What Are Some Products/Things You Wish They'd Make for Left-Handed People?

Video games could use a standardized left-handed template for controls that you can switch to with one click. Right now keyboard plus mouse gameplay is definitely formatted for right-handed people.

WASD moves you forward or up, left, down or back, right. E usually interacts with stuff. Left shift runs, space bar jumps. Lots of other stuff too, common gameplay mechanics that are usually mapped to certain buttons, but they are always laid out so you can use your left hand for the keyboard and your right hand for the mouse.

(Speaking of which, don't get me started on left-handed mouse. If you are left-handed you can either get used to using your right hand or get used to not being able to use the best gaming mouse. But I understand economies of scale and why it is impractical for high-end gaming mouse companies to make left-handed mice for a small fraction of the population.)

Sure you can remap controls on almost all games these days. You can assign IJKL to move you up, left, down and right. But that's a lot of controls to remap! Take any random 3D space shooter for example:
Move forward
Move back
Strafe left
Strafe right
Roll left
Roll right
Select nearest Target
Select next target
Select different primary weapon
Select different secondary weapon
Interact with object
Divert power to shields
Divert power to engines
Divert power to weapons
Toggle Shields on off
Toggle cloak on off
Not to mention random other things like communicating with your squad to focus on my target, protect this vessel, form on me...

Most of us can just jump right into a game and start playing. Left-handed people either have to play right handed, play with a controller (bleh!) or spend a good little bit remapping controls.

It would be so simple to develop a standardized left-handed template for controls. We should have done this two decades ago. Maybe three.

It would be nice to have left-handed coffee cups ...almost all cups have the handle on the right.

Fortunately I have been able to adapt ...being ambidextrous ...but the learning curve is intense.

Not a fan of liquid Wite-Out either. I preferred the Wite-Out correction tape too. I'm right-handed too but my daughter is left-handed. Not sure of her typing correction preference but will say that she has not made too many mistakes in her life.

I tried the liquid white-out a few times, but it kept making my computer screen messy.

Except for writing, I don't find it too difficult to build right-hand proficiencies. Hockey Goaltending also felt more natural with a left-hand glove, even though I played baseball with a right hand glove; but I'd rather shoot and defend with a left-handed stick.

That reminds me... Do they make the really good golf clubs in left-hand version, or only in right-hand?

I mean I'm sure you can find left handed golf clubs, but I'm talking about the ones that are so expensive that you never, ever tell your wife about buying one. The Big Bertha Bubble Forged Titanium Driver with the extra large sweet spot, guaranteed to shave two strokes off your par, can you get that in left-handed?

(I know nothing about golf. I got that name from a Foxtrot comic.)

That reminds me... Do they make the really good golf clubs in left-hand version, or only in right-hand?

The Italian word for "left" is also the word for "sinister." Need I say more?

Hey Everyone,

I used to work in an office with a co-worker I'll call Sara. We got along well, and since I'm right-handed and Sara was left-handed, I would say things such ask:

* "Here you go, Sara -- I saved the left-handed stapler just for you!"

* "Thank goodness for these left-handed paperclips!"

* And if something was sitting on the right side of our desks, I'd put it on the left side and say, "Look Sara, this pen was right-handed, but I've made it left-handed - just for you!"

Now don't you worry, Sara had a wit sharper than cut glass, so not a day passed where I didn't get verbally smacked down -- but that was a big part of the fun.

I actually have several family members who are left-handed and have often lamented the difficulty of living in a right-handed world. In fact, the manager where Sara and I worked was left-handed, and he told us about a teacher who smacked his left hand with a ruler every time he tried to write with it.

One of my family members and I deal with a lot of paper records, and I was telling him how much I liked the Wite-Out Correction Tape as opposed to the liquid, which I find always turns into a goopy mess:



But my family member demonstrated that because the design is strictly "right-handed" (works only when pulling the tape from left to right,) he has to hold it in a very awkward position, can never get it to lie smoothly, and has problems pulling it evenly across the paper.

This made me think about all the inconveniences left-handed people have to deal with from day to day.

I love old-fashioned analog writing supplies, and was fascinated when I saw a video about spiral notebooks specifically designed for lefties. The coils are placed on the right side of the paper instead of on the left (like we're used to seeing for righties):






If I would have been a parent with a left-handed child, I would have definitely bought these.

How about the rest of you?

* Are you left-handed, or do you know people who are? Were you or the people you know punished for using your left hand?

* What are the worst inconveniences of living in a right-handed world?

* What are some products/things you wish were specifically designed for left-handed people?


Let's all put our hands together (no matter which one is dominant,) and show all our lefties a little extra love.

And the French word for "left" is "gauche".

And the American word for "left" is "woke crybaby".

The Italian word for "left" is also the word for "sinister." Need I say more?