Handwriting

Handwriting refers to a person's unique style of writing characters created with a writing utensil such as a pen or pencil. Handwriting is separate from calligraphy or typeface. Because each person's handwriting is unique, it can be used to verify a document's writer. The deterioration of a person's handwriting is also a symptom or result of certain diseases.

Charles Elliot's handwriting to Clara Elliot

Gandhi's handwriting (Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru, 30 September 1925)

Uniqueness of handwriting

Each person's handwriting is unique. Even identical twins write differently.^[1] A person's handwriting is also relatively stable and changes little over time.^{[citation needed]}

Characteristics of handwriting include:

• specific shape of letters, e.g. their roundness or sharpness
• regular or irregular spacing between letters
• the slope of the letters
• the rhythmic repetition of the elements or arrhythmia
• the pressure to the paper
• the average size of letters

Handwriting in history

Cultural differences in handwriting

Machine recognition of handwriting

Uses of handwriting samples

Because handwriting is relatively stable, a change in the handwriting can be indicative of the nervousness or intoxication of the writer.^{[citation needed]}

A sample of a person's writing can be compared to that of a written document to determine and authenticate the written document's writer; if the writing styles match, it is likely that one person wrote both documents.

Graphology

Graphology is the pseudoscientific^[2][3] study and analysis of handwriting in relation to human psychology. Graphology has been used in the medical field as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system, though such use is very highly controversial. ^{[citation needed]}

Bad handwriting

Handwriting that is hard to read or unreadable due to the deformity, or illegibility of characters is commonly called worst.

A common stereotype is that doctors have bad handwriting. According to Time, doctors' sloppy handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually.^[4] However, D. Berwick and D. Winickoff showed that "the handwriting of doctors was no less legible than that of non-doctors" and that "significantly lower legibility than average was associated with being an executive and being male".^[5]

There is evidence that individuals who have ADHD tend to have poorer handwriting compared to their peers.^[6]

Bad handwriting can also be a symptom or result of a disease^{[citation needed]}. For example, those with dopamine-responsive dystonia sometimes exhibit a deterioration of handwriting legibility, beginning in childhood and gradually worsening with time.

See also

• Penmanship
• Calligraphy
• Cursive
• Block letters
• Signature

References