Dexterous, ambidextrous, or sinister?

p90fool

LastMantra said:

Philly_Q 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.

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

That's what I was thinking. 

It does, but the staircase was obviously built to favour the defenders of the building containing it. 

CHRISB50

p90fool said:

HAL9000 said:

CHRISB50 said:

I can use scissors with either hand. 

I was under the impression that scissors are right-handed and that it’s the shearing motion of the blades sliding across each other that makes them work. I thought that using normal (right-handed) scissors in the left hand didn’t work due to the pressure  between the shearing faces becoming less. Am I wrong? Or do you use left-handed scissors?

No that's correct, as a left hander I have to contort my hand a little so that the blades are brought together, which happens naturally for a right hander. 

It seems to work better if I stick my tongue out of the side of my mouth like a 5 year old too. 

I've never really found it a problem using right handed scissors. As long as they are sharp they seem to cut OK using them left handed. I did have a pair of left handed scissors when I was a kid but I didn't really find much difference.

I think my mum also got me a left handed fountain pen for a while but it was awful. My old man had an old Parker that was much easier to use, even though it was right handed.

ICBM

A well-made pair of scissors isn’t ‘handed’ in terms of mechanically cutting - the pivot is tight enough that the blades mesh properly without any oblique force. But many scissors - often/especially good ones which are like that - have shaped grips which *are* handed, and also the stagger of the blades makes it harder to cut accurately along a line when they’re facing the wrong way.

Kilgore

p90fool said:

LastMantra said:

Philly_Q 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.

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

That's what I was thinking. 

It does, but the staircase was obviously built to favour the defenders of the building containing it. 

Isn't it a bit too late by then?

If they're in the stairwells, the attackers have breached the outer walls and are crawling all over the place. It's not like the defenders can hold out for a roof top helicopter evacuation.

axisus

Headphones said:

I've met very many commanding officers of Royal Navy warships.  I've not met a right handed one yet...

So is it just me that thinks it's weird to have met very many commanding officers of Royal Navy warships, and even weirder to actually know whether they were left or right handed?

bertie

Headphones said:

I've met very many commanding officers of Royal Navy warships.  I've not met a right handed one yet...

Could be a statistical anomaly I suppose.

you at Abbey Wood then ? 

Roland

p90fool said:

LastMantra said:

Philly_Q 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.

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

That's what I was thinking. 

It does, but the staircase was obviously built to favour the defenders of the building containing it. 

The guide book says that Caernarfon has turrets with widdershins staircases on top of its largest tower. I was told that any invaders getting access to the roof could be forced into these turrets.

Devil#20

CHRISB50 said:

I think my mum also got me a left handed fountain pen for a while but it was awful. My old man had an old Parker that was much easier to use, even though it was right handed.

What's the difference between that and a right handed fountain pen?

bertie

Devil#20 said:

CHRISB50 said:

I think my mum also got me a left handed fountain pen for a while but it was awful. My old man had an old Parker that was much easier to use, even though it was right handed.

What's the difference between that and a right handed fountain pen?

nib slant,  but TBH it tends to "wear in" during use

CHRISB50

bertie said:

Devil#20 said:

CHRISB50 said:

I think my mum also got me a left handed fountain pen for a while but it was awful. My old man had an old Parker that was much easier to use, even though it was right handed.

What's the difference between that and a right handed fountain pen?

nib slant,  but TBH it tends to "wear in" during use

This.

I tend to find the slant is so pronounced on left handed pens they don't write correctly, and never wear in properly.

The Parker I mentioned had a relatively symmetrical nib so was fine for me to use. Plus I think it was over 30 years old so was pretty worn in already.

scrumhalf

What hand do you wipe your bum with?

I'm here all week, try the veal. 

Mattharrier

Devil#20 said:

CHRISB50 said:

I think my mum also got me a left handed fountain pen for a while but it was awful. My old man had an old Parker that was much easier to use, even though it was right handed.

What's the difference between that and a right handed fountain pen?

It's more about the fact that a lot of left handed people cover what they're writing with the pen as they are writing it, due to the left-to-right nature of English. As well as smearing the ink with your hand, it makes it harder to keep your writing neat and consistent. Left handed pens are shaped so that this (in theory) happens less, as you can see the writing you've just done.

I've never had an issue with it, I just hold a pen at an angle that lets me see what I've written.

Scissors aren't any issue if they're any good, but as Snags says, the handles can be a proper pain, particularly big kitchen scissors that are shaped to allow for cutting through chicken carcasses and the like.

I've been dealing with the right-handed bias in the world for so long that I find it harder to use some left-handed things - my wife bought me a left-handed ruler, with 0 on the right and 30cm on the left, and I'm always getting it backwards as I'm just used to a normal ruler.

HAL9000

Mattharrier said:
...my wife bought me a left-handed ruler, with 0 on the right and 30cm on the left...

Surely that makes very little sense since you still read left to right?

(I recall, whilst working in India, thinking it strange that words are read from right to left yet numbers are read from left to right.)

Headphones

bertie said:

Headphones said:

I've met very many commanding officers of Royal Navy warships.  I've not met a right handed one yet...

Could be a statistical anomaly I suppose.

you at Abbey Wood then ? 

I was until quite recently

Mattharrier

HAL9000 said:

Mattharrier said:
...my wife bought me a left-handed ruler, with 0 on the right and 30cm on the left...

Surely that makes very little sense since you still read left to right?

(I recall, whilst working in India, thinking it strange that words are read from right to left yet numbers are read from left to right.)

Again, it's about how things are held. Generally we measure from keft to right, but when you are drawing a line with your left hand, it's easier to draw from right to left.

It's easy enough for me to simply position the ruler differently, but some lefties hold the pencil in a particular way which makes it more difficult.

euan

Aye left handed rulers are useful but like scissors, opening doors while carrying stuff etc we manage to adapt. 

I have to make sure knives have a edge on both sides cause some are only meant for right handed cutting. My wife hates me cutting bread because it ends up with a left handed slant.

Cutting power tools are often made for right handed people and are scary to use either left handed or with non dom right hand. 

There is a reason why left handed people have a shorter life expectancy 

bertie

Mattharrier said:

Devil#20 said:

CHRISB50 said:

I think my mum also got me a left handed fountain pen for a while but it was awful. My old man had an old Parker that was much easier to use, even though it was right handed.

What's the difference between that and a right handed fountain pen?

It's more about the fact that a lot of left handed people cover what they're writing with the pen as they are writing it, 

not actually 100% in response to the question - but is an issue with left/right handed writing. 

Fountain pens have "soft" nibs and the slant is important to how they "write"   (see previous responses)   you'll find a right handed pen wont write well - or sometimes not at all,  when used left handed,  and vicky verky 

Mattharrier

@bertie nope, I've never had a problem writing with a fountain pen, and I've never had a left-handed one.

bertie

Mattharrier said:

@bertie nope, I've never had a problem writing with a fountain pen, and I've never had a left-handed one.

left/right handed "helps"  but  what happens over time is they become "orientation" specific due to the angle the pen is held and soft metals used.  Unlike ballpoint/roller balls etc  

 my dad, as part of his news agency was a "dealer" for Parker   and had to "learn" about nibs etc