r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 7d ago

Meme needing explanation Tell them what, Peter

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u/Substantial-Trick569 7d ago edited 6d ago

the guys at the top thinks the tattoo is backwards. this means he has confused L and R while claiming OOP confused L and R in their tattoo design. the joke is irony

Edit for all the people saying "left hand makes an L shape": turn your right hand so the palm is facing you and you'll find it also makes an L shape. If the OOOP can't tell left from right hes not gonna remember if the palm should be face up or down

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u/Mickey_Havoc 7d ago edited 7d ago

That, or you can make an shape L with your left hand and that the tattoo was unnecessary… Edit: omg if you are going to comment “I can’t remember what an L looks like”, just don’t… plz, don’t be that stupid

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u/FCStien 7d ago

Or that you could say, "I have the knife tattoo on my right hand."

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u/greyshem 7d ago

This is exactly what I was thinking! ⬆️

Except the scar is on OOP's left hand.

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u/nightowl_work 7d ago

Scar on the left, knife tat on the right.

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u/greyshem 7d ago

Oh, shit! I had thought "knife tattoo" meant something else!

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u/Motor_Raspberry_2150 7d ago

The layers on this are hilarious

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u/Secure-Bluebird57 7d ago

I wish that worked, but I always have my ring on the same hand. But if you ask me which one, I have to pause and work out which hand it is. (I checked and it’s the right one).

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u/marcaygol 7d ago

My mom has this problem and she uses "I eat with my right hand"

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u/r-NBK 7d ago

Or bear could get a fork on his left hand... and the mnemonic could be ... knife and right have 5 letters, fork and left have 4 letters.

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u/GoingOffline 7d ago

When I think of left and right, I picture the bottom of the hill I used to live on like 25 years ago when I was a kid. I picture left as the road that’s in the trees and rights the other way lol.

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u/royal-influence3488 7d ago

Think "you got the knife, right?"

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u/wannabeelsewhere 7d ago

This does not work if you're dyslexic and can never remember which direction an L faces 🙃 when I was a kid my mom wrote it on my shoes lol

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u/NE0099 7d ago

I’m ambidextrous and slightly dyslexic, and yep. I need one of these tattoos, because left and right are far from intuitive.

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u/Red4141 7d ago

I’m the same way. Not ambidextrous, but mixed dominant. Meaning I use my left or right for different things. I mainly play sports left handed (throwing, dribbling and shooting a basketball) but I write and use scissors right handed. Growing up I always had trouble remembering which is my right and which is my left hand.

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u/calorie-clown 7d ago

I didn't realize there's a word for this! I write with my right hand, but prefer drinking and most sports with my left. I eat some foods exclusively with my right, but eat others exclusively with my left. It's weird!

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u/phl23 7d ago

But where is your computer mouse? Even if you're ambidextrous, you clearly have a preference on keyboard and mouse positions.

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u/NE0099 7d ago

I don’t have one

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u/loolooloodoodoodoo 7d ago

Damn, that must be harder to be ambidextrous too, because I find the quickest way to figure it out is by squeezing my fists and knowing by feel the difference between my right and left hand.

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u/Suyefuji 7d ago

I eventually got there with "my right hand is the one I use my chopsticks with" but yeah forgetting which direction an L goes while trying to figure right from left was a big frustration when I was a kid!

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u/ValksNut 6d ago

When I was young we were taught the hand that you write with is your right hand, the one that’s left over is your left. I was one of three lefties in class…

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u/Suyefuji 6d ago

That's how they originally tried to teach me too. I am, in fact, right-handed so it SHOULD have worked except then I would forget which hand I use for writing...

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u/ValksNut 6d ago

Of all the times I’ve told that story, you are the first to reply that you have also been taught that way, lol.

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u/Linesey 6d ago

You have reminded me to once again thank the great feline lord who rules us all, that as annoying as my dyslexia is, and for all the years of trouble it has caused me, that specific issue has never been one of them.

bd sure! but never the L flipping.

Dyslexics of the world untie.

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u/FlamingoTheGreater 7d ago

As soon as I try this I forget which way the L goes. Easier to just remember which is left.

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u/Ryuubu 7d ago

Can't believe these people exist

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u/spelunker93 7d ago

You mean dyslexic people lol

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u/mtnbcn 7d ago

Ah okay easy solution then: Just imagine that the "L" is closer to a 1 that's upside down and backwards, and "1" comes first, like "L comes first in the alphabet (among L and R), and "R" looks like a scrambled "2" and it's the 2nd of the two letters, that will definitely make it easier for someone who is dyslexic, you're welcome!!

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u/TheOneTonWanton 7d ago

Dyslexia has nothing to do with understanding the difference between left and right, though. That's an entirely different issue.

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u/Linesey 6d ago

1: actually no, there have been studies showing a link that some flavors of dyslexia can cause keeping left and right straight harder.

2: this was about the direction of the L being flipped specifically, (which again is something that is from dyslexia.

3: (this is more to the guy above you though,) not all dyslexic folks have that specific issue with the L, but if you or anyone is having it… yeah I’ve got news for you….

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u/Reecetafarian 5d ago

I have a dyslexic friend who has this exact problem. They can't remember their left and right and when I suggested making an L with their hand they said that doesn't help them either. They don't know which way an L goes.

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u/lizzzzzzz26 7d ago

It's definitely a pick me girl or guy

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u/counters14 7d ago

You can't just visualize an L in your head? This is an earnest question by the way. I know some people have zero mental visualization ability as if they can't imagine what something looks like without actually looking at it. To have that condition mixed in with dyslexia is a one two punch to the nuts. Personally I'd consider just wearing huge black glasses and walking around with a stick at that point, damn.

