Writing & Scripts

The Scribe’s Shortcut: A History of the Tilde (~)

That familiar squiggle, the tilde (~), is more than just a decoration on the Spanish 'ñ' or a casual emoji.…

5 months ago

The Vai Script: A Dreamed-Up Alphabet

In the 1830s, an illiterate Vai man in West Africa named Momolu Duwalu Bukele had a vivid dream where he…

5 months ago

The Scribe’s Mistake: Errors in Medieval Texts

Before the printing press, every book was a handmade original, and every scribe made mistakes. Far from being mere blemishes,…

5 months ago

10 Endangered Scripts to Watch in 2025

Long before a language falls silent, its unique writing system can fade into obscurity. This post explores ten beautiful and…

5 months ago

Pen vs. Pixel: Why Handwriting Boosts Memory

Ever wonder why you recall handwritten notes better than typed ones? The answer lies not in nostalgia, but in neuroscience.…

5 months ago

Why Your Doctor’s Handwriting Is So Bad: A Study

We've all squinted at a doctor's prescription, wondering if it's a note or a secret code. But is this infamous…

5 months ago

From Thought to Ink: The Neurology of Handwriting

Ever marvel at how a fleeting thought transforms into ink on a page? This article delves into the incredible neurology…

5 months ago

Clay, Papyrus, Vellum: How Writing Surfaces Shaped Language

Before keyboards or even paper, the very material a scribe wrote on dictated our linguistic conventions. From the wedge-shaped efficiency…

5 months ago

The Invention of Silence: When Words Got Spaces

For centuries, Western texts were written as an unbroken wall of letters, a practice known as scriptio continua. The simple…

5 months ago

How the Printing Press Created Standard German

Before the printing press, the "German language" was a chaotic tapestry of regional dialects. This all changed when Martin Luther…

5 months ago

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