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For those of you who don't now, Sunday August 13th is International Left-Handers Day, so in homage to lefties everywhere, Bored Panda has compiled this list of annoying problems that all left-handers face on a daily basis.

If you're left-handed then you're probably aware that, whether you like it or not, this is a right-handed world. From scissors and desks to ring binders and ice-cream scoopers, everything seems to be designed with the righties in mind, which isn't really surprising when you realize that around 90% of the world's population is right-handed.

Still, there's a pretty impressive list of lefties crammed into that remaining 10%. Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Aristotle and Julius Caesar were all left-handed for instance? And let's not forget Albert Einstein, Neil Armstrong, Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama. And Jimi Hendrix. And Kurt Cobain. And Paul McCartney. And David Bowie, Charlie Chaplin, Robert de Niro, Angelina Jolie, Keanu Reeves, Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, and Jon Stewart, plus a whole bunch of other people we don't have the space to write about. If we haven't made our point yet then what we're trying to say is that, although left-handed people might be in the minority, that doesn't make them any less awesome, and some of the world's most important contributions have in fact come from left-handers.

Despite this however, non-righties have had a pretty hard time throughout history. The word "left" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "lyft", meaning "weak", and the word "sinister" actually derives from the Latin word meaning "left". Left-handers were also thought to consort with the devil, and being left-handed was sometimes considered proof that a woman was a witch and should therefore be persecuted or even executed! Fortunately those days are long gone though, and the only things left-handers have to worry about these days are using a can opener without making a mess, and trying to write without getting ink all over the side of their hand. Scroll down to see some other problems that the modern leftie has to face. Can you relate? Then let us know in the comments below and don't forget to vote. Happy International Left-Handers Day everybody!

#1

As A Left Handed Person... F*ck

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Funny-left-handers-problems

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Sasy
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This just made me think of being tall, and getting all those 'What is the weather like up there' queries from smarty pants short people.

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Michel M. Prins
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Are you left handed?" and "How can you write like that?" Are sometimes a bit in the same percentages.

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#7

Silver Surfer Syndrome

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Daria B
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Again, right handers are not spared the silver (and blue, when you use a pen) surfer syndrome.

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#8

Funny Left Handers Problems

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Daria B
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The notebook rings problem, I'd just turn the notebook upside down, because I don't care.

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Caroline Naen
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Right handed people have the spiral notebook problem too when they turn the page and write in the other side...

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Joelle Jansen
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first one is me and my family. We're a family of 6 and 3 are left handed. We developed a seating scheme so we don't get in each others way. XD

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Keren Levi
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank god in Hebrew we write the other way around (rtl) so lefties like me get a leverage ;-)

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Beverly Kleinman
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sad but true. Worst part was the ink on your hand would smear what you just wrote.

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Holly Rossmaier Newingham
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When doing poster projects,2 stop the smear factor (& point deductions) I taped gauze on the side of my left hand. It soaked up xtra ink...

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The Cube Cat
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In regard to the first one, I am constantly asking to switch spots with people to avoid bumping.

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cassiushumanmother
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had to do research to understand the eating thing lol. I must have some american blood. In europe i eat like a left handed, the fork in the right hand and the knife in the left. I soon as i get into a restaurant i discreetely change the table placement. I'm right handed but it makes no sense for me to eat with the fork in the left hand as right handed have to do in Europe.I understand left handed because i got some "oh, you are left handed" when people see me ; "no". Strange etiquette french-599...e0ba66.jpg french-599052ae0ba66.jpg

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FHKW
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I write from the back of the notebook so the rings are on the right.

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Sara Otterstätter
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agree with the spiral notebooks. I try to avoid them. But when I have one, I draw in them from back to front. So, that I have the spirals on the right side.

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Michel M. Prins
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, the notebook thing can be easily avoided. People will look weird at you, but its comfort is worth it in the end.

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Ruyan Wang
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same with me!im left handed and my hands,i cant resist it because the pencil would just keep on getting on my hand!

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Romily Valdez
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Spiral notebooks! I mean I only just realised it was just a leftie problem, but they piss me off do much

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Cucu Mucu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The same problem for the right-handed people when they write on left page.

