# Girl handwriting?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-handwriting/78306>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 27, 2001, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-handwriting/78306 "2001-08-27T11:38:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-handwriting/78306/21 "2001-08-28T06:34:52Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mudshark2911 \*  
> \*\*I don’t think it has anything to do with gender or anything. I think that it has to do with who taught you how to write. I am a guy and my printing is similar to my grandfather’s (somewhat sloppy) and he is the one who taught me how to print. My grandmother taught me how to write cursive and I have almost identical cursive writing (fast scribble) to her. \*\*

I dunno… My sister started teaching me to read when I was three, and I taught _myself_ to print by imitating printed books. I still print that way… (For example, when a lower case “g” is two circles joined by a small line.) I refused to modify my writing habits while I was in school, because it was already ingrained habit.

**But:** Nobody can tell my cursive script from my brother’s. Not even me, when enough time has passed. I think it’s genetic.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-handwriting/78306/22 "2001-08-28T08:13:10Z")

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Being a bit of an armchair grapholigist, let me chime in here.

From the recent literature I’ve read, sex is NOT one of the characteristics that can be assessed through handwriting analysis, at least not accurately. Handedness is also another characteristic that can’t really be identified (unless there’s ink smears and stuff.) Both left- and right-handers demonstrate the same sloping tendencies: 70% slope characters right, 20% vertical and 10% left.

What a grapholigist would argue, I would imagine, is that the rounded letters represent personality traits in the individual writing them. Rounded letters are generally associated with gregarious, amiable, relaxed individuals. Sharp, pointy letters would be associated more with an agressive or energetic individual. The physical reason for this would be simply that if you’re tense, if pretty damned difficult to write rounded letters. If you’re muscles are relaxed, you’re more likely to write rounded.

Hence, the people with the loopy writing generally are the bubbly, friendly type - at least I’ve found this to be generally true through my experience. Or you can also surmise that people who write bubbly and neat are very concerned about the impression they are making. They want to write legibly and beautifully.

Just some thoughts.

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