___ with the left hand (a "lefty" speaks)
Message #4 Posted by glynn on 16 June 2003, 10:16 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by /Slanted/
What REALLY bites is being a left-handed typist. ;-)
I cannot speak really about the slant of characters-- it seems to me just a decision intended to make the characters seem more "natural" and less machine-like to an audience used to the slant of English handwritten characters. In a world-marketing view nowadays, that's probably less "cricket" than it used to be. ;-) {But thank goodness nobody yet has made the decision to display characters with the least significant digits on the left...}
I will tell you about left-handedness...
My second-grade english/writing teacher used to whack my left hand with her ruler whenever I picked up a pencil in my left. As she told my parents, "it's the mark of the devil".
Aw, I got over it, and I'm still a Lefty despite all the row. My handwriting skills, to this day, approximate those of a rabid squirrel on crack; but hey, it suits my personality. :-D
Needless to say, I had much opportunity to display the marks of the devil to my Drafting teacher in eighth grade. The tendency of a lefty is to drag the ham-end of his fist across every line he draws, leading inevitably to a grey pallor cast over the whole vellum.
Combining that with my lettering skills, lack of math savvy, poor grasp of proportionality, and my tendency to overwork every portion of the drawing, I was able, over the course of a semester, to convince him that early retirement was a viable option.
The great equalizers, of course, are automated tools. Typewriters and word-processors now help me write, and calculators and computers help me do maths I'd be helpless to do on my own. Even me, ME! who art teachers assessed had only the talent to clean brushes, issue aprons and sharpen pencils, has MADE A LIVING from time to time using tools like Illustrator, CorelDraw, Photoshop and such.
Yeah, a mouse makes EVERYONE equally lefty/klutzy. MuuuHahahaha.... <revenge at last!>
And, yeah, on my 15c, I *DO* have to move my hand out of the way a lot, to see the screen. I wouldn't trade it away, though; it's my daily tool-- I have come to feel it is like an extension of myself.
I have half a dozen "standard" calculators at my office, none of which I like. I love all my HPs, though, and the 15c is just too "handy" not to keep within arms reach. (Well, I could have probably made use of an 11c just fine-- I never really have used matrices or complex numbers.)
But dangit, when oh when will American cars come equipped with a lefty-compatible drink-holder? Those stupid things that clip onto the window-sill are just a crime...
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