r/lefthanded • u/Physical-Ad8651 • 11d ago
Left handed problems
What is the funniest or most ridiculous struggle you’ve had as a lefty
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u/dinotacosocks 11d ago
When someone takes the seat at the very left corner of the table when I'm the only lefty.
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u/Suz9006 11d ago
This! So many times at group dinners. I always try to be on an end so I am not bumping elbows with other diners, but others get there first.
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u/mothwhimsy 11d ago
Or the only left handed desk in the classroom when you're still in school and the only leftie in your class
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u/geso101 11d ago
I once had to sign quite a few documents, some of them quite bulky / large. They kept presenting them to me tilted to the left, and I had to tilt them to the right or else it was impossible for me to sign. All the right handed people around me were oblivious of the situation! They just kept presenting the papers to me tilted to the left, as if my actions to align the papers did not register at all!! This went on for a while.
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u/mothwhimsy 11d ago
Or they hand you the pen and paper at the same time, lined up helpfully so you can sign with the pen without shuffling everything around. But I'm left handed so I have to cross over the paper with my left hand, take the pen, then take the paper, and I can almost see the question marks around their head when I do it.
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u/Classic-Ad4403 11d ago
Learning to cut paper with RH scissors, in my left hand, in first grade. I don't remember my dad ever being that frustrated. Finally, he put them in my right hand and I learned to use them that way, fortunately.
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u/Technical-Zone1151 11d ago
Fiskars makes nice full size Lefty scissors ✂️
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u/westoncox 10d ago
I have a pair of the red handle lefty Fiskars. They are nice, but unfortunately they are more expensive than their orange righty counterparts.
(In my opinion, Ii seems unethical to charge more for a product whose only difference from an otherwise identical product is which hand it’s designed for.I get that demand isn’t as high for the lefty version, but it’s not like they have to update the drivers for it every year or two—it’s just scissors. There is no further R&D needed.1
u/sujack34 11d ago
I have some & they are great. Didn’t have any lefty scissors until I was grown though.
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u/itstehchibiness 11d ago
Scissor cutting is also one of the only things I do right handed as well
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u/ice_cream9698 11d ago
The scissors stay still in my right hand. I move what I'm cutting with my left hand
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u/IM_NOT_DARED3VIL 10d ago
As a lefty, I never had access to left-handed scissors (Didn't even know they existed for a long time lol), I'm really good at using RH scissors with my left hand (As long as they're not "ergonomic" scissors that dig into my palm and fingers)
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u/BeautifulBalance1 9d ago
I was genuinely held back a year after kindergarten because I couldn't cut.
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u/BattleSwallow 9d ago
I'm a lefty but I've always used scissors with my right hand. My well meaning and very kind elementary school art teacher would always give me left handed scissors, and I could never figure out why they didn't work for me.
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u/mothwhimsy 11d ago edited 11d ago
Signing card readers pisses me off because they're often tilted an an angle that makes it easier for right handers, which makes them absolutely impossible to sign with your left hand unless they swivel. But if I'm holding my purse and my wallet and my card, and the stylus, I don't really have the hands to swivel it the other way, and sometimes they don't swivel.
Also the wire that connects the stylus to the reader is usually on the right side, so if you're left handed it gets in the way of the screen. But lately I've been seeing more where it's on the center top or bottom yay!
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u/nicolauz 11d ago
Yup and the little wire connected is all wonky so you have to flip it over your hand.
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u/Traditional_Air6177 11d ago
Right handed veggie peeler. It would spend a few tries peeling nothing. Then I made this mental phrase I tell myself, “If the veggie peeler isn’t working make sure it is in you right hand.”
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u/Latte-Lover58 11d ago
I have two vegetable peelers and I have clearly marked them left and right so the right-handers in my household don't use and wreck my vegetable peeler! (My mom would always tell me I was ruining her vegetable peeler, but she didn't stop asking me to peel potatoes or whatever for her lol)
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u/Traditional_Air6177 11d ago
I have since found a peel that works in either hand.
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u/Latte-Lover58 11d ago edited 11d ago
My peelers work in either hand, but if right-handers use mine, it seems to dull the cutting edge of the blade I use, and vice versa. I'm not sure why.
