On Thu, 04 Feb 2016 12:34:46 GMT, Harry Bloomfield
wrote:

T i m wrote on 03/02/2016 :
Hmm, that's the thing, I can't imagine *not* being able to explain it
to an alien (even). Right is just the label to that side / direction,
just as is forward or up. How come even those who can't remember their
left from right, don't generally have issues with the other
dimensions?

Left and right are more or less symmetrical, the others are not.

Are they not? As a decision / direction I can't see why up / down
aren't just as symmetrical as left / right?

I am
one who has always struggled or at least taken a few seconds to work it
out - left from right.

I was talking to our daughter about this yesterday and she remembers
it became 'automatic' to her at about 5 years old. I can't remember
when I 'got it' but it may have been similar. I can't remember if I
used any trick to learn, other than I used to write with my right
hand?

I pick a pen up and if I think about it, I am lost.

Sorry, in what way Harry?

The same with knife
and fork. I am though, mostly ambidextrous.

Whilst my left hand is very useful, if say doing mechanical work it
can play a useful roll, it isn't as anywhere near as dextrous as my
right. If say putting a nut on a bolt in some difficult to access
area, I would typically use my right hand to attach the nut and my
left to hold the bolt down / still.

was born left handed, but
at school I was one who was forced to right handedness, by tieing my
left hand behind my back, so now I write right handed, but my hand
writing is terrible.

Oh dear. We saw that played out at the Beamish museum a while back.
Very sad.

Someone who I was teaching to drive had a problem distinguishing left
from right, so I put a large L and R on the back of his hands :')

Hehe, that will do it. ;-)

It still interests me (from a human observation pov) just how many
people, often adults don't instinctively know their left from right.

"John, could you hand me that 10 mill spanner please, over to your
right ... no, the other right ... " ;-)

I accept 'some people' find it difficult but (of course) I don't
understand why. Just as someone else can't understand why I find (say)
spelling difficult (compared to them) or Linux difficult, compared to
Windows. ;-)

Cheers, T i m