Holding pens differently or similar quirks

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Following on from the other pen thread (as I am apparently obsessed-joke)...

I write holding my pen the wrong way. I have my little finger at the bottom and index finger at the top. I was given a triangular device to try and "cure" me at school. I rebelled and automatically write like this although I can write normally if I think about it and it is neater, if slower. I think this is unusual (you may prove me wrong though)!

Does anyone else do this, or do any common everyday tasks a bit differently?

I tie my shoelaces very different from other people. I actually find it to be quite an elegant way of doing it (and most others agree with me on it). I have no idea how to explain it, though. Like you, I was very stubborn on the issue, and my parents quickly gave up on making me do it the "right" way.

I used to write with the paper turned sideways, like this:



So not only would the text be sideways to my vision when I was writing, I was also writing "up" the lines on the paper. I know that a lot of people tilt the paper a little when writing, but this was tilted fully sideways, and my head wasn't tilted at all. I don't do it anymore, but I got so used to it years ago that I could do it now if someone asked me to do it.

People have told me that I hold my knife and fork awkwardly. I think its normal.

I think I may know what you are talking about....and I used to do it, but then I got tired of teachers and classmates correcting me every 5 seconds....so, I fixed it.

I hold my chopsticks differently from the standard method stated in Western etiquette books, but I still manage to get my noodles where they are supposed to go.

I thought there was something wrong with me for not following the standard method, until I was on a school trip and we were eating noodles for lunch. The two NT girls on either side of me (one from China and the other from Vietnam) were also holding their chopsticks the same way. From that moment I realised that if my method works, I shouldn't worry too much.

I hold my writing utensils between my index and middle fingers.

not just pens; almost everything that's usually held between the fingers (as opposed to clenched in the fist).
this goes up to carrying a soda bottle, for example, which i place on my hand, and then position along the back of my under-arm, but i do the same with knifes; if i carry one from the rack to the table to cut something (not only butterknifes, but also the large cooks ones).
i have had comments that i 'wielded' the knife as if i was planning to sneak up and kill someone...

I found out last week that when I thought I was holding a pen normally, that is also not quite right! I thought I had a normal NT pen hold when I made the effort.
Oh well

Honestly, I have no idea how to hold a pen. I believe, but do not know for certain, that I apply too much pressure and that my hand is too far down, meaning my fingers get a little inky sometimes. But, that's the only position that feels somewhat natural.

Instead of holding my pen/pencil between my index and middle, I hold it between my middle and ring finger, with the pen directly on the ring finger. My daughter writes the same exact way, I never knew that until I asked her a moment ago.

I was always told by my teachers that I held my pencil/pen "weird", "diffrent", "odd", "strange", etc. It was the way my mom (whom probably has AS herself) taught me.

I hold pens and pencils and markers and stuff wrong. I hold my forks and spoons and knives in fists, and I don't hold chopsticks right among a lot of other things, but they all work and I don't care if it's wrong because it feels better than the ways they try to make me do all of it. I also hold things weird a lot when I'm trying to open things like zippers and bags, I'll use my thumb and pointer to grasp it unless I'm thinking hard, then I'll do it "properly"

I remember it was VERY hard for me to learn how to properly hold a spoon or fork. When we moved to Texas, we went to this Asian restruant all the time and chopsticks were very easy for me to use. I actualy perfered using them becuase I thought the food tasted better when eaten with wooden chopsticks as opposed to a metal fork. It could have something to do with me being older and already mastering basic motor skills by that time, or perhaps chopsticks are just easier to use than western utensils. I wonder if kids who grow up in Asia have a hard time learning how to use chopsticks, but find it easy to master cumbersome western utensils.

As a kid, I had definite issues with this. I remember having one of those soft plastic modified pencil grippers...which actually worked and corrected my grip as I found the material so sensorily pleasing.

The special ed team did not have my sensory needs in mind while providing that accomodation, but it was one of those things were I enjoyed the feeling so much that it was enough to teach me how to do something correctly.

When I was in school, I was told that I held my pencil "weird". In a different thread here on WP, I posted a pic of me holding a pencil, and another poster informed me that the way I hold pencils is common amongst people with long fingers (which I do indeed possess). So among those with average-length fingers I am a weirdo, but among fellow people with long fingers I am in the norm.