How can you play cricket/golf right or left handed? They are always played two handed. This is another mystery to me. I play both in the orientation described as right handed, but I am a total leftie. In fact, I can play golf with just my left arm, as in a racket sport backhand. Phil Mickelson plays 'left handed' golf but he is a rightie.

when I played rugby I could kick of either foot without thinking about it and the passing was the same whether it was to the left or the right. For writing its the right hand for most other things its the left - make whay you will of that.

What I really want to know is:

As the majority of the population are right handed why is cutlery conventionally arranged with the primary bit of eating kit (the fork) on the left?

SR

Could you post where you found those statistics?

I've flown with several hundred pilots. Lefty's are uncommon in my experience. Saw one in the last month or two and commented on it since I don't see it that often, especially not 37%.

I'll keep track of my coworkers and report back. Perhaps my observation skills are fading.

SR. The answer to the cutlery conundrum is that royalty have a high percentage of lefties running through their gene pool (e.g. prince william, and his dad). They traditionally defined such points of etiquette. If you look at americans eating (spare the jokes), they start the same way, cut the food into edible chunks, then lay down the knife, switch the fork to their right hand, and go at it.

Write left handed, everything else right handed (!) except for painting a wall - either hand. The nice thing is as a helicopter pilot or in the right hand seat of an airbus 320 or later people can read my writing afterwards!

TOD

I'm another odd one, play cricket/golf/baseball i.e. anything two handed is left handed (right hand on top), but I throw, bowl, write etc right handed.

I'm also first born, and a quick mental rundown of my aviation uni course and I think almost ALL of them were first born.

Interesting. Most people are "both" to a greater or lesser degree.Tennis champions and fencing champions are almost 50% left handers. One theory is that reaction times are faster because the right brain is connected directly to the motor centres and can make quicker decisions. A rightie has to process in the left brain, then transfer to the right brain to action the decision.
More interesting is the extent to which people use the capacities of both sides of their brain in everyday life. There are several tests which you can self administer to see which bits you are'nt bothering with!
I spent 10 years fencing right handed to quite a reasonable standard and then switched to my left hand when I was 25 and discovered a whole new sport! Then when I started flying the Class 1 initial Doc told me with great glee that I was an interesting specimen because I had no dominant eye. I was bang slap in the middle of their eye balance tests."You'd have made a jolly good shot as a fighter pilot". Ha! Now he tells me!
Also interesting are the horrific but fascinating results of the the experiments in the fifties when the link between left and right brain was severed in an experimental "cure" for epilepsy.
Most "activity" was centred in the left brain(of course in a right handed sample it would be) so what was the right brain good for? it appeared to have an upsurge in activity during siezures...so...guess what. Let's cut the link between the 2 hemispheres, they'll never know what they are missing....
Dont know if anyone has any links to the results.

I have a theory that it's actually a 50/50 gene. But it was historically 'bred out' or forced out. ie lefthandedness. I have met many people who say they were forced as youngsters to write with their right hand ,when they were natural lefties. Now, having exposure to a wider world, in east asia, I see the unforced reality. Lefties all over the place.

I handle my eating utensils like a RH person
My hand is positioned like a righty when writing - as opposed to that crippled claw crap they tried to force upon me in school.
I play the piano and organ (watch it now) like a right-hander.
I do prefer LH clubs on the links.
I feel sure that I am a far better aviator than your average righty. :}


I once had an otherwise kindly old lady tell me that I: "Owed the devil a day's work !" after noticing my writing hand was left.

Coo...didn't know that. I'm a lefty, but bat and golf...er, does one 'golf'? anyway, I do them the normal way round. Tennis, fencing, writing, pistol shooting, hammering, stabbing...all left. Strangely, I use the...erm, Oh, dosen't matter:E

I found it curious that in the US presidential election a few years ago both major candidates were lefties: Geo. Bush, Snr, and Wm. Clinton.

My father was right-handed but it was seriously injured and the repair resulted in less strength. He learned to do heavy work left-handed and was reasonably ambidextrous.

Also Ronald Raygun. But he was forced to be a rightie as a child.
But, take comfort, bin liner laden is ..... yes you guessed it.

Could you list the source of these 'facts'? (ie, the 37%)

This was an internal survey at an airline. Not very scientific, but it demonstrated a clear statistically significant bias.

Perhaps you were forced to write with your right hand when you were a kid. Do you write with your right hand or with the left? I have a cousin that was originally left-handed but was forced to write with his right hand at school (oh, the joys of education in Spain in the late 60s).

I'm both but I can't afford flying at the mo although I'm in the industry so thats a good start!!!

Long Live 'Kestrel'

Rgds
Slow Progress

Forced righty
 

Born first child and a lefty but Irish Marist fathers dictated otherwise now can write with both hands at same time with different texts and I use it often..... Freaks people out, but for the rest totally lefthanded.....also part of family is a Ciotóg including brother , daughter and horse (I kid you not)......