Post
Cursive Letters xkcd.com/2912
Title text: "𝓘 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓬𝓪𝓹𝓲𝓽𝓪𝓵 𝓛 𝓲𝓼 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓫𝓪𝓫𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓯𝓾𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮, 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓺 𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓼𝓸 𝓪 𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻."
Alt text: https://explainxkcd.com/2912#Transcript
Capital "q" is misplaced and incorrect.
Never seen a q written like that in my entire life
I first learned to write a Q in a way that looked a lot like a numeral 2. I sort of independently trained myself out of it because I couldn't stand it.
This is the way John Q. Adams would have written his middle initial. The modern "q" is much simplified, but Americans don't learn cursive anyway.
I was taught like this, which was always my favorite thing because I did my twos exactly the same way
Want to believe he dotted his i with the same goofy heart shape in his Q.
**Me being happy because I wanted to see the “cursive Q is dumb and looks like a 2” discourse and found it***
Then I'm sure you'll feel right at home in the "Leg-up" program!
I was also taught to write it like a 2, but ignored that advice
It's how I was taught to write it.
That's how it was taught decades ago.
Of course there is no proof that anyone used it outside of class.
I sign my name with that style of capital Q. I did learn cursive in the 1970s, to be fair.
I did, until I switched to mostly italic.
I did, until I started doing journalism, and it took took to long to write when I was taking notes on the phone.
Capital Q was changed in 1996. It used to look like a “2”. Im old and learned the old way.
That’s because you’re a young whippersnapper.
That's the way I was taught in school! It's a weird variant.
True. Mebbe ar brains ent shiny enuf?
🙋♀️ Here for the Q = 2 representation.
Yes! I noticed that immediately too, I was looking for it in the hard to tell what it is side.
but it ain't incorrect, just a different one of the oodles of cursive hands taught in different times and places
What's incorrect about it?
Today I learned that the most difficult and unsensible thing i learned in first grade (capital Q as a 2) is optional. I would complain, but all those involved in teaching me this foolishness are dead, as are the people who taught me the wrong way to hold a buggy whip.
It isn't incorrect. It is the way many of us were taught. There's not always only one way to do things.
I highly recommend the way I was taught which is:
don’t even bother making the capitals cursive
Similarly it was a happy day when the French teacher taught us that the accents become optional on capitals
I'm pretty sure that's just my doctors order for my medication wrote sideways
What I love about this letter is that it closely resembles the Cyrillic letter З з which is pronounced like Z z
It also looks quite like the letter yogh (Ȝ ȝ), which was used in Middle English and Older Scots, which had many different pronunciations, but none of them much like Z.
But the visual similarity led to Z being used as a substitute, which is why you get oddities like the Scottish name Menzies being pronounced "mingis".
You know who'd love this?
the L both claritymaxxing and coolmaxxing out there
Laverne made the cursive capital L cool.
Then Cyrillic cursive enters the room…
wait what about the Ramona Quimby "Q", looked for it exactly at the leftmost bottom corner
Ramona Quimby is canon on how to write a cursive Q.
Was that the one with the kitty-kat tail?
Try to « draw » exactly Q, without lifting your pen , going fast, and try that the result looks nice. You’ll get something close…
I can't endorse M being less cool than N
M is just N trying too hard
N is half M. A true wannabe
