Why some people say "left" when they mean "right"?

Question

This happens to someone I know. She tends to diametrically transpose concepts. Instead of "up," she would say "down;" instead of "cold," she would say "hot," etc. I have checked medical manuals, and the closest thing they come up with is "dyslexia," but I don't think "dyslexia" applies here. I'd appreciate your input.
Thanks.
G.

Answer 1

my husband and grand daughter are dyslexia and they reverse the gender of people and animals he, she, him, her, and yes they do the same thing with up and down. they have dyslexia speech. If you don`t know the person they can be hard to understand. My husband is to old to get any help he is 70 but my grand daughter is 23 and she is still working on improving her speech. I love them both and their eyes dance when they smile. and they are so funny and really intelligent.

Answer 2

I can't answer for your friend.
I can tell you what happens with me, and why I believe I do it.

I continually mix-up my east and west directions.
For the first half of my life, I lived where the mountains were to the east, and the flat ocean was to the west.
Now, for the second half of my life I have lived with mountains to the west and the flat plains to the east.
This is something I say when asked directions, or when reading signs. But what I realize I need to do is to double-check my directions before acting on it.

For right and left, I fall back on my days as a child taking piano lessons - the deeper tones were on my left, and the higher tones were on my right.