then that just about all education was run by the church - Not sure how correct this was, but it stuck with me

Not sure if true or not by I was told that left handed people are generally far more ambidextrous - Think it came from a cricket chat one day - As they were talking about Broad, Anderson and Stokes who all bowl right handed yet bat left handed - And there are many other examples

There is a host of famous and very talented guitar players who are left handed, yet play the 'conventional/right handed' way

AL ANDERSON
BILLY BOB THORNTON
BILLY CORGAN
BOB BROZMAN
BRUCE COCKBURN
CALVIN NEWBORN
CARL WILSON
CHRIS MARTIN (Coldplay)
CHRIS REA
DANNY GATTON
DAVE HOLE
DAVID BOWIE
DAVID BYRNE
DUANE ALLMAN
ELVIS COSTELLO
ERIK DARLING (The Rooftop Singers)
GARY MOORE
GEORGE BARNES
GEORGE VAN EPS
GILES HEDLEY (Giles Hedley Blues Band, The Aviators)
INORAN (a.k.a. INOUE KYIONOBU)
JANICK GERS (IRON MAIDEN)
JIMMY RAINEY
JOHN WETTON (KING CRIMSON)
JOHNNY WINTER
JULIA ROBERTS
KEANU REEVES
KEITH CARRADINE
LEFTY FRIZZELL
MARE WINNINGHAM
MARK KNOPFLER
MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO
MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD
MICHAEL HEDGES
NICK LOWE
NOEL GALLAGHER (Oasis)
PASCAL PERIZ
PAUL LE MAT
PAUL SIMON
PHIL HILBORNE
PRESTON REED
RIK EMMETT (Triumph)
ROBERT FRIPP
RUVANE KURLAND
STEVE CROPPER
STEVE MORSE
TED GREENE

So many heathens,  and bloody petrol is at an all time high.

BillDL

As @bertie has mentioned, being left-handed has had advantages and disadvantages through historical warfare.  Left-handed soldiers are able to thrust the sword around a solid spiral staircase (as found in castles and other old buildings) at an adversary while still using the stonework to shield themselves.  They are obviously at a disadvantage on a staircase that is anticlockwise, and vice versa for right-handed soldiers.

guitars4you

fretmeister said:

My mum is naturally left handed but was forced to write right handed at school because lefties are evil and in league with satan.

Needless to say, it was a Convent School.

That goes with what I was told - see above post 

Kilgore

BillDL said:

As @bertie has mentioned, being left-handed has had advantages and disadvantages through historical warfare.  Left-handed soldiers are able to thrust the sword around a solid spiral staircase (as found in castles and other old buildings) at an adversary while still using the stonework to shield themselves.  They are obviously at a disadvantage on a staircase that is anticlockwise, and vice versa for right-handed soldiers.

TBF, it's not the sort of thing you're going to be doing everyday though. 

bertie

Kilgore said:

BillDL said:

As @bertie has mentioned, being left-handed has had advantages and disadvantages through historical warfare.  Left-handed soldiers are able to thrust the sword around a solid spiral staircase (as found in castles and other old buildings) at an adversary while still using the stonework to shield themselves.  They are obviously at a disadvantage on a staircase that is anticlockwise, and vice versa for right-handed soldiers.

TBF, it's not the sort of thing you're going to be doing everyday though. 

you may say that...................

Kilgore

bertie said:

Kilgore said:

BillDL said:

As @bertie has mentioned, being left-handed has had advantages and disadvantages through historical warfare.  Left-handed soldiers are able to thrust the sword around a solid spiral staircase (as found in castles and other old buildings) at an adversary while still using the stonework to shield themselves.  They are obviously at a disadvantage on a staircase that is anticlockwise, and vice versa for right-handed soldiers.

TBF, it's not the sort of thing you're going to be doing everyday though. 

you may say that...................

 Elite medieval knights in the Special Spiral Staircase Service. 

axisus

Ambidextrous is very rare, it's being equally good with either hand. Most people who say they are, aren't.

I'm 'either-handed', in that I will use either hand for most tasks. I can't swap hands for racket sports (hence not ambidextrous), but I use either left or right hand for most things without a second thought.

Weird thing: I work all day on a mac doing graphics. I use the mouse exclusively left handed at work and exclusively right handed at home. In the old days I used a mac and a PC at work, I used to get strange looks as I would sit there with a hand on each mouse to do work at times!

Philly_Q

There seem to be a few random actors in that list of lefties who play guitar righty.  Maybe they play guitar as well.

Might as well mention Eric Gales, who's right-handed but plays left-handed.

chillidoggy

I'm crap at wanking with my left hand. All the "It feels like someone else is doing it." is just a load of bollocks

Philly_Q

BillDL said:

As @bertie has mentioned, being left-handed has had advantages and disadvantages through historical warfare.  Left-handed soldiers are able to thrust the sword around a solid spiral staircase (as found in castles and other old buildings) at an adversary while still using the stonework to shield themselves.  They are obviously at a disadvantage on a staircase that is anticlockwise, and vice versa for right-handed soldiers.

It also depends on whether you're going up or down.

euan

The majority of fencers are left handed apparently. 

One story I remember the “evilness” of being left handed was because people were taught to each with their right and wipe their ass with their left. 

chillidoggy

euan said:

The majority of fencers are left handed apparently. 

One story I remember the “evilness” of being left handed was because people were taught to each with their right and wipe their ass with their left. 

Left-handed wiping? That could get messy.

Kilgore

chillidoggy said:

I'm crap at wanking with my left hand. All the "It feels like someone else is doing it." is just a load of bollocks

It's easy for you, some of us are burdened with such excessive length and girth that we have to use both. 

stimpsonslostson

axisus said:

Ambidextrous is very rare, it's being equally good with either hand. Most people who say they are, aren't.

I'm 'either-handed', in that I will use either hand for most tasks. I can't swap hands for racket sports (hence not ambidextrous), but I use either left or right hand for most things without a second thought.

Weird thing: I work all day on a mac doing graphics. I use the mouse exclusively left handed at work and exclusively right handed at home. In the old days I used a mac and a PC at work, I used to get strange looks as I would sit there with a hand on each mouse to do work at times!

I'm very "either handed" I switch stances when boxing or doing judo etc and naturally swap hands when playing racket sports. 
Ironically the thing I can't do equally well left handed is writing- my very traditional primary school teacher "strongly encouraged" me to write right handed- you'll be unsurprised to hear it was an RC school. 

I actively encourage my kids to swap if they want to- my youngest always writes right handed and draws/paints with her left. 

stickyfiddle

euan said:

The majority of fencers are left handed apparently. 

One story I remember the “evilness” of being left handed was because people were taught to each with their right and wipe their ass with their left. 

Not the majority. But a higher than average proportion of good fencers are lefties. It's much harder to fence against a leftie, because you can't practice against them as easily (even if you're left handed yourself, though obviously your opponent would also have similar difficulty against you)

bertie

euan said:

The majority of fencers are left handed apparently. 

the bloke who did ours wasnt,  nor  the chap who fitted the gate

CavemanGrogg

chillidoggy said:

I'm crap at wanking with my left hand. All the "It feels like someone else is doing it." is just a load of bollocks

This is where you're showing your inexperience, friends have told me, that you're supposed to lay on you left arm, or hold a golf ball tightly under you left armpit, until you lose all feeling in it, then it feels like somebody else is doing it.