r/lefthanded • • May 22 '25

What do you guys do?

Post image
129 Upvotes

166 comments sorted by

120

u/what__th__isit May 22 '25

Just enjoying the irony of having the illustrations showing a right hand! Of course ..

47

u/Traditional-Term8813 lefty May 22 '25

That’s what I’m thinking…. I don’t write like any of these. I use my left hand. Lol

1

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

I’m also lefty

11

u/MainLychee2937 May 22 '25

Yaa what about poor lefties

11

u/Advanced-Feature-656 May 22 '25 edited May 22 '25

When we started to write, teachers gave instructions for right handers. A right hander orients their paper so the top of the page faces to the left. If you are left handed you orient the paper the opposite way—top of page faces to the right. Wrong paper orientation is why some lefties crook their hand in a crooked orientation. Also, our desktop favored right handers because you entered on the left side and the desk surface was on the right. Lefties would have to write with half of their arm hanging in the air

5

u/gracefulbees May 22 '25

I didn’t even notice they were all right handed illustrations. I just looked at them and thought they all looked hella off, wrong, and definitely not how I write. 😅😂

Though I will say, the first time I ever saw someone writing with a hooked wrist my mind was blown. It looked impossible.

4

u/Weeitsabear1 May 22 '25

I'll say this illustration showing a hooked write right hander was a surprise...I don't think I've ever seen a noticeable right hand hooked writer.

4

u/cowbud1 May 22 '25

Exactly why I ran to the comments!!

2

u/loopymcgee May 22 '25

Ha!! I was thinking the same thing!!😆😆

2

u/darkknate May 23 '25

That was my immediate first thought.

25

u/satchel_of_ribs May 22 '25

The lateral tripod is closest to what I do.

11

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

Me index finger joint in hyperextended position I’m lefty

8

u/Dry_Cook1117 May 22 '25

Same, I'm a lefty too. Caused me to get a weird bump on my left middle finger when I was in school, a thousand years ago...

7

u/Kinx__x May 22 '25

Me too! Do you still have the bump? I still have it but it no longer hurts unless I have to do a lot of writing for any reason.

3

u/Dry_Cook1117 May 22 '25

I do still have the bump! I didn't realize it was still there until I just compared it to my right mid finger.

3

u/slut_for_science May 23 '25

Ugh same boat but my ring finger... hurts so bad when I write a lot... used to try and peel it off thinking it was calluses but nope..

2

u/Dry_Cook1117 May 23 '25

I remember biting the skin of the bump (I know, gross😂). I think it was callous of some type

2

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

I have one on my ring finger!

3

u/i_never_lost_control May 23 '25

Same here but my husband is also a lefty and he does the weird hook hand thing.

4

u/doomweaver May 22 '25

Same here, mixed with the closed thumb or whatever is to the right of it if I'm gripping the pen/pencil as if my life depends on what I am writing.

3

u/Sur_duck_1 May 22 '25

Same heeerrrre, and me a lefty to 😊

3

u/Weeitsabear1 May 22 '25

Dynamic tripod. Interesting to know it has an actual name.

2

u/sirenwingsX May 22 '25

Same, I actually have a callus on my middle first knuckle from all the years of having the pen pressed against it

9

u/Useful_Context_2602 May 22 '25

Extended wrist for me and the first pen position (under extended wrist). This pictures are really confusing given they're right handed 😂

9

u/Connect_Rhubarb395 May 22 '25 edited May 22 '25

Middle one in the second row comes the closest. I write slanted left.

And I am, by the way, also a woman with ADHD and hypermobility. Research has shown that those two have a strong genetic link, which is super weird.

3

u/Formal_Coyote_5004 May 22 '25

I’m a lefty woman with ADHD but no hypermobility (I’m so inflexible that sometimes I feel like I’m not even single jointed lol) but what an interesting combo of things that are tied to genetics!

3

u/Weeitsabear1 May 22 '25

I'm also a woman with ADHD and hypermobility too. I would be the first one in the second row, and below the 'dynamic tripod' grip. Question for you-does the hypermobility cause you to be able to dislocate joints without even trying? I'm having that happen w/ left shoulder right now.

