I’ve been journaling for over 15 years.
But when I came across my old notepads recently, my amusement went beyond the variation of my moods/concerns over the years.
I was struck by something more interesting: the change in my penmanship.
My handwriting had gone from hurried scribbles to faux italics to intentional cursive.
Its most recent version? My lettering seemed to carry a whiff of nonchalance as I made the strokes on a blank page. It’s almost as though I knew the words would come out pretty and so with the faint air of arrogance, I’d write. Somehow, despite this, there was also a certain level of directness as I pressed in the ink firmly, valuing precision as I’d exaggerate the descender of my letter “y”.
How did we, as a specie, start to write in the first place — especially as we were oral for a significant portion of history?
The origins of writing are attributed to several ancient civilisations, such as Egypt, in 3200 BCE. Using hieroglyphic writing of pictorial symbols representing objects and concepts, the ancient Egyptians recorded everything from religious texts and royal decrees to everyday transactions.
Soon enough, writing became commonplace.
But it wasn’t until 1622 when the concept called graphology was popularised by Camillo Baldi, an Italian doctor. The idea that our handwriting could identify physiological and psychological problems was revolutionary.
How an upright slant may mean openness and extroversion while its backward counterpart could be linked to introversion. Or how a smaller handwriting may mean a desire for privacy while its larger form may mean a need for attention or confidence.
Unfortunately, although a romantic sentiment, graphology has been tagged a pseudoscience.
There I was thinking my perfect ampersand reflected my character: that is, understated elegance, tact, and a dry sense of humour (all in that order).1
In any case, maybe no one cares. I mean don’t we mostly just write digitally these days?
S/O to my sisters and friends who oblige my random requests, such as a 11:33pm stroke (pun intended) of idea to write on a piece of paper and text it to me so I could make the collage above.
Sorta kinda joking. Or maybe not.