Lefty or righty?

[karadekoolaid]

[Mod Edit: This post copied over to start a new topic (TR)]

When you think about it, "Western" societies eat with knives and forks, "East Asian" societies eat with chopsticks, and possibly a majority of the world population eats with their hands.

 

[Yorky]

When you think about it, "Western" societies eat with knives and forks, "East Asian" societies eat with chopsticks, and possibly a majority of the world population eats with their hands.

I was in a pretty upper class restaurant with my boss in Delhi. The food came but with no utensils. My first experience of eating with fingers (of only one hand). The manager of that restaurant now runs an Indian restaurant in Bangkok. I met him again many years later.

Since then I have attended a number of Malaysian weddings and parties and now I am pretty adept at eating with my fingers.

 

[The OMWC]

When you think about it, "Western" societies eat with knives and forks, "East Asian" societies eat with chopsticks, and possibly a majority of the world population eats with their hands.

Interestingly (to me, at least), in Thailand people used forks and spoons.

My first trip to China (back in the early 1980s), people would stare at me when we'd eat out. I asked my "minder" why, and she explained that they were not accustomed to seeing a Westerner use chopsticks adeptly and that I was doing it left handed. "We only use right hand, so they may think it's a bit strange." I wondered if it was related to the reason that the left hand isn't used for eating in Arab countries, but she assured me, "No, not because of that. We just always use right hand." I am absolutely unable to eat right handed. Ah well.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Interestingly (to me, at least), in Thailand people used forks and spoons.

My first trip to China (back in the early 1980s), people would stare at me when we'd eat out. I asked my "minder" why, and she explained that they were not accustomed to seeing a Westerner use chopsticks adeptly and that I was doing it left handed. "We only use right hand, so they may think it's a bit strange." I wondered if it was related to the reason that the left hand isn't used for eating in Arab countries, but she assured me, "No, not because of that. We just always use right hand." I am absolutely unable to eat right handed. Ah well.

I m also a lefty. But our housekeeper in Okinawa is who taught me to use chopsticks (age 4 or 5) and she let me do it left handed. So I guess it varies in Asian countries?

 

[The OMWC]

I m also a lefty. But our housekeeper in Okinawa is who taught me to use chopsticks (age 4 or 5) and she let me do it left handed. So I guess it varies in Asian countries?

Maybe? My dad taught me when I was very young (he was in Korea and Japan when he was in the Army), and he was a left hander. I'm a weird mix of righty and lefty.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Maybe? My dad taught me when I was very young (he was in Korea and Japan when he was in the Army), and he was a left hander. I'm a weird mix of righty and lefty.

Me too, I play guitar and swing a baseball bat (haven't done that in years) like a right-handed person. I eat with my left hand but cut food on my plate with my right hand--yet I cut food to prep in the kitchen with my left hand, usually. I am ambidextrous in that but left is slightly dominant.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I wondered if it was related to the reason that the left hand isn't used for eating in Arab countries, but she assured me, "No, not because of that. We just always use right hand." I am absolutely unable to eat right handed. Ah well.

No. I think it´s probably an incomprehensible, cultural, or religious distrust of anyone left-handed. Left handed people were often associated with the devil in Christianity and Islam. How they determined this when they´d never seen the devil, I don´t know.
In Latin "dexter" is right and "sinister" is left. In French " droit" is right and "gauche" is left.
In English, it´s good to be dextrous or adroit, but bad to be sinister or gauche.

 

[The OMWC]

Me too, I play guitar and swing a baseball bat (haven't done that in years) like a right-handed person. I eat with my left hand but cut food on my plate with my right hand--yet I cut food to prep in the kitchen with my left hand, usually. I am ambidextrous in that but left is slightly dominant.

Yeah, I'm sort of like that. Eat, write, brush teeth lefty; play guitar, pitch, bat, and prep vegetables right.

