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Comment by rrgok | Hacker News Reader

I was originally left-handed, but my father made me switch to my right hand because he believed being left-handed was the "hand of the devil." Now, I’ve become ambidextrous, and I instinctively choose which hand to use depending on the activity. Sometimes, when I'm trying something for the first time and I'm unsure which hand is best, I get stuck and have to go through some trial and error before it feels natural.

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A right-handed friend of mine was forced, as a result of spinal damage, to make use of his left hand. He always used to say "I was was right-handed, but now I am ambisinistral... equally useless with both hands"

curiously, the etymology of sinister is from the latin for left (with dex for right)

Similar story for my wife, though it was an underfunded Catholic school with only right-handed sports equipment that pushed her to be ambidextrous. She's split pretty much 50:50 on which hand she does something with, though I've noticed she does actually seem to pick her left hand when its a totally new skill she hasn't done before.

My right hand is all but useless, I'm very left handed. Golf is the only exception, but I'm terrible in either direction and right handed clubs are easier to rent or buy.

My father was left handed.

While in school, before WWII, he was beaten on the offending hand, to discourage him from writing with the left hand. So eventually he became accustomed to write with the right hand, and then he has continued to write with the right hand, even if he always did most other kinds of precision work with his left hand.

I was originally ambidextrous, but my mother taught me to be left handed because that seemed more interesting to her. I'm mostly left handed these days, though I bat either way, use my mouse either way, and shoot guns right handed (I forced myself to learn to shoot right, so semi-auto casings are ejected away from me instead of toward me).

Dang I'm right handed but left eyed so I need to hold guns left handed. How did you switch your eyedness for guns?

When I was in the army I switched to holding my assault rifle right handed because I was near sighted on my left eye. (Not getting the casings ejected onto my right arm when they later gave me an LMG was an added bonus, man that gun was poorly designed)

It took maybe a week to get used to the switch but wasn't that big of a problem even though I'm both left handed and left eyed.

So you just.. do it, I guess?

I'm similar, but no parent or teacher forced me to be so. I do write with my left hand, but so many other things are just easier right-handed that I do both (sometimes switching between them during the same task). Pretty sure my right hand is faster and my left hand is more precise.

I'm right handed for everything in life, except chopping wood. It's the one thing my leftie Dad taught me that stuck.

I had no idea until recently when someone said "Hey, you're doing that left handed"

I'm right handed for everything except snooker/pool. I have no idea why, it just felt more natural to put my right hand down as the rest and hold the cue with my left.

My dad was left handed, I'm left handed and my daughter is left handed. It certainly helps in troubleshooting things, because when anyone else uses a pair of scissors, they work. When a left handed person uses a pair of scissors, they don't work, so you have to figure out how scissors work, or just use your right hand. Imagine doing that with everything.

I did pick up some ambidextrous habits. My daughter and I mouse with my right hand but my dad left handed a mouse.

Unless you really can switch hands at the drop of a hat (which is incredibly rare), the term is cross-dominant or mixed-handed. I prefer my right hand for fine motor skills and left for gross. I have a coworker is who is almost exactly the opposite.

Exactly, ambidextrous people are freaks of nature, like a professional baseball player who can pitch with either hand from inning to inning, and even then there will be a stronger side -- in other words, it is unlikely that a human being could be equally dominant across both hands.

I've literally forgotten which hand I hold a hammer in. Last time I assembled some furniture, I just couldn't figure out any difference. I think I remember there used to be some slight preference earlier, but I just can't say one side would be any better at it than the other.

(I do have clear preferences for many other activities, though which activities go left and which right seems pretty arbitrary, and might just be what I got used to instead of actual dominance. Like, I hold my phone on the right hand because it's in the right pocket, but is that a preference, or just avoiding putting the phone in the same pocket as keys/flashlight/etc?)

I’m ambidextrous as well, but always was I guess. Most things feel more natural to do with one hand or the other, and I just do that. I never felt like ambidextrous was accurate, so I say weird-handed.

The reason I write right-handed is that my friend kept “correcting” me when we were learning. I still hold the pencil like a lefty, though, which gets funny looks.

I always use left hand for everything that does not requires right hand. The only activities I need to use right hand is when I use a desktop computer or writing. I was tried to use right hand for the other activities but it is never comfortable no matter how much I practice.

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