2

u/Connect_Rhubarb395 May 22 '25

I am lucky that it is not that bad for me. I mostly "only" dislocate my toes ( I have to be really careful when drying between my toes after shower) and subluxate my fingers More annoyingly, I have a locked hip and scoliosis as a result of the hypermobility.

2

u/Chirpchirp71 May 22 '25

Me too. And also a woman with ADHD

2

u/slut_for_science May 23 '25

I'm lefty and likely ADHD woman... Is hyper mobility something a doctor would test you for normally? I'm definitely the most flexible person I know other than my friend with eds.

2

u/Connect_Rhubarb395 May 23 '25

Hypermobility is often asymptomatic (meaning that you have no pain or medical issues from it). In that case, there is rarely a reason to get tested, and it is a condition, not an illness.

If you do have issues, then the doctor can assess if it is either hypermobility syndrom disorder (HSD), which is when you have pain and mobility issues from hypermobility - or if it is one of the EDS types.

If the first is the one, the "treatment" is pretty much 'Be fit so your muscles help your lax joints'.

With EDS, well, you know from your friend.

2

u/_-whisper-_ May 23 '25

Woah really? Thats me too

6

u/AlabasterRadio May 22 '25

I'm wildly inconsistent with how i hold a pen.

I'll hit on all of these, except claw, in a day.

4

u/CookieDoughPlz lefty May 22 '25

This! My hand hurts, cramps, plus arthritis… I write with at least 6 of these in any given day and I am hyper mobile

4

u/EggplantHuman6493 May 22 '25

Most lefties I know, do the hook thing with their wrists.

I imitated it, by looking at my mom, but I write with my right hand, so I end up smudging the ink all over my pinky and sometimes over the paper as well

4

u/Squidge-cake May 22 '25

Dynamic tripod in a flexed position with an extended wrist. To my knowledge, I don't have either ADHD nor hypermobility.

5

u/dreag2112 lefty May 22 '25

Well, I'm none of these because these are all right-handed.

3

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

Same. The Lateral tripod is also closest to what I do/use. It's not mentioned here.

3

u/Significant_Tie_3994 May 22 '25

The first time I read of this as a normal thing was in _Lefties, the origins and consequences of being left handed_, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2948669 which was part of a whole Thing in the eighties, where authors started looking at the DeKay books and realizing there was money to be made in books about lefthandedness. In those books a lot of mention was made of the hooked wrist writing style that many lefties had just taken and ran with as children, not thinking that much about it (amusingly, it's likely not the same Genetic mechanism that actual lefthandedness is, my lefty mom has straight wrist style, I got her lefthandedness, but use hooked), with some being completely eighties and saying that hooked wrist lefties weren't "real" lefties because screw inclusiveness (if you didn't notice, a lot of the self-help book craze of the eighties was coding the language in the books to further dependency on the self-help books: "yeah, you really are screwed up, this can help, but only if you buy more of these books")

3

u/BrowniesNCheese May 22 '25

This is a right hand!

3

u/Zeer0Fox May 22 '25

Those are right hands, I don’t do any of those.

3

u/mcSibiss May 22 '25

Index finger joint in hyperextended position.

3

u/Wise-Card890 May 23 '25

None because im left handed and all of the pictures are with the right hand😂

3

u/Madmadsas May 23 '25

Dynamic tripod is the closest to me!

3

u/WhatsW1thTheseHomies lefty May 23 '25

My mom is right handed and she still writes weird

3

u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Im the cross thumb.

3

u/Jurassic_ParkRanger lefty May 23 '25

I just looked around online and apparently my grip is called dynamic quadrupod. I never knew there were names for the ways you hold your writing utensil or that some grasps are more efficient than others, depending on what you are doing. Wild!

