# What Are Your Handwriting Quirks? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409 "2023-02-07T01:56:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/1 "2023-02-07T01:56:17Z")
Inspired by [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-a-letter-o/978940/61). I use the capital N and capital R instead of lowercase. The reason is that my handwriting is borderline illegible under the best of circustances, and my lowercase r’s and lowercase n’s would be indistinguilshable from one another. So my written first name looks like this: AaRoN. [Obligatory joke reference](https://youtu.be/Dd7FixvoKBw?t=133). My written number four does not look like this: 4. The northwestern stroke is vertical. I haven’t written in cursive in probably 30 years (I was born in 1970). What are your writing quirks? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/2 "2023-02-07T02:05:17Z")
I can barely write these days after so many years of using a keyboard. When I do try it, I misspell words, which is really annoying. I’ve ruined any number of greeting cards because of it. About the only writing (printing) I do is the crossword puzzles, and that’s all in caps for some reason. In any event, the arthritis in my right thumb is so bad that holding a pen for very long becomes too painful. I actually never learned to hold a pencil properly. My fingers were always very long when I was young, so it was easier for me to hold a pencil between my middle and third fingers instead of the normal way. It made for less than perfect handwriting and also for getting yelled at by teachers. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/3 "2023-02-07T02:21:23Z")
I hope by “handwriting” you don’t mean cursive. It’s been 40 years since I last tried that and I can’t imagine it’s any better than my Chinese. I’ve never studied Chinese. As to using a pen on paper not cursively, I generally use mostly uppercase plus a few lower-case letters. And no, you have no chance of decoding my most careful penmanship. Much less my typical scribble. Probably my most notable oddity is that my 8s are made by two counter-clockwise circles one below the other. Not some complicated S-like thingy. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/4 "2023-02-07T02:24:01Z")
All my capital letters that begin a sentence are not cursive. My o’s always have loops and are open. Analysis says this means I lie but am…open about it? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/5 "2023-02-07T02:40:05Z")
I use both the a and the a that looks like an o with a stick on the right side. [These two.](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/416414/whats-the-proper-way-to-handwrite-a-lowercase-letter-a) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/6 "2023-02-07T02:47:51Z")
When I was in approximately seventh grade, I tried to come up with a cute cursive style. What can I say, it seemed important at the time. Since then, I don’t complete loops or connect all letters. It’s very legible though. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/7 "2023-02-07T03:13:49Z")
I cross my zeds and sevens. My r’s look like r’s instead of pi. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/8 "2023-02-07T03:39:15Z")
My handwriting is at times identical to my late father’s. Enough so that at a job I had at a company where he was a supplier, co-workers thought we were playing tricks by my handwriting his letters to them. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/9 "2023-02-07T06:08:11Z")
My cursive and my printing are both pretty illegible, but the cursive is next-level. There was a time I could form moderately respectable cursive letters, but like @Dung_Beetle I also developed a “cuter” style when I was in 7th grade. That phase lasted long enough to permanently drive the knowledge of how to form the cursive capitals I, Q, and Z out of my memory, and I have to print those letters. As I age, I also get worse and worse about adding extra loops to my e’s and n’s, which is especially unfortunate because I have 2 n’s and an e in my signature. ---
**Author:** ![cincinnatus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cincinnatus/32/7990_2.png) [@cincinnatus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cincinnatus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/10 "2023-02-07T09:57:01Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > my most notable oddity is that my 8s are made by two counter-clockwise circles one below the other I got that. Most times with 9s, too. > [@Balthisar](#): > > I cross my zeds And this. Sometimes 3s have a flat top with an angular downstroke and finished with a round bottom open circle. Sometimes they are open Os top and bottom. I haven’t used cursive for so many decades I have to draw it slowly, too slowly to actually use it to write. Except my signature. Pure cursive, but nobody can read it. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/11 "2023-02-07T11:19:07Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I cross my zeds and sevens. Where I live it would be a quirk if you _didn’t_ cross your zeds and sevens. I write my one as a simple vertical line and locals are always complaining, in all sincerity, that they have no idea what digit that is. Over here it’s more usual to write a one not just with a vertical line but with a long diagonal stroke that extends from the top of the vertical line downward and the left, at least halfway to the baseline. Some people extend the line all the way to the baseline, making a 1 looks almost like an upside-down V. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/12 "2023-02-07T11:29:32Z")
I write with the paper turned horizontally – moving my hand towards me as I progress along the line. Almost a necessity, being a lefty in a world of school desks designed for right handers. I can still write in cursive with considerable speed, but mostly print for legibility. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/13 "2023-02-07T12:37:38Z")
Like Chefguy, I hardly write at all these days. And greeting cards intimidate me cause I screw them up. I’m on a keyboard all day long. Typing was one of the most useful courses I took in high school. I’ve been printing, all upper case since about 7th grade. I hated my cursive, it looked like shit, so I said screw it and started printing. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/14 "2023-02-07T12:42:16Z")
My mother had beautiful hand writing. But as the years progressed, it got worse and worse to the point of barely being legible. I’m going through her estate now, and just trying to puzzle out her password cheat sheet is an almost insurmountable task. Passwords don’t give you any context to help figure out what they are. ---
**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:** [February 7, 2023, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/15 "2023-02-07T12:50:06Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > My written number four does not look like this: 4. The northwestern stroke is vertical. So you have an “open” 4 instead of a closed one? I don’t think that’s a quirk at all. That’s how we were taught at least. Most people I know write it that way. My quirks are: my printed “a” is a double-story a, so it has that little hat, like it does in this font. My printed capital E is rounded, so looks like a backwards 3. I cross my 7s and Zs. I make my "th"s ligatures, so the cross from the “t” goes straight into a looped “h” instead of being two separate letters. ^That’s all for printing. For cursive, there’s probably too many ways I stray from the Palmer Method we were taught to enumerate. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/16 "2023-02-07T14:41:03Z")
Another thought. Some of my handwriting quirks are from my days working as a framer. You end up writing a lot of numbers on wood. Usually very large font. My 2 is a Z. My 8 is a Z with a \ added to it to close it up. It’s all because of the wood grain that you write on. Hard to draw a curve. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/17 "2023-02-07T14:44:16Z")
I put a line through my Z’s, my Zeroes, and my 7’s. It’s not really in an effort to clarify and reduce ambiguity. It’s more an affectation to try to look worldly and urbane. It … hasn’t been working. (For decades, my ‘handwriting’ has been ALL CAPS and block letters. It used to be mistaken for typewritten, it was that good. It’s only mostly legible at this point.) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/18 "2023-02-07T15:03:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > So you have an “open” 4 instead of a closed one? I don’t think that’s a quirk at all. That’s how we were taught at least. Most people I know write it that way. I’m not sure if 4 is the result of typeface, and most people _write_ it open, or if some write it closed. It’s been five decades since I learned to write my numbers, and these days I rarely see the printed (on ink and paper) writing of anyone I know. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/19 "2023-02-07T15:06:32Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I put a line through my Z’s, my Zeroes, and my 7’s. You must not be a mathemetician or work in a related field. Zero and a zero-with-a-line-through-it [mean different things](https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/null-set#:~:text=A%20null%20set%20or%20empty,denoted%20as%20%E2%88%85%20%3D%20%7B%20%7D.). ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409/20 "2023-02-07T15:40:10Z")
I like writing in cursive - it’s quicker and it looks nice. There are certain capital letters that I like to write more than others and I add a little flourish to them - B, L, J, M, and N. My capital cursive C, Q, and X are the same as the printed version. When I print, I sometimes use all caps, but other times use both caps and lower case. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-handwriting-quirks/979409.md?page=2)