jamie
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A poll so scientific, it wears a white lab-coat.

Just curious, as left handed people tend to be into maths and puzzles etc. how this plays out with the DROD players.

As about 10% - 13% of the population is left-handed, let's see if those statistics play out here.



[Edited by jamie at Local Time:05-22-2005 at 11:26 PM: Fixed percentage of lefthanders in the population... oops!]

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zex20913
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At first I thought you were asking which hand we used to play DROD...in which case my answer would have to be both. Then I hit myself with my very own intelligence stick, and understood the question, which I answered properly.

I still think there should be a choice for ambidextrous, even though most of those folk have a primary hand/side.

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jamie
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Good point, I'll add that option.

Oops, no I won't - It doesn't seem to let me!

Sorry! Still, if anyone is purely ambidextrous, then simply don't vote !

[Edited by jamie at Local Time:05-22-2005 at 11:48 PM]

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Malarame
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I'm very right-handed. I'm not creative at all (which is why I have yet to make a hold) and I have none of the typical "right-brain" personality traits, so my left brain definitely dominates.

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bdcribbs
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I read some silly trivia that 2500 southpaws die every year while using products made for right handed people. That's probably just an urban legend...

Banjooie
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I read some silly trivia that 2500 southpaws die every year while using products made for right handed people. That's probably just an urban legend...

All that means is that 2500 left-handed people die due to product-related accidents, though, because there really aren't that many left-handed implements.

In fact, if 2500 left-handed people died due to left-handed implements, THAT would be a worthwhile statistic.

[Edited by Banjooie at Local Time:05-29-2005 at 06:35 AM]

egg egg
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Why is it called a southpaw?

Surely that would be your lower hand?

Lefties should be called westpaws!?!

eytanz
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Not if they're facing south. Then they're Eastpaws.

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goldenlion
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This term is from baseball, which answers many of life's questions.

From The Baseball Page FAQ:

--

Where did the term "southpaw" come from?

Many early ballparks were designed geographically so home plate was facing east - thus a setting sun would rest behind the batter and not shine in his eyes. This meant that a pitcher faced west. A pitcher who threw left-handed would have his arm on the south of the pitching mound. Baseball fans soon called these lefties "southpaws." Why we don't call righties "northpaws" is anyone's guess!

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Bombadil
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Well, I'm righthanded, but when I play computer games I'm able to play both ways (being the left or the right hand on the arrow keys).

I suppose is just getting used to it. I've been playing computer games for 14 years...

rowrow
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I am a righty and I play computer games with both hands and I eat with mostly my left hand. I started doing that around 5 years ago and I can't stop and I don't want to.

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Maurog
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I'm a righty, but what I do is move with my right hand and turn the sword with my left hand.
Seriously now, it never occured to me before that I actually *am* ambidextrous in the virtual world, having no problem using either the default movement buttons / numpad (right hand) or the WASD keys (left hand). But I never use the mouse with my left hand.

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Pinnacle
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DROD ~~~ Creative thinking
Left hand = Right Brain
Right Brain = Creative Thinking
Therefore, the left-handed population > general average


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jamie
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Yep, that was what I was wondering! And I'm not implying any bad things about any drodies, left or right handed. After all, the righties on here are much better than I am at the game!

I'm a lefty (still!) and started using the mouse with my right hand simply because I thought it better to have my stronger hands on the keyboard.. Since then, I've got used to it, and would never change.

I play DROD with the standard keyboard layout, as it doesn't really require fast reflexes, but yeah, thinking about it, I too am relatively ambidextrous in the computer world...

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SbCl3
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Heres an interesting question: what hand do you press the space bar with, and what hand do you normally press the Shift key with?

I'm right handed, though when I have to hold something like a hockey stick i'll do it left handed...for some reason or another.

I always press space with my right thumb and shift key with my left pinky.

jamie
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I actually had to type some text to be able to answer that question!

Anyway, sorry to be a git, but I actually use either thumb for the space-bar, and use both shift keys..

Which one I'm using depends on which hand is moving, and what keys I'm typing - I use whichever one is the most optimum.

But I am a very fast typer - I type far faster than I write (but then, I'm a slow writer ! )

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wmarkham
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SbCl3 wrote:
I always press space with my right thumb and shift key with my left pinky.

Out of curiosity, how do you type shift-A? Left ring finger on the a?

[Edited by wmarkham at Local Time:06-12-2005 at 11:09 PM: fix spelling]

jamie
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"A" is always a right-shift-key for me - For most of them, I tend to use the shift key opposite, i.e. I usually shift with 2 hands..

