h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Potato-peelers. One. Scissors. Two. They are the pits.

My neice who is only nine and left handed finds taps awkward. However, she's brilliant at maths as are many other left handed people I know.

Well I write with my left hand, but I played guitar right-handedly partly because the complicated bit is done with your left hand, so it makes more sense, but mostly because it feels right. I can use a computer mouse in either hand and I use a knife and fork the right handed way.

I've Never found any problems being left-handed, but I've probably just adapted.

Not even scissors? It chews the paper if you use left hand. What about keyboard - never need the numbers bit?

I use scissors in my right hand and I use the number bit a lot but with my right hand, so I think I'm either ambidextrous, or just plain weird or perhaps both. I do defintely write with my left hand though, and quite defintely can't write with my right.

I can't use knife and fork right handed. You are right in lots of cases it doesnt matter, because we are used to adapting. I had a kitchen put into my house and the builders kept complaining the the doors were on the wrong way and the sink was in the wrong place because I designed it to suit us. They have more problem in a left hand enviroment than we do in right because we are used to it! I found irons to be quite a big pain because the dial was on the wrong side, so kept catching it on the clothes and altering the temperature. Corkscrews go round the wrong way too have you noticed?

As a right handed person I have to say that on the whole we have life too easy. My left hand/ arm is significantly weaker than my right. The opposite is not tru for left handed people I know.

There is also this unfortunate attitude that used to be prevalant that left handers had to be forced to be right handed. This happened to my partner and he had great educational problems as a child because of it.

That happened to my dad - they used to tie his hand behind his back.. He writes right handed but does everything else with left.

I don't think they did anything quite as drastic with Stu but you don't have to be around him long to realise that he is obviously left handed. I often notice him stopping to consider which hand to use.

Left handed people often write in a weird way. I turn the page sideways and write down the page not across. My partner Neil turns his hand in a sort of loop over the top of the page to write.

Well other people call it weird, but how else can you avoid smugging the ink.

scissors are generally bastards, also some knives especially for spreading -ie marg or butter, automatic guns eject the cartidges out to the right of the gun so if its in your left hand the cartridge is going across your body/face. its nearly impossible to learn to play the guitar as the natural wy to hold it is the way i see every one else doing it, this means however that it is upside down and the low note strings are at the top.
Long live the left the most intelligent and creative people, gallileo, da vinci, paul mcartney, hendrix, kurt cobain, jim morrison, einstein, feynman, all the best people.

I play the guitar right handed, as I've said, even though I'm left handed as it feels the most natural that way.

You are an imposter ant. You are a far too un Kackhanded. I am spam with the right! Any more famous people who are left handers anyone?

Ant is no imposter - I too play guitar right handed, even though I do most things with my left, because the complicated bit can be done with your left hand. similarly, I bat at cricket right handed, because the left hand is the controlling hand - I never understand why others don't do the same.

Douglas Adams apparently has a left handed guitar. So he must be as kack handed as me!

I'm right-handed, but I still do many things with my left, such as knife and fork--if someone's in the way at dinner, I just reverse. I never even thought about it until I was about 16 when someone pointed it out. I've tried to learn to write with my left hand, but the results are pretty pathetic. What good does it do anyway? I can write with one hand already.

Although if the right-brain/left-brain people are right about handedness partially determining your 'brainedness' (I don't think that's a word, but work with me here), it would go a long way in explaining why I can never make up my mind...

I think you can't make up your mind because you can't

Left handed guitars a far too expensive and annoying to find anyway Peta, and yes I am left-handed, I'm just one of those ambidexturous weirdos, and if I've spelt that wrong it's because I can't have Word and IE open at the same time or whole system crashes.

I would like to ask all you left handers a question if I may. When did you first notice that you were left handed and therefore not doing things in the same way as others? I'm not sure I've phrased that very well but I guess all I want to know is when you first became aware of your left handedness.

My son, who's only a year old, seems ambidextrous to me as he doesn't really favour one hand or the other. He does prefer to do certain things with one hand, for example he always holds his cup in his left hand but uses his right hand for manipulating a spoon.

Personally I think all people are naturally ambidextrous but favour one hand for writing.

Oh, and are there any left ahnded trumpet players? That must be a bit difficult as the valves are normally activated using the right hand.

I play the trumpet, and as I noted above, am right-handed. Sometimes, while bored, I switch hands just for variety. It's not really the best way to play, say, "Flight of the Bumblebee", but you can most definitely get by. It actually makes you pay more attention, since it's not as automatic.