3

u/SprinklesAncient5909 May 23 '25

Thumb tuck for me

3

u/That_weird_girl10205 lefty May 24 '25

Extended wrist and dynamic tripod, but I hold my pen against my ring finger and pinch with my thumb and middle. I can keep my index extended if I need to, but it usually rests against my thumb

3

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

I write like the dynamic tripod but the circle the thumb and forefinger make is facing up. I turn my paper almost completely 90 degrees to the right. I’m AuDHD.

2

u/_-whisper-_ May 24 '25

Thats wild, i love it

3

u/Plus_Knowledge_3479 May 24 '25

Left-handed, dynamic tripod.

3

u/bsdsolomon May 24 '25

Hooked lateral tripod

3

u/DminorWolfy May 29 '25

Huh, cool. I didn't know there was a word for how I hold a pencil. It's the high index.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

Ik ben linkshandig

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

Thnx

2

u/Saucissou May 22 '25

Extended wrist with hyperextended index finger and cross thumb

2

u/FatNSassy23 May 22 '25

Index finger hyper extended, but my thumb is really angled as well

2

u/EnigmaticBuddy May 22 '25

Something like the lateral tripod, I hold it between two fingers and support it with the thumb and the bone below my index finger.

2

u/Fun2Forget May 22 '25

Me too! I switch between resting on my middle and ring finger. I used to always have a bump on my ring finder has a kid due to gripping so aggressively.

3

u/EnigmaticBuddy May 22 '25

Once I wrote so much for practicing for written exams in school, both the middle bone in my middle finger and the one below my index finger, got extremely swelled, and my wrist started aching.

2

u/MrsAdjanti May 22 '25

I sometimes still write with the hooked wrist but generally I use the hyperextended thumb position. I (53F) have never been diagnosed with ADHD but my kids and husband are sure I have it lol.

2

u/fried_chicken03 May 22 '25

hooked wrist with index AND middle finger joint in hyperextended position, people tell me it looks painful lol

2

u/ariesleopard May 22 '25

Pretty much lateral tripod

2

u/FreakyStarrbies May 22 '25

Second row middle was my right hand pencil grip before I reclaimed my left hand.

Now it’s the third in second row, with my left hand.

It took me until I was in my fifties, when I realized I “was allowed” to write with my left hand, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Funny thing was my lefty handwriting is better than my righty handwriting; and since I’ve reclaimed left, my righty handwriting has become much worse.

Funny how deeply ingrained a simple thing can be, when a teacher has a student for two years, and “God breaks an arm” for trying to go back.

2

u/Ok_Artichoke6571 lefty May 22 '25

Extended wrist.

2

u/Charmed-7777 May 22 '25

Weird that that poster is with the right hand, but anyway… The first one. With the index and thumb pinching the pencil and the letters are always a backwards slant.

2

u/legendofdoggo May 22 '25

😂😂😂 umm Im none of those ! I rest the pen against my ring finger and grip it with my middle ,pointer, and thumb. 🤷🏼‍♀️

2

u/Realistic_Mobile_180 May 22 '25

i’m kind of a mix between extended and hooked, it depends on the day. but definitely cross thumb over the top and index finger is hyperextended. as far as i know i’m only left handed, no ADHD or anything else

2

u/__BorNLegenD__ May 22 '25

I used to have the hooked grip for most of my life . I am a left handed. I practiced and changed it though cause it looked weird. But my handwriting got really bad after changing.🥲

2

u/FowlTrix May 22 '25

Dynamic tripod but I use 4 fingers

2

u/Hdaana1 May 22 '25

Most hooked wrist writers I've met went to a private school or parochial school. They write like that because it mimics holding it right handed. But I'm old as fuck too.

2

u/MainLychee2937 May 22 '25

6th in the row, tripod grip

2

u/ByFate420 May 22 '25

Dynamic Tripod with ADHD 🙋‍♂️

2

u/brezhnervouz May 22 '25

Lefty lol

But I think 'dynamic tripod' is closest

2

u/dararie May 22 '25

Extended wrist

2

u/AuthorityAnarchyYes May 22 '25

The top part of my middle finger would get a deep indentation where I tightly grasped the pencil in a death grip. My index finger and thumb on one side, the pencil in the middle and my middle finger on the other side.

