«About six months ago, I realised that I had no idea what the handwriting of a good friend of mine looked like. I had known him for over a decade, but somehow we had never communicated using handwritten notes. He had left voice messages for me, emailed me, sent text messages galore. But I don’t think I had ever had a letter from him written by hand, a postcard from his holidays, a reminder of something pushed through my letter box. I had no idea whether his handwriting was bold or crabbed, sloping or upright, italic or rounded, elegant or slapdash.»
Philip Hensher
Great food for thought (and what a well-chosen title for his book :-) Also I have contact with many people whose handwriting I wouldn't know at all!..
ReplyDeleteFortunately handwriting is considered usance by many, if not most, snail mailers.
By the way, in the supermarket I love to pick up small shopping lists left in empty shopping carts - not only because of interest in what's been written on it, but also I like to see all different handwritings :-)
In fact I haven't read this book yet, but I feel like reading it.
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