right and left -- a poll

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: Bagpuss
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 04:58 AM

I'm right handed, but I cant tell my left from my right (my sister is the same). When I am giving my husband directions in the car, I dont say turn right or left, I say "to me" or "to you".

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: Patrish(inactive)
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 05:43 AM

I'm right handed, but cannot give directions or receive directions. I tend to point with my hand in the general direction I want to go and say "this way" for right and "that way" for left. Sometimes when I try using the words right and left i get them mixed up and get very upset when someone turns left(because I told them to)when I obviously meant right, to make it worse I continue shouting left. Going anywhere in a car with me is a joy (not)
Patrish

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: L R Mole
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 11:09 AM

I eat lefty, throw and play righty, and am, says my wife, geographically impaired. Maps don't represent places to me: they're just one more remove from figuring out where I am and which way to go. In the car, someone saying "left" might just as well be saying, "turn": I change the direction obligingly enough, but not reliably in any one way. In High School, when there were more passengers than riders in what cars we had, I recall people yelling, "Your door," or "my door".More useful.

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: GUEST,Kim
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 02:26 PM

I don't think I have trouble (too much) with right and left, but if I'm giving somebody driving directions, I seem to always tell them to turn North when I want them to turn South. Lots of pizzas never made it to my house because I told them I was a half mile NORTH of the main highway, when I was really south.

Kim

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 02:48 PM

Well I have never had this particular problem, but I told this story awhile back and it seems to apply to you guys.

I was at our station on I-7o in Columbus, Ohio when a couple drove in and the man got out and asked, "How far is it to St.Louis?" I said, "About 500 miles."

He proceeded to tell me I was wrong and it couldn't possibly be that far. "Okay," I said, "Its 475." He angrily said I was completely wrong as he had been driving for several hours and he KNEW it had to be closer than that. I began to smell a problem and asked, "Where did you drive from?" to which he responded, "Kokomo, Indiana."

If you're unfamiliar with US geography, this clown had been driving for several hours in the wrong direction and had crossed a state line to the east of his home....not the west. He drove down to Indianapolis and turned left instead of right. The best part was when he asked, "What am I going to tell my wife?" As he drove off, we all watched and took bets on whether or not he'd turn onto 70 west or east.

Spaw

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: Kim C
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 02:57 PM

I am so right-handed it's not funny, although playing the fiddle has helped me out quite a bit. I usually have to point right or left because I can't think it fast enough. I think I'm pretty intelligent, but y'all can go lookit my picture to figure out if I'm good-looking or not. :)

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: Les B
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 03:11 PM

I'm basically a "rightie," but am always confused by those introductions that say "sitting on my right, your left is Mr. XXX..." !

If I remember my stats right, you'll find that about 10 to 13 percent of the population are left handed. But it's kind of difficult to judge. Do you take the lid off a jar with your right hand, or the jar off the lid with your left ? I'll be curious to see if a higher percentage of musicians are left handed.

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: Helen
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 07:01 PM

leeneia,

I forgot to add that I am mostly right handed but do a bit of left handed stuff - although not often.

BillD,

Frank & Ernest: that's part of the trouble with being dyslexic - right & left *are* just labels invented for ease of communication, and the way my brain works is that when I am looking for a word (label) to describe something or as a name for something or someone I have to go from the visual/conceptual side of my brain over into the verbal/analytical side, find the word and bring it back to the speech part so that I can say it. It's like having a room full of files but working in an adjacent room and having to get up and go into the file room to find what I need. That's why there is a delay in my responses.

It's not that I don't have a clear concept of something it's just that I have to translate the concept into the generally accepted word or label.

Helen

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: Jim Krause
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 07:34 PM

1. I move gracefully and immediately right or left as instructed.

2. I'm left-handed.

Now Missus on the other hand has to be told "The other right/left." and she's right handed.

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 08:58 PM

No problem McGrath ~ there is no such thing as UP what most people call UP is simply INVERTED DOWN.

Cap't Bob

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 09:24 PM

I am left handed.

I don't think I have a particular problem with moving in the direction indicated. My problem at dances is motion sickness. Dancing partners take it kind of hard when you have to rush over to a chair and sit with your head hanging down between your knees after dancing with them.

Carol

Subject: RE: right and left -- a poll
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 Sep 00 - 10:50 PM

It's obvious by now that quite a few of us have trouble processing left and right, and that people using the terms ought to allow everyone time to get oriented.

I am particularly flummoxed when a caller says something like "pass your partner's left shoulder." Heavens, I have yet to locate my own left shoulder.

I like the idea of saying "to me" "to you" "your door" or "my door" in the car.

this is a true story: a bossy woman I know was giving me directions to a copy center, very vague directions. Finally I said, "Tell me, is it on the east side of the street?" And she replied huffily, "Well it is, if you're going south<\i>!"

But that's a whole nother ball game.