Is there a word for mistaking left from right (and vice versa)?

Dyslexic? Welcome aBoard.

Dyslexia is an inability to recognize and comprehend written words. There may be some problems with distinguishing left from right but it's not a prime meaning of the word. I think we need another candidate.

The only term I could find is right-left confusion, which makes immediate sense and is easier to remember than some Graeco-Latinate neologism. I also found a discussion (in the context of autism / aspergers) but only of the condition and solutions not terminology. I did find a whole slew of neurological disorders terms, though: e.g., anomia, agraphia, alexia, (I already knew of dyslexia and aphasia).

searching for anomia brought up some fun old threads. good times.

Dave that's really a good question and one I have long wondered about though I don't have the patience to search through

http://onelook.com/?w=*&loc=revfp2&clue=right-left+confusion

though I think the hyphen in that search algorithm probably excludes "left", no?

Aha, that's news to me, Buff, then I presume OneLook must consider the hyphen as a minus sign. I am mystified by the digital world and all its algorithmic convolutions but thanks for warning me, I shall desist from the practice

I know it does in, say, Google, but only if there's a space in front of it. If it is between two words it's supposed to restrict the search to looking for instances where the two words are right next to each other.

good thought, Faldage, perhaps dale will test it.

I checked it out. Onelook treats the hyphen as just another character. A search for -ology gave me hits for -ology.

interesting. thanks for the speedy leg work, dash.

Left-right agnosia

Aww, c'mon, doc. Doncha have some faincy Greek way of saying the 'left-right' part? I mean, if you don't like mixing Greek and Latin roots you could call it levo-dextro agnosia but that's sure to raise the hackles of some of those famous grammar zombies.

Somehow this evoques an image of an army marching out of tune.