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Erik B
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember watching Pulp Fiction and in one of the scenes, Bruce Willis' character was holding a sword with his left hand on top, right hand on the bottom and I thought "oh s**t, Bruce Willis is left handed!"

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Erik Barry
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember watching Pulp Fiction and in one of the scenes, Bruce Willis' character was holding a sword with his left hand on top, right hand on the bottom and I thought "oh s**t, Bruce Willis is left handed?"

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Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh! I used to get confused and conscious whenever, during my childhood, I came across another leftie.

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Ruth Balaity
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always got C in penmanship because my left handed writing sucked and papers were always smeared with lead.

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Luca Gubernati
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually that is the same problem for righthanded, just on the other side of the page.

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Andreas Wærholm
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Where I'm from, everyone has the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right.

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Aisha G
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a lefty i cant relate to the third slide because i kinda write upside down

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Crystal Williams
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I learned how to play golf by watching Bruce Willis and Phil Mickelson

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Ann Walker
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I had school dinners I was made to use my right hand when using a dessert spoon! Never, ever again after the day I left!!

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Lois Glaudel
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If taught correctly from the start, left handed people do not have to turn their hand. Their paper is slanted to the right and the pencil eraser points to the left shoulder. A left handed teacher who was taught correctly!

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Harriet Tisch Zimmerman
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So, I’m Left-handed, so what! I can do everything that Righties can do......read, write, drive a car and cook a turkey amongst other things, only more creatively because I need to adept to a right handed world! Being.a lefty is not a curse, but a blessing!

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Jose Baeyens
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm right handed, but I use fork and knife in reverse (fork right, knife left) so I know the problem. Concerning the rings of the map : same for both left or right handed, for lefts it's when you start on page two, for the rights is when you start on page one.

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Amanda Harker
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I notice left handed people on TV too and get pen/pencil marks on my hand and I'm right handed.

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Maggie Smith
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The ring binder problem is easy... Fold the notebook in half and only use just the back-sides of the paper. The rings are then on the right. And I'm not a lefty.

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Holly Rossmaier Newingham
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Think this one through... attempting to help teach your RIGHT handed Kindergartener how to form letters or hold a pencil "correctly"! OMFG!9

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Adrian Hammersmith
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used gummed-top notepads, so this never happens to me. I only use ringbinders for clear-sleeves for archiving magazine pages, photocopies et al. If you can't find those, use a foldback-clip to turn loose-leaf into a pad. Or to bind photocopies into a book without glueing. You can always take them off to add, remove or rearrange pages.

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Kathleen Lovell
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm right handed and I hate spiral notebooks--the get caught on so many things. I used non-spiral notebooks all the time.

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Jacqlyn C Weir
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is why turning the notebook sideways works. No one will have to deal with the spiral again.

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Elizabeth Vajtauer
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

so very true, i always notice left handers,, I write left handed but i learned at a very early age to write like i wasnt left handed, if that makes any sense, well it will to a left hander.

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Terrie Brandt
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

notebook rings get in the way for right handers too, when writing on the left page of the book

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CrystalPanda Gaming
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The rings are the worst. I always have to write far away and the teachers like... "Can you please write a 'little' Closer to the rings" Me: (Says in head) SOMEONE HELP ME

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Bonnie Hemmerling
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I told my left-handed son to write on the backs of the pages. Looked same as front, only put spiral on the right side!

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Chris Howard
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The eating is so bang on! I have to literally think about where I sit at a table because of it.

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Shannon Woods
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband and I always have the eating problem when we go out with friends. Especially since I hate eating on the inside of a booth.

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Isabel Enechi
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The one for the eating girls isn't the left-handed person's fault or is it because majority of humans are right handed dat the left handed seems odd

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Shalini Gogna
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is my excuse to sit by the wall when i go out to eat. That way i can lean on the wall and ask people to get me drinks and salads

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Heather Cowan
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dinner table problem involves musical chairs. The notebook I simply turn and ignore metal rings gouging in hand.