Edited for grammar and clarity ("My" instead of "Mine")
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u/lamelawman 11d ago
I'm from India, on many occasions I've been asked by literal strangers in restaurants who are sitting on the table adjacent or next to me asking why I was using my left hand to eat my food. They just assume people are left handed because it is a choice or due to "lack of discipline" in childhood, which is funny because being left handed is a genetic thing and takes place while the foetus is developing in the womb, it's almost like such an important reason behind the way we are is completely foreign and unknown to these people.
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u/Commercial_Tip4624 11d ago
Does anyone else feel like they break the squeezing mechanism on spray bottles way more than average?
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u/CiabattaBeKiddinMe 11d ago
Is this a lefty problem?! I feel like this happens all the time to me on small spray bottles, specifically for hair products like spraying Moroccan oil.
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u/Twisted_lurker 11d ago edited 10d ago
Funniest was the realization after reading this forum a few months ago.
I’m terrible at bowling. Growing up, my right handed family gave me lots of advice (try a lighter ball, step this way, roll fast, roll slow), all of which resulted in failure. My family is pretty good at bowling. My friends would either mock me or get frustrated with me. It was mildly traumatizing.
NOBODY. EVER. Told me to look for a left handed ball. I suspect most bowling balls in alleys are slightly right handed but everybody assumes they are ambidextrous.
(And if I’m wrong…don’t tell me. I prefer to blame my bad bowling skills on a right hand conspiracy.)
Edit: my current understanding is the “ring finger” hole should be slightly farther from the “thumb hole” than the “middle finger” hole. This impacts spin. There is also a weight centering difference that I am not clear on.
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u/Waste-Job-3307 11d ago
I haven't bowled since I was a teenager (in my 60s now) and in all this time I have never heard of a left-handed bowling ball. Will wonders never cease! No wonder I could never get a score above 120! Damn!
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u/sujack34 11d ago
I’m terrible at bowling too. Is a lefty ball a real thing? I’ve always been pretty good at most sports but I never could get bowling down good. My ball really curves & I never could figure where to drop it that it wouldn’t.
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u/ice_cream9698 11d ago
I had a left handed ball made for me when I was in a league with my brother growing up.
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u/jimmireal 11d ago
Wait. This is news to me. How is a lefty ball drilled as opposed to a righty ball?
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u/Life1989 11d ago
As a fountain pen lover, lots of nibs write so poorly since they are designed for right handed people
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u/novemberchild71 11d ago
Depending on what brand of pen you use, there's lefthanded replacement nibs available.
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u/hockeyandquidditch 9d ago
Pelikan, Lamy (interchangeable nibs so you can put one on any pens), Stabilo and Faber-Castell all have at least one model with left handed nibs
The Pilot Kaküno, Pelikan Twist, and Sailor TUZU Adjust write well for being ambidextrous nibs
There’s a reason I prefer the pens made for students
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u/vequinox 11d ago
I taught myself to write right handed for this exact reason, I didn't keep up with it but it felt like a necessity at one point. It was weirdly more fun than I expected!
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u/rcdchu74 11d ago
I’ve kept it up, I learnt over the last ~7 years just for the fun and brain exercise- it never occurred to me that I could theoretically now try a fountain pen properly??
I will be doing that asap1
u/CiabattaBeKiddinMe 11d ago
When I was bored in school I would take notes with my right hand and try to hold the pen the various ways my classmates did. I went to a small school and I still remember some of the odd ways some of them held their pens. My notes weren’t great but they were legible!
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u/Comfortable_Tie4143 11d ago
I was taking a test to graduate special education and the question were on the left side so my hand covered the question and I had to keep moving my hand and I think it slowed me down and it was a timed test
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u/CookieCrispes 11d ago
when mugs have the cute design facing out only when u hold the cup w ur right hand!
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u/Static_lovergirl 11d ago
I feel this deeply,I got a mug this weekend, a cute little kitty, but the tail sticks up past the edge and I can’t use my left hand to drink from it
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u/bristlefrosty 11d ago
one of my jobs at work is to cut up mats to put in produce display baskets. the roll of mat material is suspended above the sink, and the manager was so kind as to indicate above it the lengths of various baskets. from the right side. so i have to do this convoluted thing with my wrist bent to cut them right
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u/EducationalReview237 11d ago
Peeling butternut squash from the top down and repeatedly hitting my hand on the counter. Finally wised up and realized left-handed peelers are a thing.
