# Something you never think about **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2000, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150 "2000-03-23T05:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea666f/32.png) [@Lor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lor)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/1 "2000-03-23T05:40:00Z")
Thanks for all the replies to my “maiden” posting, gang! Now I have a rather silly question. I’ve noticed that when I write a zero, the letter O or circle something, I always start at the bottom of the loop. That is, at “six o’clock”, whereas everyone else I know seems to start at the top, or “twelve o’clock”. Am I the only person in the world who does this? I’m beginning to think so, since I’ve met many people from all over the world at my workplace, and none of them do it, either. I wouldn’t normally think this significant, except I once read that the way a person writes the letter O may indicate that he/she was originally a left-hander and might have been “forced” to become right-handed by some evil grade-school teacher who hated lefties. I swear, that’s what the article said! What about it, group? ---
**Author:** ![Steve-o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Steve-o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve-o)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/2 "2000-03-23T05:49:00Z")
I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard the same thing about forced “lefties to righties”. ---
**Author:** ![LucyVanPelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c6cbf5/32.png) [@LucyVanPelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LucyVanPelt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/3 "2000-03-23T05:49:00Z")
I never thought about it before but turns out I start at 10 o’clock and go clockwise, I am left-handed. My husband who is right-handed starts at 11 o’clock and goes counter clockwise. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/4 "2000-03-23T05:50:00Z")
Dunno. I start at 12 o’clock, but I’ve always been right handed. Well, mostly. Do you draw them clockwise or widdershins? I do the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Steve-o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Steve-o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve-o)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/5 "2000-03-23T07:16:00Z")
12 o’clock then counter here. ---
**Author:** ![pmh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@pmh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmh)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/6 "2000-03-23T08:12:00Z")
While reading the first paragraph of the OP, I was going to ask if you were left-handed. I work with two lefties and they are the only people I have ever seen write that way. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/7 "2000-03-23T12:49:00Z")
Well isn’t the reason most people go counter clockwise is that’s how cursive writing is generally taught ? Think about writing the letters ‘a’ and ‘o’ in cursive. You go to the top and then drop back down in a counter clockwise motion completing the circle back at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/8 "2000-03-23T15:27:00Z")
Well, you’re right – I’ve never thought about this before, but I, too, start at the bottom of the loop when I print. Cursive O’s start at the top. I’m right-handed. I should mention that I learned to print (long) before first grade, and proceeded to ignore all the worksheets that tried to teach us the “correct” way to form the letters. I think most people start at the top because that’s what they’ve been taught to do. ---
**Author:** ![quadell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/b9bd4f/32.png) [@quadell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quadell)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/9 "2000-03-24T06:14:00Z")
I’ve always been a righty, and I go from 6 o’clock, clockwise. I start almost all my letters and numbers from the bottom. It’s just how I learned to write. (I wrote an anonymous letter once in high school, and I was found out pretty quickly because of my O’s.) And no, I’d never met anyone else who wrote this way. Your Quadell ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/10 "2000-03-24T06:26:00Z")
I am right handed, start at 8 oclock and go clockwise… am I a freak??? ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/11 "2000-03-23T19:03:00Z")
For letters and numbers requiring a vertical stroke, I will alternate starting at the top or bottom, depending on where my pen ended up after the preceeding letter. This used to horrify my Mother. I’m also the rightie who plays guitar left-handed. For Os: 12 o’clock and counter-clockwise. * * * “The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord ---
**Author:** ![InutilisVisEst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@InutilisVisEst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InutilisVisEst)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/12 "2000-03-23T23:38:00Z")
Since (per the OP) I never think about it, I wrote a little and watched what the pencil did. It seems that there’s good reason to assume most people would start at the top when drawing a circle. Put your pencil (not pen; you’ll see why) on paper and immediately move it away from you. If the pencil’s sharp, you’ll likely snag the paper surface. If instead your initial stroke is downward, you’ve had a chance to experience some force feedback by the time you get to the snag-prone upward stroke of a circle. Do it fast, you’ll see. By the end of the circle, your contact with the paper tends to be lighter – many people’s o’s don’t even close at the top because the pencil has left the page. As a bonus, you’ve smoothed out a flat portion on the pencil lead so it’ll glide rather than catch. Obviously some folks learned to make an initial upward stroke, but perhaps they weren’t allowed sharp pencils as young’ns… 😉 Another theory: As you lift the pencil (or pen, this time!) away from the paper to go on to the next letter, the tip naturally moves away from you. It’s thus smoother to start at the top of the next letter. BTW, I’m 11-CCW as well. * * * I lead a boring life of relative unimportance. Really. ---
**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/13 "2000-03-24T00:04:00Z")
I’m left-handed, and make my zeroes starting at 12 o’clock and going clockwise. However, I do all of my writing with the paper tilted 90 degrees to the right (so that the “top” of the page is near my right hand). Given that, I guess from a global point of view I’m starting at 3 o’clock. (People tell me that I’m the only left-hander they’ve ever seen who writes with his paper turned 90 degrees that way. It’s just always seemed to make sense to me to write that way, as I’m not dragging my writing hand over the stuff I’ve already written.) ---
**Author:** ![Lor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea666f/32.png) [@Lor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lor)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2000, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/14 "2000-03-25T03:47:00Z")
Oops, forgot to mention I go CCW when printing, clockwise with cursive. But now I feel much better to know that there’s one person (Fretful Porpentine) who also starts at 6 o’clock. I was starting to think I was alien or something. I’m right-handed, and according to my mom, I always have been. By the way, Fretful, nice monicker! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Melin\_s\_Advocate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Melin\_s\_Advocate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melin_s_Advocate)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2000, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/15 "2000-03-25T06:45:00Z")
I write o’s in uncial calligraphy format, using 1 stroke starting at about 10 o’clock and a 2nd strok starting at about 2 o’clock. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2000, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/16 "2000-03-25T09:05:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m also the rightie who plays guitar left-handed. Hey, I do this too! Not that I play guitar, but you know. The tennis racquet. And I throw with my left hand. And I’ve held a rifle a few times and that was left handedly too. But I’m a righty. And I do my circles from the top, anti-clockwise. * * * [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - **Shadow of the Pigeon** - Weirdo of the Night ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/17 "2000-03-25T14:11:00Z")
You wanna hear weird? I somehow got stuck into the habit of making my lowercase “e” by first writing a lowercase “c” and then going back and adding the rest. I somehow did this perfectly enough in grade school so that my teacher didn’t notice and bust my chops for it. But now in adulthood, I sometimes get sloppy with it and its obvious that I make my “e” with two strokes. I better not ever have to write a ransom note! ---
**Author:** ![ASPA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@ASPA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASPA)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-never-think-about/9150/18 "2000-03-25T20:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Lor: > …he/she was originally a left-hander and might have been “forced” to become right-handed… I swear, that’s what the article said! What about it, group?\*\* Yes, the described approach to penship is not only said to be an indication of this, but is found to be the case in every instance where I’ve tested it—I mean asked someone I saw writing this way. The real peculiar thing is the way the writing instrument is held while writing—whether one is writing the zero bottom-up or “uniquely” writing another character. Teachers used to demand that left-handers position themselves as right-handers, resulting in a rather contorted attempt to make the left hand mirror the position of right-handers while jotting.