Friday 25 April 2008

Writing left handed

We left handers naturally draw lines from right to left and draw circles anti clockwise so, not surprisingly, we form our letters differently. But I wonder how many left-handed children are taught to form their letters the left-handed way? I certainly wasn't. And we didn't have left-handed scissors in the classroom, either.

As an adult, I now have a left-handed ruler (so I can measure right to left - the natural way for me) and a left-handed pencil sharpener (so I can sharpen a pencil anti clockwise, and have the shavings fall away from me and into the bin rather than over my hand, as is the case when I have to use a right handed sharpener in my left hand).

This anticlockwise thing means I get some strange looks. The other day I was table moderator at a networking lunch and organised the distribution of business cards so they went round the table in an anticlockwise direction. I didn't consiously go 'the other way' on purpose, it's just the way that seemed to me to be natural. Anyhow, it seemed to confuse the hell out of everyone.

Just like if I hand over my cheque book or paying in book to a right handed person in my bank. They can't seem to work out which way up or which way round they go. They'd be totally confused within about five minutes if they had to live in a left-handed world.

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