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In a world being handled mostly by our right hands, there are some left-handed things that some of us won't understand. With 10 percent of the world’s population using their left hand more in day-to-day operations, it’s natural for this uniqueness to get pushed to its limit. After all, when 90 percent of people seem generic, left-handed people have the privilege of being somewhat unique.
People with left-hand preferences get unique humor and a lot of boring, generic questions. To some people, left-handedness is such a popular topic that they will automatically ask a billion questions related to this aspect of a person. To prevent your friends from getting their questions out, you might want to declare yourself to be left-handed right off the bat. It's also a brilliant conversation starter. On the other hand, there is a humorous side to this uniqueness. There are a lot of jokes and hand puns that can be used to highlight this unique characteristic. Although, sometimes, these jokes might get out of hand pretty quickly.
Since the internet is so large, it was only natural for some left-handers to share the things that annoy them. User Toxic4704 asked this question to a group on AskReddit — “Left-handed people of Reddit, what are some everyday struggles that most right-handed people are not aware of?” We have compiled a list of the best answers down below. If you found some of them funny and maybe relatable, be sure to upvote them. Otherwise, share your own left-handed experience in the comments below.
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#1
"Getting your hand smudged with graphite or ink when writing."
Grudge-holding Treefrog 2 years ago
My mom used to think I was coloring on my arm when I was in grade school. She would fuss at me, and nearly every day I would have to remind her that I was a lefty
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#2
"As a kid having teachers constantly telling me I'm holding the pencil incorrectly. Also having teachers assume that my difficulty cutting things neatly with right-handed scissors was due to laziness/incompetence."
Grudge-holding Treefrog 2 years ago
My kindergarten teacher wanted me tested for a learning disability because I couldn’t cut with the righty scissors
#3
"Whenever there is a pen chained to the counter (like at a bank or store) it's always attached on the right side. So lefties always have the chain draped across the thing you're writing on."
#4
"Doing anything with ringed binders or spiral notebooks."
Charlie the Cat 2 years ago
This. I have to remove the paper from the ring binder if I need to write anything on there.
#5
"Eating in close proximity to someone who is right-handed. Always have to orient me at the table accordingly."
Grudge-holding Treefrog 2 years ago
My whole family is right handed. I have to orient myself every time we go out to eat
#6
"Power tools are designed for right-handed people, and they're dangerous enough already without having to be awkward about using them."
#7
"Nobody sees the jokes or pictures on my novelty coffee mugs." steveofthejungle said: "The coffee mug thing makes me so sad." crspphoto asked: "Do people look at you like you're crazy when you sit there in the morning chuckling to yourself while staring at your mug?"
Grudge-holding Treefrog 2 years ago
This is what I like about the paint your own shop near where I live. They make some of the mugs left handed and some of them right handed! It’s great.
#8
"Having people point out the fact that you're left-handed as if you're some special unicorn." user replied: "Technically you are because just about 10 percent of the population is left-handed."
Grudge-holding Treefrog 2 years ago
Woo Hoo. Hey everybody, look at me, I’m a left handed unicorn 🦄 /j
#9
"Having to hear people say, 'Wait, you're left-handed??' after you've been writing things in front of them for months." Trum-y-Ddysgl said: "One of my friends at school was born without a right arm. I had known the guy for at least 5 years when one day I randomly said 'Wait, Sam, I didn't know that you're left-handed?' Don't know what brought it on, I was genuinely surprised that he was using his left hand to write with."
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
I'm 41. My family still occasionally forgets that I'm left-handed. As soon as they "remember"/realize, the oh-so-funny lefty jokes get whipped out. I'm pretty tired of them XD
#10
"Everyone has said the common ones, but at 26 I recently discovered this one. Going to fill your tank up at the gas station? Watch a lefty when they're standing at the pump. It took me YEARS to figure out why the stupid hose winds up getting tangled and doesn't seem to sit right when you put it back on the pump. Righties grab the nozzle with their right hand and immediately turn to their left. Lefties grab the nozzle with their left hand and turn to the right, meaning the hose is twisting in the opposite direction. When we're done fueling, turning to the right seems to be the preferred move, as you're not going to spin back around to your left to put the nozzle back. So now you've twisted the hose into a pretzel, you can't get the nozzle to sit happily in the pump, and everyone's looking at you funny." Nerdican replied: "Wait, THAT'S why I always have to spin the rotating part on the nozzle when putting it back? I thought they were just poorly designed."
#11
"Having to work with any kind of tool, utensil, or handheld device, because 98% of them are right-handed. Especially scissors."
#12
"Putting change in a vending machine. Everything about it just feels unnatural."
Robert Trebor 2 years ago
For a lefty to put change into a vending machine you have to turn to the right, away from the machine.
#13
"You sometimes have to reposition your drink when they give it to you at a restaurant."
Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
As fairly ambidextrous, I have the same issue with my drink. I can only write right-hand, but other things I have strong preference with left
#14
"This."
