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.

Right, left, right, left

The more I find out about which tasks left handers use which hand for, the more confused I get about what 'being left handed' actually means. For instance, my hairdresser cuts paper with scissors in his left hand but holds the scissors in his right hand to cut hair.

A friend I saw over the weekend writes left handed but does virtually everything else right handed. Just like my niece and just like Bill Gates. And Martina Navratilova does everything with her left hand (including playing tennis) except write.

I am left handed, left footed, left eyed, left eared. So I look through the view finder of a camera with my left eye, I hold a phone to my left ear etc etc. Just about the only thing I do right handed is wear my watch on my left wrist. And that's probably because, when I had my first watch, my mother strapped it on my left wrist for me.

But it seems that many of my fellow southpaws are fairly dual handed. If you do some tasks with one hand and some with another, I'd love to hear from you.