[PurVirgo]

I think there a couple of interesting arguments that can go either way. Like, if the gene for right-handedness is inhereted, and there is no gene for left-handedness, why do those that lack the gene prefer the left hand? After all, humans learn by mimicry.

Secondly, how is it that humans are the only species with a gene for hand preference? (I think that's neat myself)

Dunno, I think it goes beyond writing, which is mostly training and practice.

Does the ambidextrous person, who is mostly "right handed" exhibit the same kind of brain development also? What about the "left handed" person who is forced to use their right hand? Is their brain development the same as a right handed person?

[diefree]

My daughter is left-handed. Her Italian grandmother tried to get me to force her to be right-handed. After all, the Italian word for left is sinister.

She eats with her left hand but seems to do everything else with her right hand. She has a very quick mind, one of the best arguers I have ever known, but I don't know if being left-handed would have anything to do with it, as my younger daughter, who is right-handed is becoming a pretty good debater herself.

[stands2reason]

I know left-handedness is particularly a male trait; strange considering as this article says there is no specific gene for it. Another question raised there. I wonder if left-handedness can also be a result of brain damage? The mentally retarded also have a higher instance of left-handedness.

[Blowtorch]

Famous Left-Handers

[truth_seeker]

Left-handed people seem to be more artistic, and creative, based solely on my life experience.

Twice I broke my right hand, and was forced for a few weeks to become a leftie. It has made me more towards ambedextrous, which came fairly easily. In tests I consistently score evenly between language and quantitative. Are those things related?

My father was much the same, and also experienced several hand injuries. While right handed, he was very artistic and creative. Do we carry something akin to a propensity (gene) towards being ambedextrous, but are trained to select right-handedness?

[UCANSEE2]

If the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body,
then only left-handed people are in their right mind.

[UCANSEE2]

If the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body,
then only left-handed people are in their right mind.

[RightOnline]

I'm VERY left-handed, as are 3 of my 7 children (don't know about the 5-month-old yet; too early to tell). However, I eat right-handed and play guitar right-handed. Other than that.............forget it.

Interestingly, if you walk into a typical office full of computer types and do a little, informal poll, you'll find that fully 40% of them will be left-handed. Try it; you'll see what I mean.

[laredo44]

Does anyone know the term for having a different hand preference for different tasks, as contrasted to ambidextrous, meaning performing a task with either hand with equal proficiency? Some personal examples: write/left hand, kick/left foot, throw/right hand, eat/right hand, brush teeth/left hand, and so on. I know there's a term for this behavior but have forgotten it.

[Betteboop]

bump

[Jhensy]

Well, I'm definitely a lefty; I write, eat, bat, brush my teeth, etc. from the left. BUT, I throw righty, kick righty, golf righty, and most amazingly to me, work the mouse righty even though I write lefty.

You'd say "ambidextrous", but if I try to do these things the opposite, I can't do them. If I try to write righty, it looks like the usual chicken scratch; I throw lefty like a 7-year-old.

As for lefties being artistically creative, in addition to being lefty, I'm also a Libra, which supposedly is the most creative of the zodiac signs. My profession? Designer/artist.

[sonjay]

I know a fellow who was born with no arms.

He was fitted with two prosthetic arms as a youngster. The therapists attempted to teach him how to use the prosthetic right hand. He was clumsy and had major trouble doing anything with it.

Eventually his mother (who lived in S. America) came to visit, saw what was going on, and said, "You know, I'm left-handed. Maybe you should teach him to use the left one."

This fellow very quickly mastered the use of his prosthetic left hand. Today as an adult in his 20s he still has a preference for his left prosthesis over his right.

This story indicates, to me, that handedness is wired into the brain in such a way that it truly doesn't depend on the actual existence of hands.

[Lady Jag]

I'm left handed and find this very interesting, and have the same questions as you. While I continue reading this, try this experiment:

Cross your arms over your chest. Know what I mean? Like you were cold or whatever. Generally one hand will lie on the opposite bicep and the other will tuck under. Most of the time, your dominant hand will be the one that's up.

