Handwriting script

Hand or handwriting is a person's particular style of writing by pen or a pencil.

Every literate human has his own manner of writing. There are many peculiarities in a handwritten text:

specific shape of letters, e.g. their roundness or sharpness;
regular or irregular spacings 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
and many others.

Handwriting is relatively stable, i.e. the style of writing changes very slowly with age. Another important fact is that all people have different handwriting. Even identical twins have differences. Therefore, the most common type of questioned document examination involves handwriting wherein the examiner tries to address concerns about potential authorship.

The handwriting can contain some other information. For example, you can find out whether a person was nervous or intoxicated at the time of the sample.

Graphology is the controversial study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system.

Handwriting is considered bad if it prevents other people from being able to read the copy. Some people think that many doctors have bad handwriting. Many famous people (e.g. Elliot) had poor handwriting because they wrote a lot. On the other side, some great people (e.g. Gandhi) had very clear handwriting.

Bad handwriting can be a symptom of disease. For example, dopamine-responsive dystonia has the following symptoms (among others):

near normal handwriting in infants/kindergarten years. (ages 3–5 school)
poor handwriting in pre-teens years. (ages 8–11 school)
very poor (worse) handwriting during teens years. (qv GCSE/A level-public exams)
bad handwriting (worsening) during post-teens years. (qv university exams)
very bad handwriting (still worsening) during adult years. (qv post-graduate exams)
worsening pattern of sloppy handwriting best observed by school teachers via termly reports.

In palaeography, a hand is recognized as distinct scribe inscribing manuscript. The word hand may also refer to a style of calligraphy, such as italics.

List of hands

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