Thebaebeekiller replied:
"I say this actually worked an advantage as a left-handed person. I would put my right elbow on the desk, lay my head on my right hand, with a pencil in my left, and either write or sleep."
DennyS (denzoren) 2 years ago
I'm a right-handed writer and I don't even like these desks. Lol
#15
"Whenever I'm baking, if I'm trying to measure something in a measuring cup, I have to hold it in my right hand to see the cup measurements. It's obviously a very small problem, but nonetheless annoying!"
#16
"It took me way too long to figure out a can opener. My parents were getting worried."
#17
"When writing with a pen (or a pencil), due to your hand following your pen across the page, it is very common to smudge the words you write." user replied: "YES. I write essentially exclusively with pens, and even then I'm SUPER picky about the pens I write with. Precise V5 all the way, baby. Doesn't smear, doesn't bleed through. I swear by them. Plus they come in all kinds of fun colors."
#18
"Bizarre side issue: A lot of left-handed people are quite ambidextrous. This includes being able to read and write mirror writing. As a result, sometimes you automatically read something in mirror writing without consciously registering that it is reversed. A common problem is pushing at glass doors that appear to say 'Push' on them when that writing is actually on the other side of the glass aimed at people coming from the opposite direction. Or going through a door that says (e.g.) 'to the bar' when the writing is actually on the other side of the door and you should be going in the opposite direction."
Shannon Hawks 2 years ago
its true, i write, eat, left handed but throw right handed, shoot pool left, bowl right. switch hit, sweep, shoot, saw either hand. im a mess.
#19
"Learning knitting/crotcheting took me so long because of all of the instructions for right-handers. Ended up having to learn how to do it backward." greywaters replied: "I don't know if you still knit, or have already adapted to the right-handed directions, but take a look at continental knitting. It is more left-handed than English knitting."
Noodle Panda 2 years ago
i knit right handed, cause thats how my gran taught me, but i crochet left handed, cause im well, left handed 😁
#20
"I’m a left-handed Westerner living in India. Besides what others have already mentioned: In India, it is considered crude and unsanitary to use your left hand for pretty much anything, especially when handling food or handing something over. That’s because people use their left hand to wash their behind after using the toilet. For the first few months, it was challenging. I had to retrain myself to handle a spoon with my right hand, to wear my wallet in my left pocket (in order to pull it out of my jacket with my right hand), to place my mouse to the right of the keyboard, etc."
Arunika R. 2 years ago
I'm a right handed born Indian and I still struggle with using only the right hand. But at this point, only my grandma insists on the right hand rule
#21
"I've learned how to eat with my arms tucked in, so I look like a T-rex. Actually, it's helped with my table manners too, as I don't look like a slobbering buffoon with my arms taking up so much space."
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
I do this too, depending on the number of people eating with me and the table or booth arrangement. My family members all tend towards obesity, too, so I often find myself in the corner of a table or at the end of a booth, clinging to a small space precariously XD
#22
"Buying instruments. Guitars tend to be more expensive and much harder to come across nice ones. You can't usually borrow a lefty guitar at a show if an issue arises with yours." porkchop_d_clown replied: "I had a left-handed friend who played right-handed and insisted that it was the righties who were backward because the hand on the neck is the one making precise movements."
Gamin Coda 2 years ago
I'm a lefty that plays right handed guitars. To me it makes more sense and feels natural that way. You have an advantage on the fretboard.
#23
"Smartphones have buttons where only the right handlers can reach them. I hold my iPhone XR in my left hand. Inconvenient."
Rayne Marinoff 2 years ago
I am a righty and I hold my phone in my left hand more often 😂 I’ve never had that issue? (I also have an XR)
#25
"Golfing. You can't share clubs with anyone."
#26
"Playing cards. The way I naturally spread the cards results in all the numbers/faces being hidden behind the adjacent cards. I have to hold from the top and spread the bottoms. (They do make left-handed playing cards, in case anyone doesn't believe this is a thing)."
#27
"Write with my left-hand but do almost everything else with my right hand. Am I weird guys? Or are you guys like that too?"
Shannon Hawks 2 years ago
just posted above, eat left, throw right, pool left, bowl right. you are not alone
#28
"Putting pens in my breast pocket. I wear scrubs as a doctor and the action of putting my pen in my left breast pocket with my left hand is just unnatural and sometimes awkward. Also, my army uniform has a place for pens on the left forearm, so I have to put the pen in and take it out first with my right hand. The struggle is real."
#29
"The mouse on the computer is in the wrong place. I learned to mouse with my right hand early, even though I use my left for trackpads."
Noodle Panda 2 years ago
Fun Fact: most left handed people use the pc mouse in their right hand
#30
"Sitting at most college desks since almost all (at least where I'm from) are right-handed."
#31
"Guns are usually designed to be fired from the right side."
Laura Lett 2 years ago
Heckler Kotch has designed a line of guns for left handed shooters. Check them out.