[mykdsmom]

Interesting article.

My 7 year old son is a lefty, I thought this was a little strange because nobody else on either side is.

My husband swears he can use either hand, although he's never shown me this, except he can use a mouse equally well with either hand. Maybe he simply doesn't have the righty gene and ended up a righty and my son inherited it from him but ended up lefty.

[Jagdgewehr]

Dunno, I think it goes beyond writing, which is mostly training and practice.

Being a southpaw myself, I can clear this up for you.

Everyone is born right-handed, however, only the few gifted individuals overcome that handicap... :-)

[Eva]

My husband is left handed, but is kind of ambi-dextrous. He rights left handed, despite being beaten across the knuckles by nuns, but he golfs right, kicks a football with his right, and bats right. He can do all of these things with his left, but prefers right. He plays handball very well with both hands, plays racquetball left handed, but plays right-handed against me, to try to even the odds a little.

My son is also left handed and right footed. When he was in pre-school, I was told that this might be a problem because psychologists have noted that reading problems and dyslexia are often found in cross-dominant left handers. This proved to be the case, although it was not diagnosed until high school. My son got all A's in grade school and it wasn't until high school that he started to slow down. He did always have atrocious handwriting, though. It turns out that he is dis-graphic and slightly dislexic. Now we realize that my husband is also. They just never idenified those things when we were kids. (My son broke his left wrist playing basketball and his handwriting wasn't any worse with his right hand).

[Age of Reason]

how is it that humans are the only species with a gene for hand preference

The article said humans are the only primate--not the only species.

(For one thing, horses have a preference.)

[tacticalogic]

My ex was left-handed and exhibited very flexible thinking patterns. If she backed her car into a fire hydrant leaving work, but the time she got home she'd figured out how it was my fault.

[andysandmikesmom]

I am also left handed, that is I write left handed...now my dad was a rightie, as was his only sister...my mom was a rightie, as were all of her siblings...however, when all those siblings of my mom and dad had their kids, there seems to be a disproportionately large number of lefties...more than fifty percent of my cousins are left handed when it comes to writing...but the other odd thing is that no one of us, neither me, nor any of my cousins have produced any children that are lefties...all of our kids are right handed...

I write, eat, play pool, use scissors, swing a tennis racket, and probably other things, left handed...but I bat a ball, throw a ball, catch a ball, and use the mouse right handed...

When my firstborn child wanted to learn how to tie his shoes, I showed him how to tie a bow...he just could not get it, was getting frustrated, started crying, and I began to think he was either just slow on this, or not paying attention...then he said, it seemed backwards to him...and it dawned on me, that perhaps he needed to see a right handed person tie a bow...my hubby, who is right handed, was not at home, so I went to my neighbor, who was right handed and after she showed him one time how to tie a bow, he had it nailed down perfect...so when it came time for the younger boy to learn how to tie his shoes, I gave that job to his older brother...

When I first learned how to write cursive, I wrote what they call 'backhanded', that is, instead of my writing slanting to the right, it slanted to the left...the teachers could not stand it, and demanded that I write slanting to the right...to this day, I write slanting to the right....but if I am in a hurry, I revert back to my 'backhanded' ways...And I have to remind myself to write slanting to the right, its not a natural process...

Being left handed has never really been much of an inconvenience for me, altho I hate it when anyone hands me a charge card receipt to sign, or the Mailman has me sign for something...because they always present it to you as if you are right handed, and you must always turn it around...not a biggie mind you, but it just shows that they assume everyone is righthanded, when they are not...

The other inconvenience is whenever we go out in a group to a restaurant and sit at a booth...I must always sit on the outside because I eat left handed, and sitting next to a right handed eater, our arms always bump...

[Glenn]

Of course we do. We intend to use that flexibility to gain us everything from a PAC to handicapped parking spaces. We are a small but powerful minority!

[Young Werther]

This sounds like a sinister story to me.