The Purse Poll

[Miss Jasmine]

I carry my handbag either on my right shoulder or with my right hand, and I am right handed.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm right handed and my purse only goes on my left shoulder. If I try to put it on my right shoulder it falls off.

 

[TeresaNJ]

I'm right handed and for 30+ years have carried everything on my left shoulder, and am now paying the price. I have severe nerve injury and am in constant pain. So now I make a concerted effort not to carry anything on either shoulder. I have had to switch to purses I can carry over my arm (LEFT), or in my hands.

 

[Maleficent13]

This all comes down to handedness.

Then there is mixed handedness - which I am.
My mixed-handedness is quite unusual:

With my right hand I
- write
- top of broom hand

With my left hand I
- thread needle
- open lid
- hold knife
- squeeze toothpaste
- mirror-write (this is apparently not uncommon in children but rare in adults)

This is cool...apparently I am mixed-handed too:

Right hand to:

Write
Broom
Thread

Left Hand to:

Squeeze toothpaste
Open Lid
Hold Knife

I can't mirror-write with either hand...

 

[dazeddaisy]

Truly ambidextrous or mixed handedness though?

Truly. After my parents noticed and was told by the family GP I was ambiextrous they encouraged me to use both hands, as it might be a useful skill later in my life. 25 years later I still have no preferance over hand. It really does depend on which hand/foot is closer to the object.

 

[lindakmonty]

This all comes down to handedness.

If we look at people who write with their right hands:
A purely right-handed person would
- write with their right hand
- hold a broom or mop with their right hand at the top
- open the lid of a jar or bottle with their right hand
- hold their knife in their right hand
- thread a needle with their right hand
- squeeze the toothpaste tube with their right hand
etc.

If purely left handed it would all be the other way around (obviously).
Purely right hand is the most common followed (I believe) by pure left handedness.

Then there is mixed handedness - which I am.
My mixed-handedness is quite unusual:

With my right hand I
- write
- top of broom hand

With my left hand I
- thread needle
- open lid
- hold knife
- squeeze toothpaste
- mirror-write (this is apparently not uncommon in children but rare in adults)

Ambidextrous people are incredibly rare and have truly no preference with anything.
Even animals show a preference with 'handedness'.

I don't carry a purse but with a bag the pocket is usually on my right, with the strap being either side.

Hmmm that's interesting. My mom, me, my sister, her 3 kids and my ds all write w/our left hand! That use to cause big fights w/my parents. Dad didn't want us to be left handed!

I write left, thread a needle left,hold knife w/left hand,squeeze toothpaste, open lid all w/left hand...but top of broom has to be right hand? I have to carry purse on right shoulder... I'm lefty in all sports too...

that is pretty interesting.

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

right shoulder, right handed

 

[Aurora63]

Well, the poll looks interesting. It's about evenly split for right handers to which sholder they prefer...same for lefties. So I guess your handedness does not influence while arm you carry your purse on!

 

[PixiePop]

I am left handed and I carry my purse on my right shoulder. It's just too darn slippery on my left.

 

[Quasi123]

I carry my purse on my left shoulder but I'm right handed

 

[sm4987]

I carry on my right shoulder and I'm right handed. Never thought much of it!

 

[OK!]

I've carried handheld purses for the past several years, but before that, I always carried mine on my right shoulder (and I'm right handed).

 

[Mysteria]

None of the above. Since I discovered purses were giving me neck and back issues (even though I didn't carry the kitchen sink in them llol) I switched to a backpack type purse. Not always the most fashionable but my neck and back thank me.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

I'm sure that right handed parents are actually more likely to have left handed children (I'd have to see my BF to ask what it's more likely than though!).

He's here...
Jay says, '80% of left-handed children have right-handed parents'.

(and he's with me on the ambidextrous thing - ANY preference or weakness on one side means that you are not ambidextrous... he's a psychologist )

Sounds about right to me. My youngest brother and I are both left-handed and our parents are both right-handed.

I wonder what the statistics are for a child who has 1 lefty parent and 1 righty parent? It will be interesting to see if dd is a lefty or a righty. Right now she is so young that it is still hard to tell.

I am not ambidextrous as I write only with my left hand. However, I do everything (and I do mean, everything!) else with my right hand but can switch to my left when necessary. I can play sports right-handed and left-handed but prefer right-handed. Oh, and I cannot use left-handed scissors! Those things are a PITA!!!

So in answer to the poll, I am left-handed and I carry my purse (well, these days it is more like a diaper bag, lol!) on my right shoulder. It feels funny on my left shoulder!

ETA: Oh, and I never thought much about it before until now but I also carry dd on my right hip most of the time.

 

[magicmirror]

left handed, left shoulder, nothing else feels right

Edited to add: Only 10% of the population is truly left handed (I am one of them, as my right hand is not so coordinated) They say truly left handed mother's do not give birth to truly lefthanded offspring. Which leads me to believe if you are truly left handed (as I am) then most likely your mother was right handed...

 

[VSL]

Well, the poll looks interesting. It's about evenly split for right handers to which sholder they prefer...same for lefties. So I guess your handedness does not influence while arm you carry your purse on!

But it does, because handedness is not just about writing (although we're all told that it is!).

The people who carry the bag on the opposite shoulder to the hand that they write with are mixed-handed (at least to an extent).

dazeddaisy - I agree with your doc. Definitely don't slip into a habit of favouring one side as it really could come in useful later (and know how unique you are for it - it's incredibly unusual! There are only a few of you out there in the entire world).

The amount of left handed people in the population is estimated to be closer to 12%. We hear 10% a lot because it's a nice, round, easy-to-remember number.

It's good to see more mixed-handers out there though my BF had me thinking that I was a nut! You know, if I had pursued a degree in Psychology I think I would have focused on neuro and things like handedness.