Not a hard task to wrap the mind around scribbles

THE HUMAN mind is an extraordinary machine that often operates our hands and eyes in ways we’re not aware of. Most of us sit at computer keyboards for a significant part of every day, and see the numerals, 1 to 0, in front of us daily. We recognise them as standard symbols, but seldom write them the way they appear on our machines or in books and magazines.

The figure nine, for example, appears on the keyboard as an upside-down six. It has a curved tail.

Do you know anybody who writes it like that? I don’t. We all write it with a straight tail.

We write the 6 as it appears on the keyboard, but not the 9.

Then there’s the number four. On the keyboard, it appears as a right-angled triangle with two sides extended. I have never seen anybody write it like that.

We all make an “L” and put a little cross-piece on the bottom leg.

People use different ways of writing numbers and letters. I notice my financial adviser at the bank always crossed his sevens, continental style.

I wonder where he learnt to do that. Most of us just make a sort of inverted “L”.

I had a friend who wrote her ones like a squeezed shut “7”. I think that’s also the continental way of doing it. That’s also probably why the Europeans cross their sevens – to distinguish them from their squeezed-up ones.

The wonderful thing is that we all recognise each other’s symbols without a second thought.

What is even more amazing is that we read each other’s handwriting although everyone writes differently.

When I started junior school, great emphasis was placed on writing “correctly”. We filled pages and pages of neat handwriting in copy books, and our essays were judged on appearance as well as content.

Today I wonder how much that was worth. Sure, I can still wield a handsome pen if I put my mind to it, but I have no difficulty reading the spidery scrawls some people send to me.

Writing is basically a way to convey ideas and messages from one brain to another. If a scrawl does it as well as an elegant copperplate script, is there any point in learning to write neatly?

Maybe there is. Could a pleasing handwriting be the equivalent of a pretty wrapping for a gift?

Maybe it says: “I’m not just throwing an idea to you like tossing a chop-bone to a dog. I’m letting you know I’ve put some thought into it and am presenting it nicely wrapped.”

Last Laugh

Thoughts tend to become a little muddled in the pub late at night.

Fred asked his pal, Billy: “Have you seen old Frikkie recently? ““Well, yes and no.” “What do you mean by yes and no?” “You see, it’s like this: I was at the rugby at Newlands last Saturday and I thought I saw Frikkie, so I waved at him.

“He looked up and thought it was me so he waved back.

“Then, when we got closer to each other we realised it was neither of us.”