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I am creating a survery where need to put the question about there "most used hand in general", what do we call this behaviour combindly?

right now what I write

Are you lefy of righty? 

a) lefty b)righty c) both

Please suggest me the proper word here, and also the sentence structure.

xkeshav
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    Lefty is informal, could be pejorative even, to be avoided in formal writing. – Kris Nov 20 '17 at 11:23
  • Thanks for the tip. what could be better word instead of lefty ? is lefty is considered as slang in UK English? – xkeshav Nov 20 '17 at 11:27
  • In the UK a "lefty" is a derogatory term for someone with left-wing political views. You can easily find synonyms for "left-handed". – Weather Vane Nov 20 '17 at 11:33
  • "Handness" is sometimes used to refer to the hand preference of an individual. It's slightly awkward, though, and probably considered somewhat informal. No doubt researchers have a 50-cent word that is "official", but it likely would not be understood by most people. – Hot Licks Nov 20 '17 at 13:33

2 Answers2

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Which hand do you generally use? Are you

a) left-handed

b) right-handed

c) ambidextrous

If you only ask about "lefty" or "righty" that could refer to political views.

Weather Vane
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  • thanks for the light. but the structure of question is still not clear. I am looking for the word in what '.... ' you are? – xkeshav Nov 20 '17 at 11:24
  • but the answer according to the question you have formed will be left right and both isn't it? – xkeshav Nov 20 '17 at 11:28
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    @pro.mean I took the question please suggest me the proper word here to mean proper word for "both" (we don't say "both-handed"), and I left the question itself similar, in a rephrased sentence structure. It depends what you think was being asked. – Weather Vane Nov 20 '17 at 11:31
  • sorry for the confusion. – xkeshav Nov 20 '17 at 12:19
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I agree with Weather Vane on the wording of the question. The characteristic you are surveying is formally referred to as 'handedness'.

Incidentally, car-parts that are different for the left or right side of the vehicle are referred to as being 'handed', despite having nothing to do with hands.

The question wording is best in the form: "which hand do you generally use?" or "which is your dominant hand?". When describing what you are doing, you can use the form "I am investigating trends in handedness" or similar.

NVZ
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Pete Stupple
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  • so the question can be formed like this which handedness you have? or * what handedness behavior you posses – xkeshav Nov 20 '17 at 11:25
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    Hmm no, sorry my previous post wasn't very helpful. The question wording is best in the form: "which hand do you generally use?" or "which is your dominant hand?". When describing what you are doing, you can use the form "I am investigating trends in handedness" or similar. – Pete Stupple Nov 20 '17 at 11:32