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The Worst Products For Left-Handed People
The Worst Products For Left-Handed People
Southpaws, lefties, sinistrals. Lefties have been unfairly treated for hundreds of years. The word for “left” in Latin is sinister, which has come into English meaning “evil.” The French word for “left” is gauche, which in English means “awkward” or “tactless.” The English word left comes from the Old English left, meaning “weak.”
Everything is designed for right-handedness. Today, we’re going to discuss the most awkward products for lefties to use. This will probably come off as whiney, but really, I just want you right-handers to be aware of how much we left-handed people have to adapt to your world on a daily basis.
20. Doors and handrails
Almost all doors are designed to open with the right hand and hand rails are always on the right.
19. Watches
The winding buttons are on the wrong side. A left-handed person has to take a watch off to wind it or set the time. Forget about trying to set your watch while it’s on your wrist.
18. Playing cards
In a card game, when a lefty fans out the cards left-handed style, the numbers and suits cannot be seen. Lefties have to either read the cards upside-down, fan them out the opposite way, or buy left-handed cards with the number and suit in all corners.
17. Kitchen utensils.
Some kitchen tools like wooden spoons are naturally ambidextrous. Others are not. Some spatulas, and most peelers and oven mitts are designed for right-handed people.
Left: left-handed utensils. Right: right-handed utensils
16. Dinner Tables
Odds are very good that most of the people at your table will be right-handed. If you sit a righty and a lefty together, they’ll inevitably bump elbows. At a square or rectangular table, it’s not a big deal. I’ll just sit all the way down on the left. But a round table doesn’t have that option. If you squeeze a bunch of people in at a round table, a lefty and a righty will be bumpin’ elbows:
The worst is when you put your drink on the left where you want it and accidentally end up drinking the right-hander’s drink they put there, too.
15. Musical Instruments
Every instrument is designed for righties, with the exception of very few. Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney both play their guitars upside-down.
14. Cars
I speak only of North America here. I live in America where cars are designed for right-handed people. Everything from the stick shift to the radio controls are for righties.
13. Digital alarm clocks
The controls are invariably on the right. When I set my clock, my hand is over the display and I need to contort my wrist to be able to see what I’m doing.
12. Pens on chains/signature pads
You’ve all used one of these jobbies:
Before those, they had pens on little chains attached to desks:
Both of those arrangements are designed for right-handed people. The chain/wire attached to the stylus/pen is always too short or too tangled to reach the other side where lefties need to write. Consequently, my signature always looks something like this.
11. Zippers
Quick, which side does the flap over the zipper on your pants open? If you said right, you are right. Yup, even zippers are designed for right-handed people.
10. Cameras
Every single camera or camcorder I’ve ever used is for right-handed people. The shutter button and controls are always on the right.
9. Computers
I once had a job that gave me this awful right-handed mouse:
I used it. I can use a mouse with my right hand just fine, but I prefer using my left hand. For the longest time, computer mice refused to be ambidextrous. Nowadays, they’re a lot better about it. Still, even if you flip the mouse settings around, the little pointer and hand will always be right-handed:
This is why I love my Wacom Tablet. They have thought about lefties. They even have two inputs for the charger so you can use it left or right-handed. If you plug it in left-handed, even the label buttons light up the right way.
8. Knives
Knives are always serrated on the wrong side. When we lefties cut a loaf of bread, it all goes badly wrong with diagonal slices or slices that are fatter at the bottom because the knife is backwards.
7. Tools
If you thought the kitchen utensils thing was bad, try building something. Measuring tapes, drills, saws and most other power tools are right-handed. Sometimes, it can be downright dangerous to use the wrong hand. A circular saw blows sawdust to the right. When held in the left hand, it blows the sawdust right in your face. Same goes for weed whackers.
6. Pens and Pencils
Lefties write from left to right like the rest of you:
The problem is that means our hand goes over what we just wrote. When using fast drying ink, this isn’t generally an issue, but sometimes, it leaves smudges on the paper. The only way to remedy this is to either twist the paper or twist your hand to an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable angle, or both, like this:
5. chalkboards/marker boards
I can’t write on either. Since I write by going over what I just wrote with my hand, I erase everything I write. When I write on a marker board, here’s where all of my writing ends up:
4. Spiral notebooks/3-ring binders
Ouch. The spiral is right where I need to write. When I was a kid, I used to use spiral notebooks backwards like a Japanese book, so the front cover was the back and vice versa, like this:
Nowadays, I only buy spiral notebooks where the spiral is on the top.
3. Desks
Specifically, this kind:
Those are right-handed desks. Nearly every school I attended from public to private, from junior high to college, had right-handed desks. I either had to sit on the edge of my chair side-saddle, facing to the right, or I had to use two desks, one to sit in, one to write on.
2. Can Openers
I have never seen a left-handed can opener. I hear they exist somewhere, but I’ve never seen them. Usually, I use can openers upside down so the turny thing is on the bottom and I’m pushing the wrong way. Most can-openers, when forced to roll the wrong way all the time, have a very short life span.
If you use them the proper way with your left hand, you can’t see what you’re doing at all:
1. Scissors
This applies to everything from nail trimmers to general use scissors. They are all backwards. When I use right-handed scissors, I have to use them upside-down so the tiny thumb slot is on the bottom and the big finger slot fits my thumb. Right handed scissors SUCK. Not only is it ineffective, but using the wrong scissors can cause repetitive strain injury and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Source: http://fishofgold.net/2013/06/06/the...handed-people/
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Originally Posted by Furnace
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