Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Left or Right Handed?

I'm still young enough to remember that when I wore a watch for the 1st time, I made the decision to wear it on my dominant hand, that is, my right hand.

I remember that I was corrected and told that the "correct" hand to wear my watch was the left hand, and I was really confused because the whole concept about looking at my left hand to tell time when I'm right handed was too much for my then young and easily confused mind.

I remember that. LOL. During my O and A level exams, it was like preparing for war. First the watch was removed and place at an optimal position on the table such that you could see the time without changing writing posture. Then names and student numbers were written on at least 10 sheets of paper before the exam began so that the entire 3 hours of exams could be devoted to answering the questions. Some people even made rubber stamps of their names so as not to waste time and energy. We calculated how much time to spend per mark before the exam so we knew exactly how much time we had to work on a question. But I'm going off topic.

I know that my sister meclone2 got used to using her left hand to eat finger foods and sandwiches when we got into the bad habit of eating and surfing the net. This way, her right hand remains grease-free and she can use the mouse.

I sometimes wonder how much of our handedness is trained rather than inborned. I mean, my right hand is much more nimble than my left hand, but I do wonder if it is because I use my right hand so much that the muscles are more well developed than that of my left. I tried to hold a pencil with my left hand once. It wasn't pretty. :p

I mean, I play the piano. You pretty much need to be strong in both hands to handle running passages. You have no idea how many times I've cursed composers who put trills to be played by the left hand. Even with all the extra training my left hand gets because of piano, the playing field is still skewed towards the right hand. Imagine if you don't have a regular activity that requires the dexturity of your non-dominant hand. :p


metwin1

PS: JudeMustard, welcome to the boards. I'm so glad to see another Singaporean here.

I have two reasons for wearing my watch on my dominant hand. First, my dad, who was a righty, put his watch on his left hand, and I just copied him. And second, I began wearing watches before batteries were common, so we had to wind them every night. Since the stem was always on the right side of the watch, it was easier to wear the watch on my left hand and wind it with my right hand (which faced the stem) than it was to wear it on my right hand and try to reach across and super-pronate my left hand (turn my hand so the back faces my right and the palm faces my left) to wind it with my left hand. There was a reason most lefties learned to do many things with their right hand--it often required a contortionist to use equipment designed for a righty with the left hand.

You forgot to mention the Ten-year series! (Past year questions that you're supposed to practise on until you have this reflex arc where you can read the question and shade the circle without processing any information in your brain.) And the 2 dozen or so 2B pencils. Speaking of which, I brought so many spare pencils to the exam I just took that I felt like Mr Bean! (But ya can't beat the person sitting diagnonally across from me, who before the paper started was fully prepared with, in addition to the relevant stationery, three *peeled* and *seeded* tangerines sitting neatly at the corner of her desk!! Talk about a continuous supply of brain food... I just drank Red Bull during every break )

I had a few classmates who were actually ambidextrous, and during those long essay papers would switch hands while writing. I always thought it was really unfair, since the rest of us had to just take breaks and wait out the cramps in our hands before we could continue writing. Did you ever see those people who'd drop their pens and shake their hands vigourously to get the circulation going? I was one of those and also would have to use my left hand to pry the fingers of my right hand off the pen when I wanted to stop writing cos they'd just be in spasm!

Thanks, it's nice to be here, and to see other Singaporeans here! When (If...? Nah. When.) the LnC DVDs come out, what say we all get together and have a marathon?

Gosh, Sheila! (/me thwaps herself). That's such a simple (and very good) reason to wear your watch on your left hand. Actually, as I remember it, I had really bad eczema as a kid and would develop a rash on my wrist if I wore the same watcb on one hand for more than a few days straight, so I'd switch my watches back and forth between right and left every few days. It always took a while to get used to it being on the other wrist, though -- I'd always glance at the wrong wrist and quickly swap, hoping no one noticed