For context: My linguistics professor and I got into a discussion after a test she did with us, and I was of the opinion that the reason for the results was different from the one she offered, so she encouraged me to test my theory.
What I need
All you need to do is draw a coffee cup (with a handle, not the disposable stuff) and then answer three questions.
I don't need to see the coffee cup. You can draw it wherever you like; on a piece of paper, digitally, in the sand, on a foggy window. Anything works. It does not have to be good. A doodle is fine.
You have to draw the coffee cup before you see the questions. This is very important. If you decide to help me with this, please doodle the coffee cup before you keep reading.
Assuming you have drawn the coffee cup, I now need you to answer these three questions:
On which side did you draw the handle?
Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Do you primarily write using the Latin alphabet or a different one? (please specify which)
More context
Most people will draw the handle on the right side. My professor says it's because most people are right-handed, so they draw the handle in the direction that would be comfortable for them to pick up.
I said drawing it on the right side just felt more comfortable to my hand and argued it's probably because we write a bunch of letters like that. B, b, D, P, p, R all look like a tiny "handle on the right side" and are all a straight line followed by a round one (so "cup first, handle second," like most people draw cups). The Latin alphabet doesn't have letters like that that face the other way, except maybe d, depending on how you write it, so it makes sense to me that people writing mostly Latin letters would go with the handle on the right side.
Which means that I need to know what Asians, Arabs and Greeks do and if the distribution of left and right sides of handles differs from the Latin alphabet group. Cyrillic seems to favor right, too, though it'd be interesting to see if there are differences.
If there are, my theory is right. Doubly so if there is a sizeable increase in a group whose alphabet has letters that benefit the left side choice.
So feel free to spread this to as many people as you like and put the answers in the comments or the tags of a reblog. The more answers I get, the better I can assess whose theory is better.
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Today I Learned: one thing left-handed people have got it good
I am left-handed. Obviously from centuries of cultural and social history, left-handed people have it worse than right-handed people - only one in every thousand scissors are born shaped for left-handed hands, many a handwritten essay feature smudges in the distinct curled shape of the edge of the hand, and even the soup ladle at most Japanese famiresu have the little lip on the wrong side if you're holding an empty soup cup in your left hand.
But I've finally found one cultural etiquette rule where the left-handed have a leg up: fork and knife. See, left-handed people hold their fork in their left hand, and when using both fork and knife, the fork is in... the left hand. No need to put the knife down to shift the fork-hold - simply bring your forked food to your mouth and you're done. I knew right-handed people hold their fork with their right hand, but never got around to wondering whether the fork-and-knife hold is similarly reversed. (I lie, I have wondered but never cared enough to investigate.) But the question came up while having breakfast with my kids today, and I finally did a Google search.
Turns out you guys have to hold your fork in your left hand, and your knife in your right hand! And after cutting out your mouthful, you have to either 1) let go of your knife and hand-transfer your knife to your right hand, or 2) awkwardly maneuver your fork up to your face and into your mouth with your definitely non-dominant hand... depending on the type of meal?
Help your teen learn how to hold a fork and knife properly while eating. Correct silverware etiquette gives you better control and looks mor
Take that, more-populous and therefore socially-convenient folk!
(I swear I'm not dominant-handist. I've got three family members that are right-handed (and we are a four-person family).)
Sirius was left handed as well, but his parents didn't think it 'proper' so they taught -in their nice loving way that would definitely not hurt- him to write with his right hand.
Whyyyyy would you do this???
But really, they would, wouldn't they? They pressured Sirius and tried to tailor-make him into exactly what they wanted and needed him to be. They tried to make him conform, and it didn't work, but in the grand scheme of things, caving to switching which hand he uses to write is a minor thing compared to...pretty much everything else.
Think about it, though. That's not too far of a stretch. Even to this day, there are beliefs and terrible ideas surrounding those who are left-handed. Sort of like redheads (they have no souls, they're unlucky, they turn into vampires when they die, etc. my god, the stupidity).
I work with a girl that's left-handed who attended a religious school for half of her educational career. She's told me stories about them. When she was young and learning to write, her teachers tried to make her write with her right hand instead. They scared her, told her being left-handed meant she had the devil in her and by continuing to use her left hand, she was keeping him in. I still think to this day, this is one of the most absurd and narrow-brained things I've ever heard in my life.
But the Blacks were all about appearance, about being proper, so of course they'd change even the smallest details about Sirius to make him fit into the mold they'd created for him.
And while we're on the subject, what if the others found out at some point, his friends, specifically Remus. And one day, without saying a word, he just took Sirius' left hand and put a quill in it, smiled at him, and went on about his business. And there's Sirius, staring between his hand and Remus, trying to keep his cool, trying not to just launch himself at Remus, because all he's doing is saying that it's okay for Sirius to be exactly who he is and no one should ever tell him differently.
a scheme of every possible thing I could think of when it comes to tagging things in social media where tagging matters... well, basically just instagram right
not to mention I scanned it with Epson (tm) and cropped it with Photoshop (tm) on an Apple Mac (tm) at Art University (tm) bc I don’t have a scanner at home bc I’m working class and don’t have a lot of disposable income bc I work a minimum wage job (tm) and am poasting it on tumblr (tm) while avoiding doing my dissertation (tm) a year after I drew it (tm)
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I retook this test out of curiosity because I haven’t taken it since middle school and forgot how the test went (and some of the things in the new video got me thinking about it) and the results are the same as when I was 13.
I still don’t understand why though. I’m right-handed.
So, I have been seeing this mistake both at my grad school and on television a lot lately. To make myself feel better about it, I decided to make the above image and toss it out into the blind eternities that are tumblr.com - read on for the explanation!
One of the most difficult things to conceptualize is how DNA twists. DNA (and alpha helices, if people are doodling secondary protein structures) forms a right-handed helix in nature. As the DNA twists, the outside wraps to the right going up the double-strand.
For artists out there doing sciency things, I love you so much first remember to give yourself a thumbs-up with your right hand for being an awesome person, and then match the direction your figures curl to draw your science! If you don’t have a right hand, you can always use your left and look at it in the mirror!
Even people with their PhD make this mistake when representing DNA, from flyers to presentations to *gasp* published papers. The new Star Trek Discovery, a nerdy show by any means, also has left-handed helices in the background of some shots when they are trying and failing to do futuristic genetics. Do better!
Yes, there are exceptions to the right-handed rule in nature. DNA can adopt a left-handed form called the Z form when stressed, whether by proteins or harsh conditions. But for likely over 99% of the time, DNA will be in its right-handed form!
Dna image obtained from Dr. Moran’s blog: http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2015/03/on-handedness-of-dna.html
Hands courtesy of: https://us.clipdealer.com/video/media/2441268