# What is the coolest-looking written language?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coolest-looking-written-language/684358>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 23, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coolest-looking-written-language/684358 "2014-03-23T14:22:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coolest-looking-written-language/684358/61 "2014-03-30T13:32:02Z")

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Wow, Cherokee is fascinating!

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**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coolest-looking-written-language/684358/62 "2014-03-31T14:30:54Z")

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What’s funny is that so many of these scripts would lose much of their artistic impact if one could read them. It seems like there’s a tradeoff between pure aesthetic appeal and symbolic meaning. The more one gains of the latter, the more one loses of the former.

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**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coolest-looking-written-language/684358/63 "2014-03-31T20:40:12Z")

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> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> What’s funny is that so many of these scripts would lose much of their artistic impact if one could read them. It seems like there’s a tradeoff between pure aesthetic appeal and symbolic meaning. The more one gains of the latter, the more one loses of the former.

That may be true. The two languages I can read use the same alphabet.

I wonder if anyone who can read non-Latin alphabets/scripts would be willing to weigh in here.

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coolest-looking-written-language/684358/64 "2014-04-01T03:22:47Z")

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I can read Thai but don’t think it loses its artistic impact because I can.

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