this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2025
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[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 3 points 44 minutes ago (1 children)

My wife is 50 and she was almost forced to be right handed in late '70s/ early '80s. She is still left-handed, but she is almost ambidextrous. Maybe forcing people to do things with their weak hand isn't a bad thing, but obviously we shouldn't mandate they can only use their right hand. What if we had a society full of ambidextrous people? What if we force people to learn how to write with both hands?

[–] sleepmode@lemmy.world 2 points 11 minutes ago (1 children)

She might be cross-dominant. This apparently confused/annoyed my teachers growing up. I only write with my left hand and do almost everything else with my right side.

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 1 points 1 minute ago

I'm right handed but left legged. I did long jump and jumped about 4 feet farther using my left leg. Does that count? I know it's different but I find this kind of stuff interesting.

Write hand!

[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 27 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

You can thank the Romans’ adoption of the Bible for that stigma.

In Latin, sinestra means on the left side. Left handed people were referred to as sinister. After the appearance of Eve on Adam’s left side in accounts of Genesis, the Christian tradition finds instances of the left side being pinned to immorality. As a result, some time during the Latin Classical Era the definition shifted to its current meaning of evil.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

There's also less left-handed people so they're easier to pick on, and people in the past really delighted on being assholes

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 4 points 46 minutes ago

They still do. But they used to to.

[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 42 points 6 hours ago (5 children)

1950? This happened to me in the 90s

[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 1 points 11 minutes ago

Where are you from, Alabama 100 years from now?

[–] thisNotMyName@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

Started school in 2001, my mother - a lefthanded person herself! - tried the first 4 years of primary school to get me to write with the "correct" hand (unsuccessfully)

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 18 points 4 hours ago

Same here but in the 80s. Teacher would slap my hand with a ruler and force me to switch to my right hand. She also regularly told me I was evil and had the devil in me. My mom came to the school after she found out and nearly killed that teacher.

I'm still a lefty.

I may or may not be evil...

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 21 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 15 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

3rd grade teacher, first day of school. Was writing my name on my desk card. Next thing I know, I had yard stick slam down on my wrist. Got hit so hard that my wrist was swollen for days after

[–] MohamedMoney@feddit.org 5 points 2 hours ago (2 children)
[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 3 points 23 minutes ago

Mississippi

[–] gift_of_gab@lemmy.world 12 points 2 hours ago

Their wrist, they already said.

(❤)

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I was gonna say '80s, but you beat me by 10 years. I used to be left-handed, and my physio spotted it immediately: something about early muscle formation.

But as it was a conservative region of the country, I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the 'classic' teaching style.

[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 9 points 4 hours ago

I'm still left handed. I don't break lol

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 29 points 6 hours ago (5 children)

Explanation: It used to be fairly normal for teachers in the US, at least, to 'correct' left-handed children by striking their hand or otherwise punishing them for using it for primary-hand tasks. My great-uncle suffered this bizarre form of correction as a child.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

This was a thing I'm Europe as well in the 50's. My mom regularly got a slapping with a ruler or got kicked into the coal shed for writing left handedly

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 1 points 26 minutes ago

The good ol' days. Kids these days don't appreciate a good coal shed anymore.

[–] formergijoe@lemmy.world 9 points 5 hours ago

My partner suffered this form of correction in the late 80s.

[–] mx_smith@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

My Grandfather also had this experience and came out ambidextrous

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 hours ago

This happened to me in 2003 in upstate New York

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 3 points 5 hours ago

my dad and grandma both went through this

[–] oyfrog@lemmy.world 10 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I grew up in the 90s and went to public school, so I didn't have this experience. What I did experience was using the shittiest scissors in the classroom, and having to share it with 3 other kids because there was exactly one left handed pair.

Also lots of criticism about my handwriting.

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

My handwriting is terrible, I'm right handed. I blame it on being an engineer.

Well known fact those destined to be engineers and doctors learn to write badly in school, takes years of training to write this badly.

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.org 2 points 1 hour ago

Finally an explanation I can relate with.

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 12 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Knuckle rapping: for those naughty kids in Catholic school. And also lefties.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

My 3rd grade teacher did that shit and is one of several reasons I went into homeschooling between 4th and 8th grade. Wasn't even a Catholic school; it was public.

[–] calmnchaos@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

Everyone knows the left hand is the sinister one...

[–] rauls4@lemm.ee 1 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

In Spanish the right and left are called diestra (dexterous) and siniestra (sinister) respectively.

[–] jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 5 hours ago (4 children)

That's Italian, in Spanish it's Derecha and izquierda.

[–] RVGamer06@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

That would be "destra" and "sinistra", actually. "diestra" sounds like something made up by an American LARPing as an Italian

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[–] MolecularCactus1324@lemmy.world 9 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

That originates from Latin actually.

[–] rauls4@lemm.ee 7 points 6 hours ago

Well. It’s Spanish. Most of it originated from Latin.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I know them as derecha e izquierda for the directions and I'm bilingual in spanish.

Diestro is right handed but for left handed I hear zurdo more. I don't think I've ever heard someone use siniestro.

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