Besides the obvious fact that the word itself is ridiculous sounding, the Latin roots are also slightly absurd. (The information below is more or less correct; I’m not an Etymologist. By all means, feel free to correct the facts in the comments, but you’ve been warned.)
The first version of the word was ‘Ambidexter’ in Late Latin where Ambi=on both sides (okay, that makes sense) & Dexter=right-handed (some choose to translate it ‘favorable’, but regardless, this is just being handist to lefties)…basically it meant ‘right-handed on both sides. I’m sensing a feminist-like movement sprung up in defense of indirectly calling left-handed people “lesser-than” because Ambidexter was changed to mean a lawyer who took bribes from both sides and in the 17th century the English (as they so often do) added -ous to the end to liven things up a bit. Thereby inventing ‘Ambidextrous’.
Now that we’ve gotten that history lesson out of the way, the REAL reason for this post is my attempt to strengthen my left hand. Everyone in my family is right-handed except for my great-grandfather on my mother’s side and my brother, who apparently picked up that recessive gene from him. Last year I got kinda’ obsessed with Lumosity, one of the best brain-training sites out there that I’ve experienced first hand. As it was helping me with my memory, I started seeing hints that advised the learner to switch hands when they got good in one particular area. (Many games require the use of a mouse.)
When I tried it out with my left hand, I sucked. Not because I couldn’t reason out the answer quick enough, or memorize how many numbers were on the screen, but because my hand wasn’t coordinated enough/fast enough. It was quite frustrating, and I quickly switched back. (I couldn’t stand losing all those points; I’m very competitive.) But that tiny experience was enough to make me realize that I didn’t like not being able to use my left hand. I mean, I’ve always felt an imbalance between the appendages, and that night I actually felt it. Something had to be done.
So began my journey. I’ve now been using my mouse with my left hand for 3 months, and the improvement has been tremendous. I’m agile and quick enough to do tasks at work without slowing down my productivity level now, as long as detail work isn’t involved. I.e. pushing tiny buttons…
I’m also able to unconsciously grab things with my left hand that I’d normally carry with my dominant one. Next, I want to work on writing with my left hand. One of my friends started using her left hand when she was a teen, and now she writes beautiful script with both hands, although it’s still obvious which hand is dominant. As I continue my random handed journey, I still have to accept the fact that my 10 year old sister will always have better handwriting then I do as a wannabe leftie.
Here’s a random link about being ambidextrous. I’m not sure if I believe all those ‘facts’, but they were fun to read and procrastinate with 😀
Just Me 