William, Prince of Wales

[Ridha]

For someone who has to shake hands about 100 times than the average person that must be a challenge. My handshake with my non dominant is rather limp. I also think it would discombobulate someone as any repeated activity with their non-dominant I had thought effected other things. My cousin for instance who was naturally a lefty was forced to use his right hand by his grandmother (as in my culture some of the older generation think the left hand is impure. Eye roll) and he developed a stutter as a result.

[gremlin45]

Sept 11, 2022 7:41:12 GMT -4 Ridha said:

For someone who has to shake hands about 100 times than the average person that must be a challenge. My handshake with my non dominant is rather limp. I also think it would discombobulate someone as any repeated activity with their non-dominant I had thought effected other things. My cousin for instance who was naturally a lefty was forced to use his right hand by his grandmother (as in my culture some of the older generation think the left hand is impure. Eye roll) and he developed a stutter as a result.

That's why George VI stuttered too.

[Ridha]

That was the cause, that he was forced to use his right hand? Surprising I thought it was only in Eastern culture that there was a negative connotation to left handedness, interesting.

[tabby]

Jun 22, 2021 13:36:50 GMT -4 Ridha said:

Surprising I thought it was only in Eastern culture that there was a negative connotation to left handedness, interesting.

No, not at all! In the late 60s, not that long ago, my left-handed sister was forced by her 1st-grade teacher to learn to write right-handed, at least until my mom went into the school and raised hell.

[Ladybug]

Sept 11, 2022 9:39:02 GMT -4 Ridha said:

That was the cause, that he was forced to use his right hand? Surprising I thought it was only in Eastern culture that there was a negative connotation to left handedness, interesting.

He had a lot of health problems as a child. And allegedly his father verbally abused him and he was abused by a nanny. Early childhood trauma can contribute to speech problems.

[seat6]

When I was in elementary school in the 1970s and 80s kids were still being steered to using their right hands. Not because the left hand was considered sinister, but because the world is set up for right handers (scissors, not smearing wet ink across the page, handshakes). I was naturally ambidextrous (as were my two uncles) and would switch back and forth. My teacher just decided that I would be right-handed. I didn’t suffer from that, because it’s not like anyone was beating me. It was just a practical decision. I am left-eyed and left-footed, though, so I am not good at archery. I could never be a sniper. If I were an ice skater I would rotate counter-clockwise.

All that to say that as late as the 1980s in the US there was still a strong preference for right handedness in the education system.

[OnyxRose]

My younger sister was born in 1991 and ven when she started Kindergarten, they still were trying to make a fuss to get her to write with her right hand. She does everything right-handed though.

[tiggertoo]

I hadn’t even though about hand shakes.

[scrabblequeen]

I am mostly left handed and never even thought how weird it would be to shake hands backwards, so to speak. Trying to write with my right hand totally messes me up so I imagine it is the same sort of feeling. Very off kilter!

I use scissors and bat right handed, and shaking hands with my right hand seems natural to me but I am not sure that is actually being ambidextrous. The only thing I can do easily with both hands is use scissors.

[redangel]

Sept 11, 2022 12:30:10 GMT -4 OnyxRose said:

My younger sister was born in 1991 and ven when she started Kindergarten, they still were trying to make a fuss to get her to write with her right hand. She does everything right-handed though.

My daughter is the same way, she writes left, but is right-handed for everything else. When she played softball, it was weird to see her using her right hand to throw and also bat righty. I even looked at notebooks for left-handers because she complained a lot growing up about everything geared towards right-handers. But I couldn't find anything affordable, and then eventually I think she just learned to deal with it. I bought scissors for a left-hander and have a hell of a time trying to use them when I can't find any other scissors.

My father was a lefty and went to a catholic school. The nuns would hit his hand with a ruler when he tried to use his left hand, so he forcefully learned to write with his right hand and became a 'right-hander'.