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xkcd #2912: Cursive Letters
(imgs.xkcd.com)
Alt text:
๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ด ๐ฌ๐ช๐น๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ช๐ต ๐ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐น๐ป๐ธ๐ซ๐ช๐ซ๐ต๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ธ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ฏ๐พ๐ท ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ, ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ธ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฌ๐ช๐ผ๐ฎ ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ช๐ต๐ผ๐ธ ๐ช ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ป๐ธ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ๐ฎ๐ป.
Looking at this, while there is some overlap, it's very apparent that US cursive is not the same as Swedish cursive. E.g. lower case x starting from the top? O_O
Idk about "very" apparent, though.
I'm Finnish and we have much the same alphabet, and our cursive is derived from the same as the Swedish one, which is Neo-Gothic cursive, which does do the X from top down, as do we Finns.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/D%27Nealian_Cursive.svg/300px-D%27Nealian_Cursive.svg.png
I did check the Swedish one and it is weird you do it differently.
But how do you you even write it when starting top left? Do you just write it as a backslash and then go back and add the second stroke once the word is finished? Or do you do some convoluted thing where you go in every direction while perfectly retracing your old strokes, to draw the whole thing in one go?
Same as with dotting i's or crossing t's, really.
I often found that pictures speak louder than words, and it's pictured in my earlier link.
Okay. And yeah, now that you mention it, I see that there are some tiny symbols there. ๐ It's funny how every time I hear about cursive writing online it always sounds as if it's one single thing that's the same everywhere, but it isn't. Oh, and also in our cursive, we don't go back to cross t's, because that's part of the character from the beginning.
I think you're looking at the uppercase x. The lowercase x is just below that and the stroke starts at the bottom left.
No, I'm looking at the lowercase one. I don't understand why it comes in at bottom left but goes to top left before starting the letter.
When you have a letter that finishes at the bottom (like n in the word manx), the x starts at the bottom left and then rises to form the first downward stroke just like in the printed x. If you have a letter that finishes at the top like o, the x stroke doesn't start at the bottom. See the sample below in the word fox
Yes, I gathered. I was just wondering what the reason is for starting the x at the top, when it's easier, imo, to do as we do and start at the bottom.
That's interesting I've just realized that when I write x I start at the bottom left if I'm writing it normal but in the top left if doing cursive.
Huh.
We were taught to start all capital letters at the top and all lowercase letters (as they need to be connected) in the bottom left (or just left for some like v, that don't really have a bottom left).
Particularly for x, they said we might as well learn to start x from bottom left when printing as well, because then it'll be consistent with the cursive, but I find that when given the choice, I'm more naturally drawn to go top left to bottom right and then top right to bottom left, so that's what I do when not writing cursive.
Edit: See my other comment for the cursive we were taught.