Lefties!

[momof7]

Hi Everybody,

I saw some comments beside a cryptogram that I had solved that led me to thinking...
How many of you cryptogrammers are lefties?
I'm wondering if there is a higher percentage of lefties on this site than you would find in the general public.
Just for the record, yes, I am a lefty, as are my husband, 3 of our kids, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and 2 of my brothers-in-law. So my family is heavy on the south paws. Thus the curiosity, I guess.

[Lurker]

Yo!

Here's another one. (And my crypto-twin, Lurker)

Qwerty keyboards favor lefties, with most of the often-used letters on the left hand. Perhaps that's part of our speed in online cryptos.

[gryhnd51]

I'm not sure I agree with that Lurker. I'm right-handed, but I only type with my left hand when solving cryptograms.

[montyb]

My 2 cents

If I remember my history of the typewriter correctly, the original mechanical design had the keys in alphabetical order. It wasn't long before typists became so adept and fast (bansai-ed?) that these early models kept jamming as the returning typebars could not get out of the way of subsequent type bars.

The QWERTY arrangement was designed specifically for left-handed people and since there weren't many left-handed typists (momof7's family notwithstanding), this forced the right-handers to slow down and reduce thr frequency of jamming.

[Lurker]

@gryhnd - If you type left-handed, maybe you're a secret lefty! Although I play most sports right-handed, and I'm most definitely a lefty.

The secret test is which leg goes first when you put on pants or shoes? It should be the opposite one of your dominant side. Ergo, lefty=right leg first.

[Lily H]

I agree with Greyhound. I'm definitely right-handed, but I do most of my cryptogram typing with my left hand. That's so that I have my right hand free to use the mouse instead of tabbing to letters. I find it much faster to click a letter box with the mouse than to tab tab tab to the letter box I want. Once I have the quote figured out, I type with both hands.

[wvwoman]

not necessarily, lurkersmurf---i'm a strong righty, and lead with my right foot when doing just about everything---i can't imagine putting on my left shoe first!
i just googled it, and the results i saw were mixed.

[chopstix]

How interesting!

I'm right-handed and use both hands while typing and playing this game - (although I am constantly having to correct myself for typos.)

Anyhow, the pants/shoes thing is intriguing. In skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding there is a thing called goofy-foot. It refers to one who "leads" with their right foot - those that lead with the left are called regular.

I've only snowboarded once, but one has to be fitted for their stance and your boots are snapped onto the board. Anyhow, I figured I would be regular. I turns out I'm goofy. The whole day I kept spinning around in circles. I've since realized that if I hop on a skateboard, I naturally want to lead with my right...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footedness

[wvwoman]

that particular wiki site seemed only to be about footedness, with no relationship to handedness.
i was once a super-speedy typist (100+ wpm), but now, due to disability, spend much of my time lying on my side, propped on left elbow, typing with my right hand. this does not promote speed or accuracy, but i still have fun!

[chopstix]

Oh, yeah, I was referring to what LurkerSmurf had posted - I thought is was interesting.

[WineChick]

montyb is correct about the keyboard's history.

I'm a righty, but prefer a computer mouse be on my left (although it still keeps the "right hand click" for when my husband uses it). I also am lefty with my coffee cup and a few other things.

As a high school student--back in the day of manual typewriters, discos, and the like--I was copy editor for our biweekly high school news page in our local paper as well as our school's monthly publication. While I was helping move furniture into the new library/media center, I wound up smashing the first 2 fingers on my right hand between two pieces of furniture, forcing me to wear a splint for a couple of months. By the time it was over, I was able to type with my left hand with nearly the same speed/accuracy as with two hands and without the hunt and peck method.

Right now, my 17 year old cat, Tigger, is laying on my left arm while I type this.

[thresa]

left brain - right brain

"Hand-dominance" has to do with which of our two brain hemispheres we prefer to use.

[montyb]

Down with the bourgeoisie! Up with the proletariat! Power to the worke........wait.
Lefties!? I thought it said leftists. That's what I get for being cheap and buying mail-order glasses.

[damsel22]

Lefties!

I was reading thru everyone's posts on this topic. I am a lefty; however, over the years I learned to do many things right-handed. Perhaps I was an oddball because I simply did not like being left-handed? I always hated the fact, and still do, that when I write I end up with ink all over the outside of my hand, which doesn't seem to happen to righties. In addition, no matter what I try, when I write I always end up blocking my light with my own hand. It is very troublesome! I am strictly a rightie when it comes to a mouse because computers didn't even exist back when I completed my conversion to semi-rightie-ness. I have tried left-handed mousing but have no control over the movement whatsoever. When solving cryptograms, I tend to type more with my left hand because I need the right hand for the mouse. Here's an observation of mine that you all may find interesting: my left hand moves much quicker when typing than my right; however, when I played piano, I always found the left-hand movements more problematic. Anyone have any ideas about this?

[Lurker]

I don't know about that, except the left hand usually has the more complex piano part. I'm also a lefty who uses the mouse with the right. It sounds like a lot of people use the mouse with their "other" hand.

My lefty gripe is crossword puzzles. All the clues run down the left-hand side of the puzzle, so you have to lift your hand to read them. Just once, I'd like to see a Sunday crossword dedicated to left-handers, with all the clues down the right!