No. I think it´s probably an incomprehensible, cultural, or religious distrust of anyone left-handed. Left handed people were often associated with the devil in Christianity and Islam. How they determined this when they´d never seen the devil, I don´t know.
In Latin "dexter" is right and "sinister" is left. In French " droit" is right and "gauche" is left.
In English, it´s good to be dextrous or adroit, but bad to be sinister or gauche.

I am sinister AND gauche.

 

[caseydog]

No. I think it´s probably an incomprehensible, cultural, or religious distrust of anyone left-handed. Left handed people were often associated with the devil in Christianity and Islam. How they determined this when they´d never seen the devil, I don´t know.
In Latin "dexter" is right and "sinister" is left. In French " droit" is right and "gauche" is left.
In English, it´s good to be dextrous or adroit, but bad to be sinister or gauche.

A left-handed friend of mine grew up in a small town in Missouri, and the christian school teacher forced him to write with his right hand, because his left handedness was a sign of possession by a demon.

CD

 

[GadgetGuy]

A left-handed friend of mine grew up in a small town in Missouri, and the christian school teacher forced him to write with his right hand, because his left handedness was a sign of possession by a demon.

CD

That's crazy. I'm left-handed also.

 

[rascal]

I've figured out that leftys are more intelligent than rightys. My mum and daughter are both lefty's. Although BOTH can't cut bread. My mum used to end up with the loaf on a 45deg angle. I'd have to cut half a loaf off to cut a straight piece.
Dont get me started on slicing a chook lol.
My mum used to get a ruler across her hands for using left hand.
I'm a righty along with my bros.

Russ

 

[JAS_OH1]

I've figured out that leftys are more intelligent than rightys. My mum and daughter are both lefty's. Although BOTH can't cut bread. My mum used to end up with the loaf on a 45deg angle. I'd have to cut half a loaf off to cut a straight piece.
Dont get me started on slicing a chook lol.
My mum used to get a ruler across her hands for using left hand.
I'm a righty along with my bros.

Russ

It's a different kind of smart, not necessarily better than rightys, just in different ways. My spatial and navigational skills are off the charts phenomenal but my husband is way smarter than I am in some ways.

Those darned Catholic nuns! Some of my husband's elder relatives ran into the same thing.

 

[caseydog]

I've figured out that leftys are more intelligent than rightys.

My mom is a lefty, too. I love my mom, but she's evidence to the contrary of your theory.

CD

 

[caseydog]

It's a different kind of smart, not necessarily better than rightys, just in different ways. My spatial and navigational skills are off the charts phenomenal but my husband is way smarter than I am in some ways.

I don't think that has anything to do with right or left handed. My dad and I are both right handed, and was an engineer and math wizard, and I was an art major who made a living in design and photography.

CD

 

[JAS_OH1]

I don't think that has anything to do with right or left handed. My dad and I are both right handed, and was an engineer and math wizard, and I was an art major who made a living in design and photography.

CD

I must have inherited the navigation thing from my dad (pilot in the AF before they had a lot of the bells and whistles they do these days--joined Army Air Corps in the 1930s flying biplanes, often solo). My husband can't find his way out of a wet paper bag. I only have to drive down many turns and twists on a road once to remember how to get back somewhere and hub will get lost--which is one of the many reasons I am the one driving. I can also look at food and know how much is going to fit in a container, but that might just be from experience. He rarely gets that one right.

My youngest stepdaughter (also a lefty) is a math genius and a financial wizard. Well at least she has figured out how to make enough money to satisfy her spending habits and still has some to put away and invest, unlike her sisters and brother. The other 3 spend it as fast as they make it!

Edited to add: I learned how to read when I was 4 and was playing piano (self-taught) pretty well by age 6. I read at an incredibly fast rate. Now piano skills are supposed to help with math. I can add and subtract sums of numbers quite easily in my head, but never was much good at higher math. Well I honestly didn't want to be. In college I excelled at algebra but had no interest in taking it further, LOL.