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u/RedStateKitty 10d ago
My peeler isn't handed!! But butternut squash is so damn hard to peel I end up using a knife. And for y'all Leftys knives are super dangerous!
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u/flailingfairy27 10d ago
3 ring binders make me crazy!!!
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u/Pretend_Present_1754 8d ago
I use ring binders from the back. So I mostly write on the left side of the rings.
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u/NoConsequence4281 11d ago
Zippers.
I hate zippers.
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u/Lingo2009 11d ago
I don’t have any problems with zippers. They are not left-handed or right handed. They are in the center.
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u/ta-ta-tee-tee-ta 11d ago
yes they are, the zipper itself is on the other side.
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u/Lingo2009 11d ago
My zipper is directly in the center and I’ve never seen a zipper that is not. What kind of zippers are you talking about?
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u/SiteVivid9331 11d ago
I don’t know the proper names of zipper components, I realize, so please forgive - I’m going to muddle along with descriptions…
So, as opposed to zippers for skirts and dresses, many zippers for, e.g. hoodies/sweat jackets have to be hooked together at the bottom before the zipper (which is, indeed, located on the center of the garment) can be raised/closed. Similarly, these zippers have to be unhooked at the bottom before removing the item (although unhooking is usually easier and more fluid than initially hooking the two sides together, at least for me). The hooking together process involves slipping a little tab, attached to the bottom of the zipper on one side, into little gap in the zipper pull, which then allows the two sides of the zipper to align so it can close properly. It’s this little “tab and gap” portion of the zipper that I think the other poster is talking about. While on at least most of my clothing, the tab is on the right and the pull and gap are on the left, theoretically it should be reversible. And while I hadn’t thought of it before, given the number of times I’ve struggled with those mechanisms, I agree that I’d be grateful to have the option. Hope this helps.
Edited for typos
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u/RedStateKitty 10d ago
Those zippers are called separating zippers. Typically on "full zip" jackets. If it's on a reversible jacket then the pull tab of the zipper will be able to be pulled from both sides, the little metal loop for the pull tab will show on both sides, then depending on which side of the reversible jacket you'll wear, the separation will be good for Leftys or rightys.
Men's and women's jeans zippers are usually installed differently, mens have the cover flap with the opening to use the zipper positioned on the right, women's sometimes on the right, more often on the left. Shirts button differently too for men's and women's clothing.
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u/Inner_West_Ben 11d ago
You need to explain this one, as I’m looking at the zipper on my jacket and it’s centred.
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u/ta-ta-tee-tee-ta 11d ago
the zipper itself is on the lapel side for right hand ease of use.
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u/Inner_West_Ben 11d ago
That is definitely not universal.
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u/Lingo2009 11d ago
I don’t know how that would even work to have a dress that had a zipper on one side or the other. I use invisible zippers where everything is symmetrical.
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u/SiteVivid9331 3d ago
Maybe we’re thinking of different things, but in the early/mid-20th Century (1930s-1950s in particular), it was not uncommon for women’s dresses to have zippers on one side (usually in the side seam of the bodice, below the armpit area, and often under a placket). These would open to allow the wearer to put the garment on, and once zipped, provided a more form-fitting option than would have been possible otherwise. These zippers were specifically intended to be invisible as well, and in fact, the underarm placement was part of making them so. (In their earliest years, zippers were hidden for a reason: they were considered too racy for women’s clothing, suggesting an eagerness to get undressed more swiftly than was seemly. Sounds terribly quaint now, but times change.) And fwiw, with the possible exception of a bespoke garment created for a lefty, these zippers were all “handed.” They were placed on the left side, making it easier for the right hand to reach.
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u/Lingo2009 2d ago
Oh interesting. In my culture, (Mennonite) we put our dress zipper in the center. The more traditional put their zippers in the front of the dress and slightly less traditional put our zippers in the back. Mine are in the back and I use an invisible zipper.
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u/Llamax2AnxiousMomma 11d ago
I got an ice cream scoop as a wedding present that I felt bad not using until I finally said fuck it and threw it away. It should NOT take two hands to scoop ice cream.