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Milda Mockūnaitė
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually, notebooks with rings are also right handed people problem too... Like, everything is okay when you write on the right side, but when you have to write on the left side... ...so f**k those f*****g notebook rings!

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Marcie Hanaburgh
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A surprising number of actors and cartoon characters are lefties. (I am not)

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Jennifer Cruts
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My dad and my sister were left-handed. Growing up I thought it was normal table manners for there to be assigned seats at dinner. It wasn't until my sister moved out (I was 6 years old) that I realized it was so there wasn't a bunch of elbow bumping.

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Master Markus
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm right-handed, but notebook rings are also problem on the opposite page. So I just don't buy ringed notebooks because they're a proven pain in the a*s.

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Zoe Drake
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is totally true but the notebook thing is easy to fix; turning it upside down takes away the margin and puts the title line at the bottom. Just buy notebooks without the ring binder; granted you have less choice of notebooks you can buy but it takes the hassle out of writing in them and puts that hassle into finding notebooks that you can write in and have enough pages in for the year!

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lasagna's underrated
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My brother and I have the same problem (dinner table problem) it must suck to be the only left handed person you know.

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Jacqueline Arana
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The food problem is more of being cramped I get that problem with a bunch of fellow right handed prople, as far as the notebook goes i always used front and back so it's only a problem half the time

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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My friend is left handed but everyone thinks he's cool cause of that

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Mikleo
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a solution for the notebook rings, just turn the notebook.

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Juan Alcorta
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you hit someone with your elbow shile eating, you´re doing it wrong wether left or right handed.

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#10

Funny-left-handers-problems

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Michel M. Prins
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And then when you say you're lefthanded, they just don't know what to say anymore

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#14

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Daria B
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We right handers get our pencils and pens on the side of our hands too. Yeah, no one's afe.

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Funny-left-handers-problems

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Michelle Mendoza
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ooh you've never seen a left handed person in all your life? Do you get this surprised like this every time you see a left handed person use their left hand to write? Cause I still get grown people who are like this...

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#21

Funny Left Handers Problems

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varwenea
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those are not worth buying anyway. They don't cut into hard frozen ice cream well enough. Use the scoop/dipper kind or the wide-spoon variety; I have the latter.

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#25

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Michel M. Prins
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For everyone who uses a drawing tablet I advice to try to make it as easy as possible. I have 4 buttons and a ring. The buttons I linked to the functions: Undo (CTRL+Z), redo (Shift+CTRL+Z), brush (B), eraser (E). And for the rocker ring I did this: Brush size increase ( [ key), brush size decrease ( ] key), zoom in (CTRL + =), zoom out (CTRL + - And now everything goes a lot more easily for me personally. Maybe this will work for you too. rm-ip-tab-...1ea14a.jpg rm-ip-tab-default-598ffc81ea14a.jpg

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#27

Funny-left-handers-problems

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Rhon
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm right handed and I'm currently scrolling with my left thumb! Just being lazy!

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#28

Funny-left-handers-problems

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HauntedForests
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have this problem too, but I'm right handed. So, needless to say, I don't know how to properly use a can opener. I've even broken a few. :/

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Jane Van Balen
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Helps being a lefty on the tennis court... can be quite off putting to opponents who are more used to playing against right handers (even for other lefties!)

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#36

Maybe He Was Clever... Nope. Just Didn't Want To Get His Hand Dirty

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Šimon Špaček
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do you poor lefties know that Jewish write and read from right to left? Think about all those poor right-handed Jews!

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#37

Funny-left-handers-problems

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Yasna Minkovska
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a mother of a left handed kid, I've felt the same way, trying to use her lefty scissors :)

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#38

Funny-left-handers-problems

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alexa pretchet
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me as a right-hander always thought, the designs are for the others, not for me (Because I already know whats on my mug so the design would cheerish the others). Having it on "my side" keeps confusing me a little bit...

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#39

Just Yet Another Leftie Problem

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Sk123 ILP123
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is it a thing where people only lift cups with their dominant hand, I subconsciously alternate between the two

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HauntedForests
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think the reason for this is because it would be really cool to meet someone who is ambidextrous? That's my guess anyway.

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