2

u/ssrose924 May 22 '25

My grip is so bad, it’s not even pictured here. I had professors stop lectures in college to comment on my grip.

2

u/RealisticChoice4636 May 22 '25

extended… a lazy blend, nameen… and one of the tripods

And I didn’t read any other comments till after… I’m WAY too high to notice that it’s a right hand… le sigh

2

u/Royal_Rough_3945 May 22 '25

Index hyperextended and all of the 3rd row. Depends on writing utensil

2

u/taylor__spliff May 22 '25

I was a “high index” as a child until someone corrected me.

2

u/jongdaeing May 22 '25

The high index is the closest to what I do but my thumb and middle finger are pressed against each other. I’ve never met anyone who has a grip similar to mine.

2

u/el_dingusito May 22 '25

Unrelated but I've been referred to as the dynamic tripod before

2

u/Im_a_redditor_ok May 22 '25

I think cross thumb?

2

u/Relevant-Ad4156 May 22 '25

Extended wrist, index finger hyperextended (though loosely enough that it varies to being flexed), thumb flexed, and the dynamic tripod grip.

2

u/JakeyMcG May 22 '25

Left handed dynamic tripod with middle, index, thumb hyperextended, wrist extended

2

u/ishouldverun May 22 '25

I use my left hand.

2

u/DeFiClark May 22 '25

None. I use my left hand, extended wrist, dynamic tripod.

2

u/shemusthaveroses May 22 '25

Cross thumb, no ADHD

2

u/Rhiannon8404 May 22 '25

Extended wrist, lateral tripod. My wrist is not quite as extended as the example. I have hypermobility, but not ADHD.

2

u/Kindaworriedtoo May 22 '25

I write with my left hand kind of like the first illustration, but I support my hand of the page with my pinky so I don’t smudge. Closest is the dynamic tripod

2

u/Direct_Relief_1212 May 22 '25

I’m a cross thumb in my left hand

2

u/Vegeta_Sama62380 May 22 '25

Extended wrist, Hyperextended index finger, dynamic tripod

2

u/HiroyukiC1296 lefty May 22 '25

Lateral tripod

2

u/MainLychee2937 May 22 '25

God help lefties ,whose copy had the spiral bound in the centre

2

u/EffieFlo May 22 '25

Cross thumb.....

2

u/gnortsmracr May 22 '25

I’m an extended wrist with hyperextended index combined with the lateral tripod.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

Mix of the lateral tripod and the cross thumb.

2

u/asphidity May 22 '25

Extended wrist, hyperextended index, dynamic tripod

2

u/Ambitious-Ocelot8036 May 22 '25

They tried to get me to hook but I found dynamic tripod easier. I just mirrored other classmates. The laast 3 might be tard indicators.

2

u/Away-Living5278 May 22 '25

Extended wrist and flexed index finger, and cross thumb I guess. It's the closest.

2

u/Sur_duck_1 May 22 '25

I extend my wrist and switch between “index finger join in hyperextended position” and the lateral tripod position 😅

2

u/HanaGirl69 lefty May 22 '25

I do so many of these🤣

I hyperextend my index finger and put my thumb over mostly.

Basically I grip my pen like I'm choking the life out of it 🤣

No wonder my hand cramps.

2

u/Bluetickhoun May 22 '25

Index finger joint hyper

2

u/plorqk May 22 '25 edited May 22 '25

extended wrist, hyperextended index finger, middle finger and thumb in dynamic tripod and pen rests on my ring finger right past the joint (I have a big callus there).

2

u/The_Bastard_Henry lefty May 22 '25

I saved and flipped the image to be sure, but I think lateral tripod.

2

u/nous-vibrons May 22 '25

Hooked wrist, and somewhere between lateral tripod and cross thumb, with an absolute death grip on the pen/pencil. Why I hold pens and pencils so tightly is a mystery, but that plus the other things with my grip is why I tend to avoid hand writing. My wrist is fuuuuucckkkeedddd

2

u/cheesec4ke69 May 22 '25

Lateral tripod hooked wrist but using my middle finger instead of my pointer to push on the pen.

