https://www.reddit.com/r/southpaws/comments/1ipvask/just_had_this_revelation/
created by EvilaCake on 15/02/2025 at 06:16 UTC
45 upvotes, 19 top-level comments (showing 19)
I’m left-handed, and writing was always an uncomfortable and annoying experience. Because the position of your hand always follows the pencil, your hand smears the ink/graphic into the paper, distorting your writing and making your hand dirty (at least for me--I always pressed my hand into the paper when writing). Especially on things like spiral notebooks, 3-ring binders, etc, it was awful, because when your hand got to the center of the binder, it was pushed into the metal spiral which was uncomfortable. I always had terrible handwriting, and I don’t remember being taught how to hold a pencil correctly, and in high school/college, sitting on those super tiny right-handed writing desks did not help.
One specific memory I have is writing timed essays for AP Language and Composition class, and after the hour was up my hand was so dirty and cramped from being in the same position. I literally had to scrub my hand with soap several times to completely get the graphite off. I think it taught me that “this was not supposed to be a comfortable experience, this was something you had to endure.” And people usually don’t do uncomfortable activities for every long.
For some reason, neither me or my parents ever considered buying me left-handed writing materials. I never really ran into it until a few years ago. I guess I had internalized that writing by hand wasn’t supposed to be comfortable. I still rarely write to this day, perhaps that will change.
Comment by yankonapc at 15/02/2025 at 10:20 UTC
15 upvotes, 5 direct replies
I was in the same boat for years. Then I bought my first left-handed pen and scissors in my 30s and clambered into a different boat: an obsession with stationery supplies. No pen is truly left-handed because all of them are designed to be dragged, not pushed across the page. But if a lefty tells me they've found something that works I will buy it and try it. I don't enjoy shopping as a rule. My clothes all have holes in them because stores fill me with dread. But I will march right into WHSmith (the most depressing retail chain in Britain) and lay down cash for a well-reputed lefty-friendly pen. I have so. Many. Pens.
Actually my favourite rollerball is a generic style I got as schwag from a convention and my favourite fountain is a cheap Pelikan Twist from the Middle of Lidl.
Comment by brookish at 15/02/2025 at 07:45 UTC
9 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Lefty here. Have been a writer since childhood, now 54, made a career of it. Still write by hand for notes and outlines but use notebooks that open vertically or legal pads.
Comment by auxilary at 15/02/2025 at 18:24 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
in grade school after a test with a lot of writing, the part of my left hand that drags across the paper as i write would become silver from all the graphite. looked like someone spray painted me. then when i had to write in pen it got on my hand and then onto my clothes.
the trouble i would get into for getting graphite or ink on my clothes was worth a beating in my parents eyes
i’ve always hated writing. always. but lately i’ve been working on my mental health and i find that taking the time to write anything down, slowly, legibly, and without getting ink on my hands, teaches me a bit of patience and peace
now i write quite a lot. and all of my notebooks are bound at the top and never the sides lol
Comment by QueenRobin01 at 18/02/2025 at 05:40 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Learning to write was always a chore for me. I got my first left handed notebook in middle school. I am the youngest of 7 and my father went blind when I was two so money was always an issue for my family, so getting the notebook was a huge thing for me and my mom. One day on the way home on the bus the bully of the bus decided that I was the target of the day and he threw my notebook out the window. I had just started writing poetry and was completely devastated, and cried the whole way home. When my mom found out what the kid had done she was friends with his parents and called them. They made their son walk along the stretch of the 2 lane busy road, and collect every page they could find of my notebook. They then took the kids allowance away for a full year about bought me a dozen of the left handed notebooks! He actually turned around the bullying and started protecting the kids being bullied, myself included!!
Comment by im_buhwheat at 15/02/2025 at 12:13 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My hand is above the words I am writing to avoid smudging, it doesn't follow them. It also helps with spiral notebooks
Comment by Soakitincider at 15/02/2025 at 22:32 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I use steno pads a good amount of the time.
Comment by Oranges13 at 16/02/2025 at 03:54 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Hand cramps everywhere!!! I'm so glad that I can type these days
Comment by Pipe_42 at 17/02/2025 at 14:25 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I always hated left-handed scissors. I think they were introduced while I was in primary school, and they all seemed to be cumbersome and blunt as if being a lefty meant I was going to accidentally stab myself with them. I still don't bother with them, and it's 30+ years later. I don't tend to use many left-handed items as I've spent my whole life just managing. I prefer to just use sheets of a book rather than spiral notepads.
Comment by ICanHazWittyName at 18/02/2025 at 19:30 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
For me it was angling my body awkwardly in right handed desks to write, causing my writing to be slanted and to cause kinks in my neck and back. Don't miss that at ALL
Comment by HortonFLK at 19/02/2025 at 02:36 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
At some point I learned to fold up a scratch piece of paper to place under the side of my hand as I wrote to keep my hand from smudging what I’d written. That was in school. In college I started typing more than writing, so I hardly ever do this anymore.
Comment by tugonhiswinkie at 19/02/2025 at 09:44 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Middle aged lefty here. My writing combo that serves me best is a felt-tip pen and absorbent writing paper. The ink soaks into the paper quickly, leaving almost no smudging on the paper or me.
Comment by grebilrancher at 19/02/2025 at 16:23 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I write a decent amount still (lab notes) but I remember how much those AP timed essays hurt my hand! Especially if I had to write in one of those folded paper notebooks
Comment by Kastnerd at 20/02/2025 at 11:08 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The shapes of letters work best for right handers. It would be more natural to mirror write from right to left.
Comment by probablysarcastic at 17/02/2025 at 14:47 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I almost never write. I can type like a champ though.
Comment by Unfair-Ice1175 at 17/02/2025 at 16:07 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Try and underhanded grip
Comment by Ohfuscia at 19/02/2025 at 20:01 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I had the same experience. As an adult I learned i hold a pencil completely wrong, which makes my hand cramp worse. When I asked my parents why didn't they correct the way I hold my pencil, they just say "You were left handed and it was too weird for us." They tried to switch me to a righty as a kid unsuccessfully. Even now when I ask my mom to show me how to crochet, she'll say I'm left handed so she can't. It is just mirror image, what's so different?
Comment by zephyr707 at 19/02/2025 at 22:15 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
agree with this and was lucky to grow up during the 90s when submitting digital documents became acceptable. became an absolute shredder on a keyboard which helps with a lot of things these days, but sacrificed penmanship. still drew a lot so my handwriting turned into a sort of printed/non-cursive calligraphy which is slow but readable and less smudgy with my technique
Comment by arachnebleu7 at 21/02/2025 at 01:31 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
As a child, we were forced to use outsized pencils with very thick lead and three ringed notebooks. I loathed both. I loathed having to use Bic inkpens even more. Once I got to college, I learned that mechanical pencils were much less messy. Finally, Ink Joy pens were created. Yay! Hurrah! Celebrate!
Comment by Digitallydust at 05/03/2025 at 17:40 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I always fill out forms - for example the Doctors office - from the bottom up to avoid smearing and smudging. But that doesn't help with long form writing of course.
I think that us lefties learn to put up with a lot of stuff since we are socialized in a world for right handers. I struggled to learn finger style guitar because my right hand is not as dextrous. And my father freaked out a little bit the first time I used a chainsaw because I was crossing my arms. Or how anything that requires the use of one hand (power tools, guns, phones, tv remotes) is designed for right handers. I don't even notice until I use my right hand and realize how much more intuitive it is.