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zaubberer
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i voted 'left', but there are many things i do better with the right hand. i write withe the right (but can this also with the left hand), use the mouse of the computer with the right one, but if i have to use a hammer the right one is not really helpful...

so i feel me as a lefty, but i learned to do many things with the right hand too. :-D

zaubberer

Syntax
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I am right handed and always use my right hand.

Though:
I use my left little finger for shift all-keys.
I use my left thumb for CTRL all-keys.
Oh, and !,",£,$,% is also done using my left hand only.
All else is done with my right and I hate it any other way...

wmarkham
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wmarkham wrote:

SbCl3 wrote:
I always press space with my right thumb and shift key with my left pinky.

Out of curiosity, ow [sic] do you type shift-A? Left ring finger on the a?

Same question for both SbCl3 and Syntax.

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Syntax
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I type shift-A with left little finger on shift, and left index finger on A.

Thinking about, I never use the right shift and if I think about it some more, I reckon it's Doom's fault... constantly having my left little finger on shift for hours on end

schep
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This discussion has brought attention to some interesting things I didn't know I did.

I always strike space bar with my right thumb, and type capital letters and most other shifted characters with the pinky farther from the key being pressed on a shift key (so right shift for T, left shift for N). Just like I learned in that touch-typing class in junior high school.

Except if I'm typing some acronym or other single all-caps word (like DROD), I hold down the left shift key for the whole thing. If there's an A, Q, or Z in it, my left ring finger types it (after a short pause).

And unlike my right shift key, I never use my right Ctrl or Alt key. Some of my left-handed Emacs commands get fairly inventive: M-x is left pinky on Alt and left ring finger on x, but M-q is left thumb on Alt and left ring finger on q. I don't think there's a pattern to all those, just whatever I got used to somehow. That and comfort... the only emacs commands I regularly use that make me squirm a little bit are the three-fingered M-% (thumb, pinky, and index) and the four-fingered (all in left hand) M-C-V. Maybe it would be a good idea to train myself to use those other keys.

jamie
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Wow, after reading your post, I've realised I'm pretty much the same - except for typing many all-caps letters, I use the right shift key (I'm left handed though!)

And yes, I never routinely use right alt or right control either...

spooky!

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wmarkham
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I switch shift keys when I need to use my little finger that is already on a shift. And I used to use the right control key, (with my thumb) until I got my Powerbook, which features an "enter" key where I am accustomed to the control key. I had to unlearn that real quick, since my line-editing commands (^A, most notably) would keep tricking me into hitting enter! The problem with control and alt on the right is just that; when you switch keyboards, you can't reliably expect them to be there.

On a related note, I have taken Erik's lead, and switched to Dvorak! I can now, with extreme concentration, type at about 20 wpm!

Weston

jamie
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I'm probably a typing instructors nightmare - I probably use all the 'wrong keys', being self taught - like I suspect a lot of people here.

I just tried this typing speed test (still using QWERTY!) and got "Your accuracy was impressive. Your speed was 74 WPM" - I actually thought I was about 90WPM ... - mind you, I'm faster typing "off the top of my head" than I am having to read something and type that in, even though I don't look at the keys when I'm writing.. I'm probably not too good at literary multi-tasking !

http://www.learn2type.com/index.cfm?action=TypingTest


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Oneiromancer
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79 WPM here, with impressive accuracy also. I had some fun with Typer Shark a while back...I remember on the home version I once got so far that I just had to let myself die because I needed to stop. (It might be easier than the web version.) I'm not sure how easy it would be with Dvorak keyboards.

From what I can tell, I always use my left hand to hit the left Shift key, and I always use my right thumb to hit the Space bar. I'm pretty much all self-taught, started out touch-typing and now I'm almost good enough to take dictation, if I don't stop to fix my mistakes.

Game on,

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gamer_extreme_101
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Well, I got a speed of 40 WPM with 3 mistakes (adjusted speed 37 WPM), which was a heckuva lot better than I expected to do (I was expecting 20-ish)

And yes - I always use [Shift] with my left and [Space] with my right as well.

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wmarkham
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22 wpm, and no errors. (I typed plenty of errors, but corrected them all.)

Your accuracy was impressive.

Your speed was 22 WPM

Your typing speed can be improved, sign up for a FREE account and improve your typing skills.

I tried out the online applet version of "Typer Shark", at the 20 wpm difficulty. The first level was simple, but after that I started making mistakes, which got me flustered enough that I was completely useless.

Weston

Malarame
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Back when I used qwerty, I could type at about 70wpm. I'm using Dvorak now and I'm probably up to about 20-25wpm (and always getting faster). I always hit the shift key with my left hand and always hit the space with my right thumb. In fact, I never use the shift, alt, or ctrl keys on the right side of the keyboard. I'm a righty, by the way.

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