There were two ways of writing the letter A, as seen in figure 1 and figure 2. I’m a non-native English speaker and I was explicitly taught to write figure 2 by my Irish teacher. However, on computers and fonts, I’ve almost never seen figure 2 actually used. In real life I notice about 75% … Read more
Argh, I’m having so much trouble figuring out how to handwrite the a’s and g’s like the computer does. I learnt on the internet that we changed them in handwriting as we were lazy, which make sense, but I now need to know how to properly handwrite them. I just can’t do it – especially … Read more
I’ve always wondered what the correct apostrophe is when using contractions. Should I use She´s happy or She’s happy? English´s a universal language. English‘s a universal language. Why do a lot of people use ´ for this, as though it were café au lait? Am I missing something here? Answer "She’s happy" uses unicode character … Read more
I use two different versions of lowercase R (often subconsciously) while writing in English for my studies. Is this something unacceptable in cases like exams or assignment submissions? No one ever complained about it, but do others also exhibit such behaviour in English handwriting? P.S. This is relevant to English handwriting practice, so I apologise … Read more
I wrote a paper. A German professor gave me some handwriting comments about it. But it’s hard for me to figure some words out since I am not a native English speaker. Can anyone help me? Thank you in advance. Answer Let me try, “General comment: The method is rather comprehensive; may be better to … Read more
I was reading the etymology for ‘come (v.)’ when I encountered: […] The substitution of Middle English -o- for Old English -u- before -m-, -n-, or -r- was a scribal habit before minims to avoid misreading the letters in the old style handwriting, which jammed letters. The practice similarly transformed some, monk, tongue, worm. Modern … Read more
I do not understand the last word. Can someone write it in plain text? Answer The last word is “Grill”, written in cursive. In this context, it means “Get out of my face” (which, in turn, means “Go away”). “Grill” is not generally a synonym for “face” — but works as a synonym in this … Read more
These days, when we use the computer for everything, it may be very difficult to find professionals who have beautiful and neat handwriting and whose work consists of using that skill. A century ago, however, such persons were easily found in all major cities. Their work consisted of writing on envelopes, invitation cards, certificates, diplomas, … Read more
I’m reading “To Rise Again at a Decent Hour” by Joshua Ferris, and the narrator/author talks about looking over the shoulder of someone studying the Bible on the subway, and noticing that there are “notes in a friar’s hand” written in it, along with highlighting and underlining. The text seems to intimate that the studier … Read more
I can write with both my hands so I am ambidextrous. But it means adept and deft in using both the hands equally. So if someone was exhibiting their skill of ambidexterity by writing something with both their hands simultaneously, what would this piece of action be called? Is there a word for it? I … Read more
