I write and eat right-handed. I throw left-handed. I kick left-footed. This is known as mixed-handedness, or cross-dominance.
Now please note that ambidexterity—considerable fine motor skill with either side—is a rare form of cross-dominance, but it’s not what I’m talking about. I mean I write with my right and can’t with my left. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to someone “I write and eat right-handed, but I throw left-handed” and the person has replied “Oh, you’re ambidextrous!” Uh, no.
(Before we leave ambidexterity, speaking of it—and tremendous mental capacity, I’m sure—did you know that President Garfield could write Latin with one hand and ancient Greek with the other simultaneously?)
Okay, then. I discovered today that I have a colleague who is also mixed-handed (exactly opposite from me, though). That I can recall, she’s the only other person I’ve ever known who is mixed-handed.
So then that got me to wondering how rare it is. Turns out it’s uncommon, but not particularly hard to encounter. There are millions of us. Know who else was mixed-handed, though? Check out this list:
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Michelangelo
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Albert Einstein
- Benjamin Franklin
The B-list, still quite impressive, includes Nikola Tesla, Jimi Hendrix, Oscar Wilde, and Richard Feynman.
I suddenly believe that I have, to date, massively underachieved.
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Eye dominance also plays a role. For example, I am right-handed. Yet I am totally left-eye dominant. It makes sighting in a gun tricky.
Give me a hockey stick and I shoot lefty, though everything else is done right-wise.
JD is cross-dominant (rt for hands, lt for feet). Apparently, it leads to really poor handwriting.
My daughter is cross-dominant. She’s left-handed when it comes to writing and eating, but kicks right-footed and throws right-handed.
BamaDan…I agree with the really poor handwriting. My daughter’s is terrible, however, her artwork is FANTASTIC!
My mother writes, drives a mouse, and golfs left-handed. She does everything else right-handed.
I think I’m closer to ambidextrous: I can drive a mouse and do detailed graphics edits with either the right or left hand. The right hand is dominate, but the left can do as well, if a bit slower. I can shave my legs equally well with either hand. And I always wondered why the other girls didn’t just use their left hand to put mascara on their left eye instead of getting gunk all over their noses by crossing over with their right hand.
But I write with my right hand, so I guess I’m mostly right-handed. Left-eye dominate, though.
And my ring finger is longer than my index finger, but that’s a whole ‘nother trait discussion. ;->
You left one off the A-list…..Tommy Guerin
When my son first started writing (or painting & coloring) he would use either hand equally well. All through kindergarten he would switch hands constantly. Then he started first grade in a backwards-a$$ school and they spent a huge amount of time getting after him for not “picking a hand”. There were calls & emails to me and it was even mentioned in conferences. Eventually he was forced to pick a hand and he went with left. He would get in trouble if he picked up a pencil with his right. We moved out of state and the teachers at his new school were surprised that it had been an issue and encouraged him to use either. Now, he writes mostly left but sometimes switches to right, eats with either (or both at the same time
), kicks right footed and (attempts to) play guitar left handed. And his handwriting is equally atrocious with either hand.
Dont you hate when people don’t know which hand is not left? Try teaching them vector multiplication
Well, it doesn’t seem that uncommon amongst the WmWms readership, does it?
wxchick, both of my ring fingers are longer than my index fingers (really it’s not even close). What’s that ‘posed to mean?
I’m just pleased the boys are still learning cursive, and it appears both will. We’re probably not long from that falling out of the curriculum altogether.