How come many left-handed people tend to be slightly ambidextrous?

Left-handed people will be using their right hands more regularly and efficiently than the use of left hands by right-handed people. However, that does not make them ambidextrous.

Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well .

So, a left-handed can become comfortable using the objects designed for right-handed - like scissors, knives, can openers. A left-handed can be using the right hand for more activities/actions in a day.

However, he/she would be ambidextrous only if he/she could write legibly or play racket sports like tennis/badminton or throw/pitch a ball/basketball/baseball or play snooker/pool with either hand with reasonable skill.

Footnotes

Ambidexterity - Wikipedia

Holding phone with your right or left hand?

I hold my mobile phone with left-hand while talking. No preference of ear thought - If I have to hear with my right hand, still I hold with my left hand.

While browsing on phone, I hold the mobile with my right hand and swipe with my left hand. Only because, most phones are designed (placing of power, volume buttons, etc) for right handed.

Only when I write/take notes or using my left-hand for some tasks, I hold phone with my right hand.

I have an office landline phone - I am in meetings over phone for at least 2–3 hours a day - I hold the phone with my left hand naturally. Also, the landline phones are designed to dial with your right hand.

How do you use keyboard WASD & mouse if you are a left handed PC gamer

I started using a computer in late nineties - either shared computers in internet/cyber cafes or at my home, a PC that is shared with my dad and friends - - so, I got adapted to using the mouse with right hand.

And, as the arrow keys and game keys like (Home/PageUp/PageDown/End) in a typical keyboard are on the right hand, I got adapted to use them also with my right hand. I was easily using those keys in a word processor or a browser.

So, when it was time to play games - DOS games like Prince, Galaxy, Dave, etc that needed to use the keyboard extensively or Arcade games like Pinball, Ball of Steel, that needed to use mouse buttons to play the flippers or even Solitaire, Hearts, Minesweeper - it was natural for me to use my right hand only. Same with racing games like Road Rash, Motocross, Hard Truck - either use the arrow keys or mouse with right hand.

Even when we played in 2-player mode, where one was using arrows, and the other had to use the keyboard like WASD, Shift, Control - I would still use the right hand for the lack of space.

While playing killer/shooting games that would need to use mouse to navigate and the keyboard shortcuts for weapons, health, etc, - I would be using mouse with right-hand and keyboard shortcuts with left hand.

Appliances against Left-Handed

All refrigerators sold in India and few refrigerators I have seen in US during my stay there - all are designed to open easily with right hand with a handle at the top left corner. Applies to the freezer door inside too. Whereas microwave ovens are designed to open left as the Control panel (buttons/knobs/open switch) are on the right-hand side for the convenience of right-handed. Try operating that panel with left hand. Same applies to Washing Machines, Portable TVs

Can a baby be trained to be right or left-handed?

One can train a baby or train oneself to perform an activity with opposite (non dominant) hand. You can train the baby to write with a specific hand, do normal chores like brushing, shaving, open door with a specific hand, etc.

Like the way, I trained myself to eat, shake-hand, serving food, religious rituals, etc with my right hand.

But, you cannot curb the natural instincts. In most cases, a left-handed (right-handed) baby/person would use its left (right) hand for a reflex or natural or untrained activity - like pick a pebble from ground, pick a fruit, cover nose while sneezing, etc. Or an action that needs strength like using spanner for unscrewing/screwing, etc.

p.s: This answer is from my experience as a left-handed. Not endorsed by any scientific theory.

If you're right-handed, what are some of the things that you do with your left hand, and if you're left-handed, what are some of the things you do with your right hand?

I am left-handed, left-eyed, left-footed. I prefer left by nature and by choice if there’s an option.

Below are few things I use right hand for, by habit/adaptation/lack of choice (mostly the last one):

• While eating with hand (Indian). Will use spoon with right hand in public and left-hand at home. Sometimes, at home, I snack with left-hand if I am alone.
• Using computer mouse at work
• Turning on/off ignition key in car daily
• Steering as my left-hand is mostly on gear shift (Right-side driving in India)
• Scissors, nail cutters, knives
• Hindu religious activities when obligated - rituals like pujas, lighting lamps, putting tilak/bindi, ringing bells in temples, taking prasad/harati (arti)
• Serving food at family events (avoid as much as I can)
• Using ATM
• Dialing on my office VOIP phone
• Buttoning/unbuttoning my shirts/jackets/trousers -yeah, you can do easily with single right hand, but not with single left hand. Try yourself!
• Locking/Unlocking paddle locks
• Open refrigerator door
• Biometric reader (fingerprint scanner) at my office turnstiles entry that reads only my right index finger.
• Clicking (pressing shutter button) on my SLR camera needs my right fingers (by design), though I use my left-eye for view-finder - my nose bumps and smears the LCD screen

Do left-handed people and right-handed people buckle their belts differently?

As a left-handed, I used to do buckle the opposite way as a kid - insert to the left loop of my trouser first - so, the tail end stays to the left after buckling - like the kid standing on the left in the picture in the Question comment.
However, I slowly shifted/adapted to the common practice, like many other things, for few reasons -

• Wearing my school belt that way would show the school emblem/logo on the buckle in inverted way

• Same way with the general belt buckles - I have to find a design that would have a symmetric design when inverted. I cannot use the below one, but the following ones.

• Some belt buckles would have a button/pin on the bottom to loosen and release the belt. With the inverted way, the button would be on the top pressing into my belly.

• The second layer of belt would not let me to easily insert my ID card holder to the right-side of my trousers.

However, wearing this way (start by inserting into left) causes few inconveniences as a leftie -

• To remove the belt from the rings, i can pull only by my right hand. Pulling by left hand won’t remove the belt easily.
• I can unbuckle easily only with right hand. I have to remember that sometimes.
• The hanging second fold of the belt gets hit to my left hand which is the active one, especially while taking out wallet/phone from left pocket. Another reason to wear the watch on right hand.