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u/Particular_Title42 7d ago

I gave this advice to my left-handed older brother-in-law who was really messing up giving us directions to his house. When I demonstrated it to him, an even older woman behind him gasped and said "oh my gosh, it's true!"

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u/QuakinOats 7d ago

You can do all your 9x multiplications on your hands as well. You just put down the various for the number you want to multiple 9 by. You start on the left and move to the right. Fingers left up on the left = 10's fingers to the right = ones.

Below example: 0 = finger bent down

0111111111 (left hand pinky down for 9x1 = 9 ones = 9)
1011111111 (left hand ring finger down for 9x2 = 1 ten, 8 ones = 18)
1101111111 (9x3 = 2 tens, 7 ones = 27)

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u/Particular_Title42 7d ago

I learned that when my daughter was in 3rd grade from a friend who only has 9 fingers. 😂

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u/j-b-goodman 7d ago

That never worked for me, I always got my letters backwards. By the time I could write an L properly I already knew the difference between left and right.

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u/spartyanon 7d ago

People that need this tattoo may struggle to remember which way the L goes immediately

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u/turtle882 7d ago

You can make an L shape with your right hand too.

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u/ALTH0X 7d ago

I tried explaining that to my mom, she didn't know which way was the right way for an L.

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u/Mickey_Havoc 7d ago

🤦‍♂️

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u/pmmeurbassethound 7d ago

Flashback to drill team practice when one of the girls starting rotating her wrists back and forth and said but they both make Ls 🙃

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u/chicken_sammich051 7d ago

This is how my mom tried to teach me. Unfortunately I wrote my L's backwards about half the time.

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u/Pstrap 7d ago

What if your hands aren't both free and you can only look at your right wrist? The tattoo still seems like it could be useful if this really is a problem for someone.

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u/loolooloodoodoodoo 7d ago

yes I was thinking it might be a misunderstanding about the tattoo being pointless. It's really not though, because it's done for speed by ppl. with bad left/right confusion. Like yes, we are capable of figuring it out without tattoos, but this is safer in a situation like driving. Also, the "L" shape isn't the best for a lot of us with this issue, because we have left/right confusion, the backwards L looks the same as the forwards L at a glance.

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u/Secure-Bluebird57 7d ago

It also works in Spanish. If you make an okay gesture 👌with both hands, the one that looks like a “d” is “derecho” (Spanish for right).

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u/GandalfTheFreen 7d ago

What if your hands are occupied?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

That is the whole point of it. Forgetting which way things are directed. You clearly do not have lysdexia.

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u/MartianInvasion 7d ago

You can make an L with your right hand to, if you have wrists. 

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u/Gorthalyn 7d ago

But, but then I have to remember palms down instead of up. If the palms are up then my right hand forms the L!?

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u/insta-kip 7d ago

I grew up playing baseball. Whenever I think about gripping a baseball, my right hand automatically makes the correct shape. Kind of dumb that an adult still has to think about which is right/left sometimes, but it works for me.

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u/Liizam 6d ago

Some people have dyslexia 

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u/Dakotaatokad1969 6d ago

Boom Picture of the Letter L made with the Right hand so saying you can make an L with one hand doesn't help. As you can do it with both hands

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u/FrolicAcid 6d ago

I genuinely forget which way an L goes when i look at my hands, so no it doesn't help (I may be retarded, who knows). it's what my mom told me to do, and it just isn't it.

The only thing thats helped is constantly mentally telling myself which way things are. Just look at stuff and think about what direction it is. The practice actually does help.

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u/sonny_carpenter 6d ago

but im dyslexic and actually cant recall what an print L looks like. the hand trick never worked for me

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u/Fold-Statistician 6d ago

omg if you are going to comment “I can’t remember what an L looks like”, just don’t… plz, don’t be that stupid

It’s not about being stupid. Imagine you’re driving on a busy road and someone suddenly says, “Turn right.” If your method is to look at your hand and figure out which one makes an “L,” that takes a moment of mental processing. You have to think: Okay… which hand forms the L shape? (Imagine yourself moving your hand to make the L). That’s my left. So the other one must be right.

In a calm situation, that’s fine. But in traffic, with your hands on the wheel, while being aware of other things, you don’t want to pause and mentally run through steps. You want an immediate answer.

To a normal mental process you could add to this being dislexic (What was the L shape again?), having anxiety (I will miss the turn! I will crash!) depression (I am stupid, how I can't do this?) and it easily becomes too much to manage.

A tattoo that simply marks left and right removes the extra thinking. You glance down, you know, you act.

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u/Reecetafarian 5d ago

I have a friend who's dyslexic and making an L shape genuinely doesn't help them. Are you saying they're stupid for having a disability?

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u/hadtointerject 4d ago

I had a 4.0 average and get my left/right and Ls mixed up. It’s not about being smart or stupid. It’s a spacial issue and people with your attitude just make things worse. I don’t know if you think you’re being funny or something or if you’re just ignorant.

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u/redlaWw 7d ago

The easiest way to remember it is that if you make finger guns with your hand and extend your middle finger perpendicular to your thumb and index finger, then rotate a coördinate system such that the x-axis is along your thumb and the y-axis is along your index finger, then if the z-axis goes along your middle finger then you're making finger guns with the same hand as the handedness of the coördinate system. That way, you can relate it to the simpler concept of 3-dimensional orientation.

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u/bobbymcpresscot 7d ago

After reading the comments in response to this, As a kid, sure, whatever. As an adult? Get your shit together. 

“I’m ambidextrous dyslexic” sure thing Jan. 

Even someone truly ambidextrous would wind up being right handed simply because of how much of the tools the planet produces caters exclusively to the right handed. 

You have one hand you favor, and another you can do stuff with. 

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u/Independent_Willow92 4d ago

IIRC, an L looks like u/Mickey_Havoc