I’m a Mollydooker
What a strange term that is. Put simply, it is an Australian slang term for left-handedness. This morning, I was listening to Rachael Johns on the Dear Rach and Soph podcast. She was talking about ‘not knowing her left from her right’. More about that later, but it got me thinking about left-handedness.
I started school right on the cusp of the time when left-handedness was considered unlucky, sinister, or perhaps unnatural. Only about 10% of people are left-handed, so I suppose it is understandable that it was considered unnatural. But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, left-handers were forced to become righties. My mother was one such person. She obviously did not enjoy the experience, so when my teachers tried to convert me to a right-hander, she put her foot down and would not allow it.
We lefties often find that the world is made for right-handers. Many tools we use every day are not easy and sometimes even dangerous for left-handers. In the kitchen, peelers often don’t work well for left-handers, and measuring cups often have the measurements facing right-handers. Power tools can have the safety switch facing right-handers. Many lefties also have trouble with handwriting, as they tend to smudge the ink due to writing across what they are currently writing, rather than away from it. Computer mice are often moulded for use with the right hand. I guess I have adapted by becoming somewhat ambidextrous. I play guitar right-handed, and I use the mouse with my right hand.
But getting back to Rachael not easily knowing her left from her right, I am the same. I simply can’t decide direction without first rubbing my pointer finger over the lump on my middle finger. Since I began handwriting, I have always held the pen too tightly which has resulted in a lump that still remains, even though I mostly use a keyboard now. So I am really curious to discover whether this uncertainty with left and right is a left-handed thing.
Do you know your left from your right? And if you find that difficult, are you left-handed?
