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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watdcsu!herbie
From: herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong - DCS)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Changing Left-handedness to Right-handedness
Message-ID: <1620@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Aug-85 01:08:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.1620
Posted: Tue Aug 20 01:08:28 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 22:42:56 EDT
References: <127@unc.unc.UUCP> <464@petrus.UUCP> <1149@teddy.UUCP> <761@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Waterloo
Lines: 111

i'm a lefty that was "converted" earlier than i can remember.  i was a
righty by the time i entered grade 1.  i have asked my mother many
times why she did it and have yet to recieve a satisfactory answer.  my
youngest brother is a lefty too, but he's half way in between, eating
and writing with his right hand and doing everything else with his
left.

Herb Chong...

I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble....

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----------------------------------

>>From: mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett)
>He now eats with his left hand, writes with his right, and claims 
>that the attempt at righting his dexterity has ruined his sense of
>direction (which is lousy; mine is good).

hmmm. i have a very good sense of direction.  it comes from growing up
in the country where there aren't any street signs.  i mean here that
i seldom get lost while driving or hiking.

>>From: cher@ihlpm.UUCP (Mike Cherepov)
>I also have very poor sense of direction and often say "right"
>while distinctly having in mind "left". 

i do this a lot too.  i will point one way when talking and say the
other direction.  "i" know what i mean, but i confuse a lot of people.

>>From: jeand@ihlpg.UUCP (AMBAR)
>On the positive side, she has beautiful handwriting with either
>hand, and she is capable of simultaneous mirror writing.  On the negative
>side, she is slightly dyslexic (especially with numbers).

my normal handwriting writing is indecipherable to almost everyone,
including myself, most of the time.  that's another one of the many
reasons why i chose a computer related profession.  why write when i
can use a word processor?  then i have half a chance of understanding
what i wrote.  on the other hand, my calligraphy (which is an entirely
different thing from handwriting), is certainly acceptible and i have
had friends admire it.

>On a related topic, has anyone noted a high correlation between left-handedness
>and 'intelligence' (as measured/used/defined by schools and so forth)?  As
>I think about it, most of the left-handed people I know are smarter than
>average.

hmmm.  maybe i should change back.  will that help my IQ any 8-)?
seriously though, i have always been in the "exceptional" student
category and i seem to notice more lefties too.  i always thought it
was my imagination.

>>From: albert@harvard.ARPA (David Albert)
>Changing, or attempting to change, a child's handedness is
>the principle cause of childhood stuttering and similar speech
>impediments.  Other problems that come up are writing defects,
>especially lousy handwriting, and a variety of unrelated problems
>including bedwetting.

my stuttering is confined to when i'm extremely nervous, but when it
hits, it hits bad.  the rest of the time, i keep it under enough control
that people barely notice it.  on the other hand, i have this habit of
repeating whole phrases in sentences or transposing them when i'm
talking.  that's confusing to people.

>>From: rs55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Robert E. Schleicher)
>Although there's no way to prove a
>connection, there was one very interesting phenomenon that occurred
>at the same time:  my wife started writing letters/short words in
>"mirror-image".  <...> shortly
>after being allowed to write with her left hand, the mirror-image
>problem went away by itself.

i've always been able to read writing and the printed page upside-down
almost as fast as right side up (i.e. well over 1000 wpm).  i wonder if
this is related or not.

>>From: sct@lanl.ARPA
>	My son is showing a tendancy to use his left hand and I intend to let
>him stay that way.  There's nothing wrong with being left handed except for
>having to live in a right handed world.

it is sometimes very inconvenient.  ever had a lefty eat with
chopsticks next to you (if you're a righty)?  unless you move FAR
apart, it quickly turns into a fencing match.

>>From: andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner)
>DON'T try to change the handedness of your children!  Such attempts
>have been implicated in reading disorders such as dyslexia and in
>decreased coordination and manual dexterity.  It's been eight years
>since my last psych class, so the details are hazy, but it has been
>firmly established that trying to change handedness is a very bad thing
>to do to a kid.

does this explain my tennis game?  i have an excuse now for all the
terrible playing i've done?  seriously, in any sport i've been in (and
there have been quite a few), i've been plagued with erratic control.
some days, i'm incredibly good (not nearly as often as i'd like 8-(),
and some days, i'm terribly bad.  most of the time, i'm just bad.

>>From: sidney@faron.UUCP (Sidney Markowitz)
>By the way, a disproportionate number of mathematicians and computer
>scientists (especially those that are female) are left-handed, and of
>professional musicians (especially the more successful) are
>ambidexterous. 

i hope that this is a phrophecy of sorts 8-).