Chirality

Left-handed scissors, left-handed batting, left-handed comments. We live in a right-handed world, but just how much of one is usually only noticed by left-handed people, such as me. The scissors are the big one. I can remember being in first grade, during our art segment of the day. The teacher passed out scissors and asked who was left-handed. Naturally, I raised my hand.

Now let me give you a little background information. My parents claim that I'm smart, so I learned how to use right-handed scissors at home since I was the only one left-handed. Normally, your thumb knuckle pushes down on the one side and your fingers pull up on the other side. This happens naturally and scissors are made to take advantage of this. The screw that binds each scissor blade acts as a fulcrum and your thumb and fingers push-pull action forces the blades closer together, cutting whatever it is more easily. When the scissors are used in the left hand however, the push-pull action causes the blades to move in the other direction, and with crappy school scissors, the blades slide past each other without cutting the object.

I found a way around this by pulling with my thumb and pushing with my fingers, thus allowing me to use right-handed scissors with my left hand. After years of doing this it became natural, and so when I used left handed scissors, they didn't cut, even though they were in my left hand. The teachers and other students marveled at my weirdness.

Think that's odd that someone would dissect (no pun intended) the mechanisms behind scissors like that? Who else to notice but a left-hander, someone who notices instantly when an everyday item is meant for a right-hander. Take for example, a measuring cup with a spout. Odds are the spout is 90° clockwise from the handle, so when held in the right hand, it will pour into a container that is right in front of you. If poured from the left hand, the spout faces away from you entirely. Some measuring cups have spouts on both sides to accommodate for the lefties.

This is all well and good, you say. Of course objects with handles are going to be different for either hand. However here is something you may not have EVER notices, righties and lefties alike. Drawing utensils are engineered to be used in the right hand. What are you talking about! It's a crayon! It's cylindrical! How the HELL is it meant for one hand over the other? Well I'll tell you. See figure 3-1

Fig. 3-1 - A marker held in the right hand.

Looks pretty normal right? Now I beget you a picture (Figure 3-2) that shows how the same object looks in the left hand. Notice anything different? I'll tell you what's different but you should already know.

Fig. 3-2 - A marker held in the left hand.

The text on the marker is now upside-down and backwards. This happens on any and all objects used for writing, when they have text on it. The text is written so that the majority of people, or righties, can read the text with ease.

Even when taking the pictures with my phone, I noticed it was tailored to right-handed people. Taking the left hand shot with my right hand was fine, but when I took the picture of my right hand with my left hand holding the phone, the image was upside down because the phone was rotated 180°. Also, I have a slide phone. If I hold the phone in my right hand, use my thumb to slide out the keyboard and grab the top with my left hand the keyboard rests below the phone where it should. Repeat the process with the phone starting in my left hand and the whole phone is upside down.

It's amazing what there is to the world that goes unnoticed every day. All one has to do is look, and then you will see just how many interesting things are hidden in plain sight.