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NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 08:26 AM Dec 2019

My husband claims that left-handed people "always" listen to the phone with their left ear...

My husband claims that left-handed people "always" listen to the phone with their left ear, and right-handed people will use their right ear. I'd never thought about it, but as it turns out... in our case, IT'S TRUE! Now I'm going to start observing which ear my friends hold their phones up to.

Anyway... here's a little poll and light diversion for your Friday morning... Do you think this is true? Does it apply to you?


15 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
I'm right-handed and I mostly use my right ear. (SAME SIDE)
0 (0%)
I'm left-handed and I mostly use my left ear. (SAME SIDE)
2 (13%)
I'm right-handed and I mostly use the left ear. (OPPOSITE SIDE)
10 (67%)
I'm left-handed and I mostly use the right ear. (OPPOSITE SIDE)
1 (7%)
I'm right-handed and I have no particular preference. (IT VARIES, DEPENDING)
1 (7%)
I'm left-handed and I have no particular preference. (IT VARIES, DEPENDING)
1 (7%)
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll
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My husband claims that left-handed people "always" listen to the phone with their left ear... (Original Post) NurseJackie Dec 2019 OP
My son is, he uses his left ear. dewsgirl Dec 2019 #1
Opposite for me, and here's my logic Rorey Dec 2019 #2
Same chia Dec 2019 #6
I also use my bluetooth earpiece in my left ear (left-handed) NurseJackie Dec 2019 #8
Same for me. wnylib Dec 2019 #23
I was born left-handed, but was trained to use my right instead during grade school htuttle Dec 2019 #3
Yes... excellent description. I get disoriented too. NurseJackie Dec 2019 #4
Same situation with my Mom and she (perhaps subconsciously) did the same to me Siwsan Dec 2019 #15
What did you say? Lochloosa Dec 2019 #5
... NurseJackie Dec 2019 #9
My office phone is on the left side of my desk(s) JDC Dec 2019 #7
Many times I need to write something or other when on the phone/cell randr Dec 2019 #10
I call it dialing. (I also say "hang-up the phone" and "roll up the window".) NurseJackie Dec 2019 #11
I use the speaker phone. Historic NY Dec 2019 #12
... NurseJackie Dec 2019 #13
In a previous life... a co-worker in a nearby cubicle used a speaker phone LOUDLY... NurseJackie Dec 2019 #14
Right-handed, use left ear Cirque du So-What Dec 2019 #16
Right handed and I need that hand free, so left hand and ear. n/t sarge43 Dec 2019 #17
Left handed but use right ear to free left hand for writing notes. Kaleva Dec 2019 #18
Before telephone headsets and bluetooth earpieces, I'd always cradle the phone receiver... NurseJackie Dec 2019 #19
If I use Airpods does that make me ambidextrous? Major Nikon Dec 2019 #20
I don't know. But I do know that I try to avoid using my bluetooth earpiece in public... NurseJackie Dec 2019 #22
Left handed. Left ear LeftInTX Dec 2019 #21
Right handed, but phone to the left ear DFW Dec 2019 #24

Rorey

(8,445 posts)
2. Opposite for me, and here's my logic
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 08:30 AM
Dec 2019

I'm a multi-tasker, as I'm sure most of us are, and I hold my phone with my left hand so I can do things with my right hand.

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
8. I also use my bluetooth earpiece in my left ear (left-handed)
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 08:43 AM
Dec 2019

I also use my bluetooth earpiece in my left ear (left-handed) and at a previous job that used a hands-free telephone headset, I used my left ear.

I'm nearly ready for hearing aids (but not yet, I refuse, and they're expensive) but oddly enough, I think my preferred left ear is more deaf than the right one. Weird.

htuttle

(23,738 posts)
3. I was born left-handed, but was trained to use my right instead during grade school
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 08:30 AM
Dec 2019

(...during the Dark Ages of the 1960's in Waukesha County)

And I always hold the phone to my left ear. I get disoriented trying to listen to the phone with my right ear.

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
4. Yes... excellent description. I get disoriented too.
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 08:33 AM
Dec 2019

(Thank goodness the speakers at the drive-through are on the left side!)

Siwsan

(26,178 posts)
15. Same situation with my Mom and she (perhaps subconsciously) did the same to me
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 09:46 AM
Dec 2019

I write with my right hand. I hold utensils, drive, use a computer mouse or touch pad, among other things, with my left hand. Apparently I also shoot pool, left handed.

I hold a phone to my left ear. Last year I had a head cold and my left ear was particularly problematic. Of course I could HEAR with my right ear, but it just seemed clumsy.

JDC

(10,084 posts)
7. My office phone is on the left side of my desk(s)
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 08:41 AM
Dec 2019

At work and my home office. Mostly so I can leave my right hand free to write w/ if I need to.

randr

(12,408 posts)
10. Many times I need to write something or other when on the phone/cell
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 09:13 AM
Dec 2019

This has me using my left for the phone and the right free to write.
Also I dial, or I guess as we do now "poke", with my right hand leaving the phone/cell in my left and I do not cross over my face to listen.
Do most people still call it dialing?

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
11. I call it dialing. (I also say "hang-up the phone" and "roll up the window".)
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 09:18 AM
Dec 2019

I call it dialing. (I also say "hang-up the phone" and "roll up the window".)

I'm sure there are other examples of outdated terms we still use.

My mom always referred to the refrigerator as an "ice box", and my father always called it a "Frigidaire" (no matter that brand it actually was.)

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
14. In a previous life... a co-worker in a nearby cubicle used a speaker phone LOUDLY...
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 09:31 AM
Dec 2019

In a previous life... a co-worker in a nearby cubicle used a speaker phone LOUDLY! He'd talk loudly at the speaker phone and the volume of his speaker was loud enough so that everyone in the office could hear.

Because of him, the company I worked for added a speakerphone use policy/guidelines to the employee manual. It wasn't prohibited for the cubicle workers, but it was discouraged, and the volume had to be no louder than an ordinary spoken conversation.

Cirque du So-What

(25,812 posts)
16. Right-handed, use left ear
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 11:20 AM
Dec 2019

Seems natural to leave the dominant hand free for note-taking.

Besides, I never let the little man who lives in my right ear know what's going on.

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
19. Before telephone headsets and bluetooth earpieces, I'd always cradle the phone receiver...
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 12:07 PM
Dec 2019

Before lightweight telephone headsets and bluetooth earpieces, I'd always cradle the phone receiver... between my shoulder and ear (leaving both hands free).

Even today... my home (landline/voip) phone has one of these attached to it. (I'm a bit old fashioned sometimes, but I do have a bluetooth earpiece!)

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
22. I don't know. But I do know that I try to avoid using my bluetooth earpiece in public...
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 03:02 PM
Dec 2019

I don't know. But I do know that I try to avoid using my bluetooth earpiece in public (other than driving, or when I'm alone) because I don't want store clerks to think that I'm some crazy old lady talking to herself... or responding "pardon me?" thinking that I was asking/telling them something.

DFW

(54,057 posts)
24. Right handed, but phone to the left ear
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 04:03 PM
Dec 2019

My mom was left-handed, and maybe some latent genes are directing my movements?

My wife has no left-handed people in her family at all, but our younger daughter is so strongly left-handed, she used to write things backwards (perfect mirror writing) when she first started to learn how to write. She should have been sent to school somewhere in the Middle East.

She got straightened out quickly, as she is so strongly left-handed, it became obvious early enough that none of her teachers tried to "correct" her.

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