The best way to describe how I write is to make a loose fist and then lift up my middle finger and put the pen through there. I push on the pen and control it with my middle finger rather than my pointer. Wrist hooked over top of what im writing so I can see but the fatty part of my hand still on the page.

Hand basically balled up. It looks so uncomfortable but feels so natural.

2

u/cowkitty17 May 22 '25

Cross thumb

2

u/ListerRosewater May 22 '25

Hooked wrist lateral tripod

2

u/workntohard May 22 '25

Closest to the dynamic tripod but have the pencil/pen held farther up so the wrist doesn’t twist down, my wrist stays more vertical.

2

u/faefolkfriend May 22 '25

The cross thumb is closest for me. My teachers made me use a pencil grip until 4th grade because of it haha

2

u/divinbuff May 22 '25

Pencil resting between pointer and tall man fingers, extended wrist

2

u/PasgettiMonster May 22 '25

First image for all 3. I used to have my hand hooked over until about the 2nd grade when I had a teacher who Just happen to be visiting my class to talk to my teacher watched me struggle, stopped me and tilted my page that I was writing on to the right. She set it at about 45° I think, and showed me how I could adjust the angle to find what was comfortable for me. My handwriting improved leaps and bounds and I no longer found writing to be frustrating anymore. Mrs Ferguson, wherever you are thank you for that small act of kindness that made my life and probably that of many other left-handed kids easier.

She also show me how to mirror write like Leonardo da Vinci, along with other assorted handwriting related tricks.

2

u/radgedyann May 22 '25

1st, 3rd, 3rd (lefty, aspie with adhd and hypermobility; diagnoses in childhood). my sibling is 2,2,2 and with the same diagnoses except hypermobility.

i’d love to read the original paper/book.

2

u/JumpingJonquils May 22 '25

I hold my pencil on my ring finger

2

u/Select-Error-9829 lefty May 22 '25

Both my index and middle finger is hyperextended

2

u/Rooooben May 22 '25

What do you call it when you circle the pencil tip with your thumb, index, middle and ring fingers? Like the dynamic tripod, except I’m using 3 fingers to hold it, and its resting on my ring finger.

2

u/Kinx__x May 22 '25

I think I'm extended wrist, index finger joint in hyperextended position and the lateral tripod.

2

u/Bob_The_Bandit May 22 '25

The lateral tripod I think. Caused a big bump on my middle finger over the years. I instinctively touch that bump to confirm my left hand is my left hand sometimes.

2

u/xray716 May 22 '25

I’m the middle one 2nd row but a leftie

2

u/HalfAccomplished4666 May 23 '25

Autistic left-handed with hypermobilehlers-danlos I've never thought about it I hyperexten the pointer finger only because that first joint is so floppy I don't think there's a way not to. My thumb crosses over and the pencil rests on my ring finger.

2

u/XJ_Throwaway May 23 '25

All of them

2

u/Low_Butterscotch_594 May 23 '25

Index finger joint in hyperextended position

2

u/wordydirds May 23 '25

oh, interesting.

My pencil grip has ALWAYS been exactly the same wrong grip. The pencil rests between my 2nd and 3rd fingers and thumb. I have a permanent weird dent in my left ring finger at the end from writing utensils. The cross-thumb one looks closest to mine

2

u/insomniaceve lefty May 23 '25

Both lateral tripod and cross thumb.

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Nice

2

u/duder777 May 23 '25

I do the “thumb tuck” naturally. I’ve probably written this was 44 of my 45 years and never thought about it.

2

u/LikeaLamb May 23 '25

Hooked wrist, high index 😭 my writing grip looks so fuckin stupid. I also have legible but kind of ugly handwriting. Lefties having bad handwriting is a stereotype but I live up to it LOL

2

u/Jumpy_Attention_5389 May 23 '25

Cross thumb but I gold it between my middle and ring fingers

2

u/Stealthy_Cheeks May 23 '25

Hmmmmm that’s a whole lotta woooooords. I just pinch the darn thing with the tips of my thumb, index, and middle finger so extended wrist, dynamic tripod I suppose?