#32
My father is left-handed. Being born to a very conservative father in the wake of South Korea, right after the war, raised in the 70s, he was forced to learn to write with his right hand (not 100% sure of the reasons but I am told by my mother it was because of social stigma towards left-handed people in my grandfathers time, but was obsolete in my father's generation) and was beaten if he used his left hand for anything. To this day he writes (almost illegibly) with his right hand. So yeah, I guess you could call that an everyday struggle for my dad."
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
Even in the 1980s in America, it was still a bit of a stigma to be left-handed. I had teachers punish me for writing with my left hand, and sometimes they'd send notes home with me to tell my parents to teach me to write with the "correct" hand. Luckily my father was left-handed and ignored THAT idiotic demand XD
#33
"Wearing a watch on my right hand, and then having people tell me it's wrong."
#34
"Does shaking hands count as being built by society? Because it gets awkward even after actively reminding myself for 30 years to SHAKE WITH THE RIGHT HAND. And I still mess it up.
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
I applaud left-handed (left hand striking the right palm, instead of the other way around) and I sometimes get funny looks from people in the theater, because I tend to slightly face to the right as well while applauding XD
#36
"Learning guitar chords for a left-handed guitar. Pretty sure I memorized them wrong at one point and had to spend a week re-memorizing the correct ones."
#37
"Smoking in a car. The ashtray is on the right."
Charlie the Cat 2 years ago
Not if you live in the UK (or any other countries that drive on the left hand side of the road).
#38
"Molded handles are always right-handed."
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
Mass-produced anything is usually right-handed :( We lefties adapt, we adjust, we survive >:D
#39
"My aunt had a baby that started to show left-handed dominance and she was whining that he's 'handicapped' meanwhile she's saying this to me, my sister, and my mom (we're all lefty). Her main argument was that when he opens doors he will have to reach across to grab the handle. I tried to explain that the handle is on one side as you enter and the opposite side as you exit, but that was too much for her to comprehend."
David Green 2 years ago
Within my lifetime, many schools made lefties write with their right hand. Recidivists would have their left hand tied behind their back to "encourage" use of the "proper" hand. Fortunately, I went to a modern school which allowed me to use my left hand for writing with a right handed nib on my ink pen. Needless to say, the results were not pretty.
#40
"Learning things right-handed people do without a video."
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
Or using our imagination fiercely (and strugglingly) while we're watching the video, to imagine the action/task that we're watching reversed, so that it makes sense to a lefty XD
#41
"I find that I tend to screw lightbulbs in tighter when what I'm really trying to do is unscrew them."
#42
"Dental chairs. I mean, lefty dental chairs do exist, but we didn't have any at uni so I had to learn to do my job using my right hand."
#44
"Weed whackers - they spray your legs with dirt because it spins toward you when you hold it in the opposite intended direction."
#45
"Left-handed keyboards, the number pad is on the left."
Keith Jenkins 2 years ago
I bought a separate numeric keypad and place it to the left of a standard keyboard. A more available and less costly solution.
#46
"As a left-handed digital artist, pretty much all drawing tablets are built for right-handed people. I have to flip my display upside down to use my drawing tablet and that means I can’t use my drawing tablet and other monitor at the same time."
Grudge-holding Treefrog 2 years ago
This too. I have to pull my arm in like a T-Rex if I want to change the pen size
#47
"Kitchens are often arranged poorly for lefties, with the work area to the right of the cooking surface, making it slightly awkward to move things back and forth between the two spaces, a longer reach to grab utensils, and so on."
#48
"I'll add a couple more obscure ones I didn't realize until I started climbing: 1) learning knots is hard since knots are taught by and for righties. To make this worse, some knots, if tied left-handed, will look right but capsize and fail immediately under load. 2) the Gri-Gri belay device, a fantastic tool, is designed for right-handed use."
#49
"Video games suck because all the buttons for action are on the right." zakrak4 said: "Leftie here never had any issues with video games." past-the-present comments: "I'm a lefty too, the whole video game thing is much more apparent when you're playing something on like a DS. When playing Kid Icarus for example, you move with the circle pad (on the left), but you also have to control the camera by using the touch screen, in which it's most convenient to use the stylus, which you also have to hold with your left, meaning you can't both move and control the camera at the same time, making it a lot harder to play. It's fine on other consoles though, I don't have nearly as hard a time."
What do you think ?
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
Lefties of Bored Panda unite! :D It's always great to talk to other lefties. <3
Rachel Ainsworth 2 years ago
I'm ambidextrous so use whatever hand is closest. The downside is I have to think about left and right carefully to make sure I get them correct. I still remember being in primary school and being made to write pages of 3's because I would write them pointing the wrong direction like E's e.g 1 2 E 4 5.
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
Lefties of Bored Panda unite! :D It's always great to talk to other lefties. <3
Rachel Ainsworth 2 years ago
I'm ambidextrous so use whatever hand is closest. The downside is I have to think about left and right carefully to make sure I get them correct. I still remember being in primary school and being made to write pages of 3's because I would write them pointing the wrong direction like E's e.g 1 2 E 4 5.
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