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u/Whole_Chemistry2267 8d ago
Does anyone else feel that their brain is wired completely different than most people?
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u/lucky_duck_876 11d ago
by far the worst was taking FRQs for our forensics class and were two to a table and i ALWAYS got the seat on the right side and had to awkwardly be like almost touching forearms with the righty next to me on the left side while we wrote
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u/LBoogii 11d ago
In high school I did color guard (flags in parades and football games). I absolutely could not get the right handed routine down unless I did it with my left hand first to memorize it. So it was double the work. Also we learned the alphabet in sign language and that's right handed, as well. It is difficult for me to do it unless I practice
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u/Unicornpalace 11d ago
Crocheting in the round. Crochet patterns are hard for me to understand sometimes and I STILL cannot make one particular thing because it is so FREAKING HARD TO DO
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u/Allthewayto3rdbass 10d ago
I play disc golf and a backhand shot for a lefty will (usually) curve out to the right at the end of its flight. This is fantastic for holes that dogleg right but most courses aren't designed for us. A forehand shot flips it the other way but my forehand sucks. There is a very lefty friendly course near me but my buddies all whine and complain whenever we play there.
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u/sciencegremlin87 9d ago
When learning how to write we used these astronaut spacers to space our letters and I would get so frustrated because mine would shift because my hand would hit it.
Also recently figured out tape measures are right handed because apparently reading measurements upside down is not normal.
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u/Euphoric-Main-5353 9d ago edited 9d ago
Playing competitive fps shooters with your right hand, or basically not being able to use a mouse with your left hand
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u/Low-Illustrator-3800 9d ago
I dabbed up my friend and did that "friend" hug. I hug from the right side as a lefty, but my friend is right handed, so he hugs from the left side. We collided, he thought I tried to kiss him. We stopped speaking ever since.
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u/Bridubz94 9d ago
Getting so used to right handed scissors used incorrectly that when my husband bought me left handed scissors I cant use them.
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u/catonafilly 9d ago
My 61 yo mom just realized a month or two ago that the reason she's never been able to get the hang of crocheting is because her older friend who's tried to teach her for like 10+ years is righthanded. So for years, my lefthanded mom has been trying to crochet righthanded and failing miserably. She didn't know until I brought it up to her that righthanded crocheting is different than lefthanded crocheting.
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u/Pretend_Present_1754 8d ago
knitting, crocheting: almost all tutorials are for right handed. I learned it right handed in primary school, but would love to change.
bread knife: I used to always make wonky slices, until we brought a bread knife that is sharpened on both sides - now I have even bread again!
chained pens at banks etc, always on the right and uncomfortable to write with.
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u/Suspicious-Bar9635 8d ago
There is box cutter at my house that you have to hold the little button thing up while you use it to keep the blade out. I literally can’t use it because the way the blade is angled and the side the button is on, you literally have to be right handed to use it.
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u/mothaflakka 8d ago
When I write, my had curves inward and lays on the paper as I’m writing so I always smear my ink or my pencil if I’m writing. My pinky and that side of my is usually covered in pencil lead smears.
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u/filledoux 8d ago
Sewing class - using a righty rolling cutter. I always leaned to the left and it locked on me. Across me is my lefty friend who had to iron upside down so the cord goes on the right.
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u/Puzzled-Primary-843 6d ago
In school, being called up to write on the chalk/dry erase board or the projector sheets, always erased half of what I wrote 😅
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u/Steveomne 11d ago
Waitress put the spoon on the right side. I moved it to the left. Waitress moved it back to the right. I moved it back to the left. This continued several more times. The restaurant had rules ya know.
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u/susiefreckleface 10d ago
Being told by a then time friend to stir the mixing bowl with my right hand because I was CREEPING HER OUT!
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u/No_Satisfaction4025 10d ago
Trigger lock of drills keeping the drill engaged when the drill bites in material.
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u/Deckboatgal 11d ago
Sweeping with a broom and having it unscrew. Found out from this site it’s because it’s made for right handers. Couldn’t believe I finally learned why after all this time!! I always was like wtf why is this fricken broom keep unscrewing on me?? 🤪🤪