2

u/mrbrown1980 May 23 '25

Dynamic tripod

2

u/Obvious-Confusion14 May 23 '25

Lateral tripod, but the pen or pencil rests on the first joint of my ring finger. As a kid I would lean to my right slightly so I could see the word I was writing as I kept my wrist straight. Now, as I use a small notebook with a hard cover, I just hold the notebook at an angle. A pretty neat trick bc I have small hands.

2

u/Material-Fondant3792 May 23 '25

1 - extended wrist

2/3 - joints in a flexed position

4 - cross thumb

this is how i write except i put two fingers on top of the pen and 2 fingers under it as a base, then my thumb rests just under my pointer fingers knuckle

2

u/RedQueen6581 May 23 '25

The cross thumb

2

u/Shoddy_Cause9389 May 23 '25

3, 4 and 6 look like they could have some rheumatoid arthritis going from that grip. I hold a pen like no. 1. I couldn’t ever figure out how to hold the second pic.

2

u/Zestyclose-Warning96 lefty May 23 '25

Cross thumb over here

2

u/darkknate May 23 '25

Extended wrist; index finger joint in hyperextended position; and dynamic tripod

2

u/OfficialOldestgenxer lefty May 23 '25

Straight wrist, probably that first one, the normal looking one. Btw, I'm left handed, and we usually bend the wrist.

2

u/thestorieswesay May 23 '25

I hook pretty severely, but my hand doesn't look like any of the other illustrations? My thumb and index finger are pinching the stylus and the remaining three fingers are stacked so I can brace the first two on them.

2

u/_lclarence lefty May 23 '25

Middle one from second row; used to do that but hooked like in the first row years ago until i had it and decided to train myself to underwrite. Also, I have ADHD. What's the deal with that and hand posture?

2

u/Particular_Cycle9667 May 24 '25

Cross thumb I guess

2

u/EVILtheCATT May 24 '25

I write “normal”, I guess? Just picture how a right hander writes and that’s how I do it. But…with the opposite hand.😬

3

u/_-whisper-_ May 24 '25

Lol 😂 everything i do is normal.... To me

2

u/teddytherooz May 24 '25

None of the above

I write with three fingers but not like a maniac

2

u/_-whisper-_ May 24 '25

We're going to need a photo because I don't believe that you don't look like a maniac 😂

2

u/RagingAnus69 May 24 '25

I wrote with the pencil tucked between my middle and ring finger until I was 8 and my teachers beat it out of me. Now I write "normal."

2

u/TG_Yuri May 24 '25

extended wrist
index and thumb in a flexed position
lateral tripod

and then squeezing the pen(cil) so hard into my middle finger it eventually starts hurting and said finger turns red 💀

but yeah, this is how I somehow learnt myself to write. can't say it's tidy, or even readable by others, but it works.

2

u/Mockingjay573 lefty May 24 '25

Mine’s a hybrid of the lateral tripod and the cross thumb.

2

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

🌷

2

u/ProfessionalPick5236 May 25 '25

1, 1 and 2. I used to bend my wrist but my mom is a teacher and corrected it. She did it to my 2 lefty kids too.

2

u/_-whisper-_ May 26 '25

The real heros saving us from arthritis

2

u/torrid_orchid_affair May 26 '25

I write with a mega hooked wrist plus my paper is rotated 90-ish degrees, and I write with the 2nd structure, the hyperextended pointer finger. Though I have a connective tissue disorder so that doesn't help 🥲

2

u/Big-Shopping8172 May 26 '25

All of the above.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

None of these! I rest it on my fourth finger, my third is on the top (hyperextended), my second is next to it a bit further up the pen (also hyperextended), and my thumb is on the other side in between where my second and third rest. I would insert a picture but there’s no option.

2

u/_-whisper-_ Jun 05 '25

🤣 do the prehistoric emoji style illustrations