Apparently one in six adults have trouble distinguishing left from right

[Qaaaaa]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230112-why-some-people-cant-tell-left-from-right
My friends make fun of me all the time for it, but pretty much every time someone says "turn left" I have to make an L with my hand. Similarly I have an L made of electric tape on the windshield of my CRX for the same reason. Also have to thing, really think, when doing stuff like tightening an upside down bolt, or one with the head facing away from me.

15% sounds much higher than I'd've thought, but it makes me feel good that I'm far from the only dumbass with this issue. Are any of you people like this?

Edit, APPARENTLY these guys were wrong, and it's way, way higher than 15%

[Highlander]

@Qaaaaa My wife is like this. HOWEVER she is perfectly fine with cardinal directions for some reason. Driving down the highway, I can say turn west at the next light and she understands imediately, if I say turn right she actually has to think about it.

[farscythe]

@Qaaaaa not when im told to turn left or right
no problems with that at all

now telling someone who is facing me something is to their left or right occasionally turns into a huge mess as i will mix up my and their left or right

[BJ]

@Qaaaaa I can easily distinguish right from left, but like you, my wife struggles. Her father was the same - in the car you had to give him instructions like "turn to your side". He was also deaf in the right ear, which made it even more interesting for the navigator.

Our kids are a bit of a mixed bag, but for the most part they seem to have it figured out.

At my surgery in early December, I was quite pleased when the surgeon came to see me and drew a big X with a marker on the correct side of my belly! I'd have hated to have had the other hernia repaired by accident...

[e90m3]

@Qaaaaa It's vertical/horizontal for me. Always takes me a minute.

[HFV_Junkyardin]

@Qaaaaa left is where the bus driver is and right is where the door is.

[flatisflat]

@Qaaaaa said in Apparently one in six adults have trouble distinguishing left from right:

Also have to thing, really think, when doing stuff like tightening an upside down bolt, or one with the head facing away from me.

This does me in from time to time, for sure.

[ash78]

I fully admit that doing an "L" on my forehead was always a challenge. As a 90s kid, that's very embarrassing to be calling yourself a loser.

This sounds a lot like the Fiction/Nonfiction conundrum. The best take I heard on that was basically "Why does Fiction get top billing when Nonfiction is the overwhelmingly more accurate and prolific format?"

I prefer languages that base "Left" on "Sinister." It just adds a certain flair.

[BJ]

@Highlander interesting! That's perhaps unsuprising based on the article because "West" isn't on the body - it has an external point of reference.

You need to be careful about using cardinal directions in Montreal (on the island):

Rue St-Laurent (in red) divides the city into East and West (addresses count up in both directions from that line) and is therefore a street that runs North-South. As are all streets parallel.

[frinesi2]

@Qaaaaa oh yeah I've always had trouble with left/right. Especially when it's a sudden command. There's a very, very good chance I'll invert it.

Doesn't help that when I learned how to play drums, I played open-hand so I had to invert how I read the beginner's music sheets that called out which hand to use for each note.

[Nibby]

@Qaaaaa derek zoolander

[ttyymmnn]

@e90m3 said in Apparently one in six adults have trouble distinguishing left from right:

It's vertical/horizontal for me. Always takes me a minute.

horizontal = horizon

[Chariotoflove]

@Qaaaaa
Moving this thread to politics! Oh, wait....

[FourMalibus]

@Qaaaaa I have this problem. I don't have the make the L with my hand, but I do have to think about it. I've had many a people say to me "Go left...your other left".

[ash78]

Just gonna leave this here without comment

[Vondon302]

@Qaaaaa The upside down bolt one gets me all the time. My pressure tank for my well went bad and I thought I'd have to cut it out. Lot's of cussing until I realized I was turning it the wrong way.

[functionoverfashion]

@Highlander said in Apparently one in six adults have trouble distinguishing left from right:

@Qaaaaa My wife is like this. HOWEVER she is perfectly fine with cardinal directions for some reason. Driving down the highway, I can say turn west at the next light and she understands imediately, if I say turn right she actually has to think about it.

My wife is the same.

The only time it's a problem is when I'm driving and she's telling me "go left" when she means right. Then she's like "WHY ARE YOU IN THIS LANE" and I'm like THIS IS THE LEFT and she says WELL OHH sorry I meant the other way

[EssExTee]

@Qaaaaa I know left from right but if you suddenly demand I make the distinction RIGHT NOW I'll get flustered and have to think about it.

[Chariotoflove]

@functionoverfashion said in Apparently one in six adults have trouble distinguishing left from right:

@Highlander said in Apparently one in six adults have trouble distinguishing left from right:

@Qaaaaa My wife is like this. HOWEVER she is perfectly fine with cardinal directions for some reason. Driving down the highway, I can say turn west at the next light and she understands imediately, if I say turn right she actually has to think about it.

My wife is the same.

The only time it's a problem is when I'm driving and she's telling me "go left" when she means right. Then she's like "WHY ARE YOU IN THIS LANE" and I'm like THIS IS THE LEFT and she says WELL OHH sorry I meant the other way

Sami! what are you doing Sami! You have to listen to me, Sami!

[facw]

@ash78 In a world of terrible political spectrum charts, that's a really terrible (and loaded) one.

[EssExTee]

@Qaaaaa It bothers me that the political left is actually on the left when you chart the political spectrum.

Like no, dammit, we're progressive so we go on the right because right is forward and left is backward

[ash78]

@facw said in Apparently one in six adults have trouble distinguishing left from right:

@ash78 In a world of terrible political spectrum charts, that's a really terrible (and loaded) one.

But at least it was done with Word Art so you know what you're getting before you actually read it

[facw]

@EssExTee But what about Israeli and Japanese progressives?!?

[Tripper]

@Qaaaaa I have different accuracy in different situations:

Turning left or right: 10/10

Turning a fastener left or right: 10/10 after I coach myself internally at least 4 times (righty tighty, lefty loosie x4 - x7)

Telling someone else that something is on the left or on the right: 5/10.

Turning a fastener left or right when I'm on the opposite side of the fastener: 3/10 after coaching myself twice as many times.

[CaptDale - is secretly British]

@Qaaaaa

*insert they both make L, just one is backwards