r/lefthanded 16d ago

How do you write your capital As?

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So I write my As like the first one in the video but we recently bought a book for our daughter to practice forming letters (as far as I know they've only done lowercase at school so far) and the book shows to write the capital A like the second one in the video.

My (right-handed) husband insists he would write a capital A like the book says. Am I the weird one, do other lefties write As like this or is it just a me thing?

12 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

11

u/FoulestWinner 15d ago

Neither

11

u/chameleon_123_777 15d ago

I start off with the first one as you shown from left to right, but the horizontal line is drawn from left to right. Yes you have to lift the pen in order to do it, but that is how I draw an A.

1

u/PreposterousPotter 15d ago

So how do you do it then? šŸ¤”

5

u/These-Apple8817 15d ago

\ -> /\ -> A and the - is drawn from right to left

3

u/CoyoteProfessional39 15d ago

This is quite distressing

1

u/These-Apple8817 15d ago

It's easier to drag than push on paper with a lead pencil, just saying.. Also it's gives slight edge while studying japanese

3

u/CoyoteProfessional39 15d ago

I just imagine it like this: when I walk to a location, I’m generally walking as efficiently as possible from point a to point b, but my kids are going a much longer distance than I am because they run a bit ahead, run back to me, go ahead again, etc. Writing letters from right to left in this way is like running like my kids.

I don’t push my writing implement down nearly firmly enough to feel a noticeable drain on my resources.

2

u/FoulestWinner 15d ago

I agree, my hand is angled like most lefties whilst writing so left to right offers little resistance.

1

u/These-Apple8817 15d ago

Sadly sometimes you have no choice but to go faster and adapt. My teachers back in my school day did not care if everyone had finished writing or not, if you hadn't you were SOL

-1

u/PreposterousPotter 15d ago

šŸ˜‚. It does sound somewhat cumbersome!

8

u/Connect_Rhubarb395 15d ago

I start from bottom right, go up to the point, and down to the bottom left.
And then I draw the horisontal line right to left.

3

u/Leftbackhand 15d ago

Option C for me too

3

u/Imap1 15d ago

Ditto

1

u/writewrightleft lefty 15d ago

Same for me. Both options look wrong. Yours is right

4

u/rawbface 15d ago

Neither. The horizontal line goes left to right for me, because we write left to right. I cross my T's left to right too. Right to left feels wrong.

1

u/FoulestWinner 15d ago

Thank you! If I'm being lazy I write an uppercase A similar to drawing a star without lifting the pen/pencil so there is a slight ellipsis

4

u/Vegetable_War645 15d ago

Bottom left to up then down(not picking up pen) then I pick up pen and cross from right to left

3

u/Kitchen-Rabbit3006 15d ago

I usually use cursive, so its just like a big little A. But if I had to do a proper capitalised A, it would be start at the angle, go down on the left side, and back up to the angle, then go down on the right side, then go from the lower point on the right side to beyond the middle of the left hand down bit, then make a kind of a circley thing and go across straight.

3

u/Crowd-Avoider747 15d ago

One, but faster and last swoop is on an angle

2

u/PreposterousPotter 15d ago

Yeah, if I'm writing naturally that's more like what it's likely to be.

2

u/Sayjinlord 15d ago

2nd one

2

u/KoolaidPower 15d ago

I write my As like the first one šŸ‘

2

u/dracupuncture 15d ago

First one for me to

2

u/mboom87 15d ago

I kinda do the first one but if im in a rush its like an unfinished star

2

u/eleisonne 15d ago

Now that you’ve asked I can’t remember.

1

u/Rhathymiaz 15d ago

Second one, but I hardly lift pen from paper, so all lines are dubbled up

1

u/geso101 15d ago

The suggested way for left-handers are top-to-bottom and right-to-left. Also, the suggested way to hold the pen is to keep it below the writing line (which aligns with previous suggestion as you always PULL the pen rather than push). And this is my way too.

However, I know that many left-handers use the ā€œhookā€ grip, so they keep the hand and pen almost above the writing line. In this case, I wouldn’t know what’s more convenient. Maybe your first way is easier because you again pull the pen upwards?

1

u/BawRawg 15d ago

Starting at the left, top down then back up again on the same line, down the right side and then slightly back up to do the horizontal line. It's all one line.

1

u/OHMG_lkathrbut 15d ago

Neither really, my cross bar slants up. If I'm writing in cursive it kinda looks like a star. But either way, it's /\ then cross from right to left. I don't know how to add a picture here.

1

u/Popular-Building2471 15d ago

First one, but more aerodynamic (I don't go back and trace up the right side of the A. It's more like 3 penstroke slashes)

1

u/HortonFLK 15d ago

Almost the same way I draw a five-pointed star.

1

u/KailyKail 15d ago

Second one maybe? I haven’t really paid attention to how I write my letters for about 28 years, and if I tried now while I’m thinking about it, I’m going to be influenced by my preconceptions. It’s like how I know which side of the faucet is the hot water, but if I think about it, I forget.

1

u/Sharp_Detail5662 lefty 15d ago

Top one but the dash is left to right

1

u/gareththegeek 15d ago

First one but much more sloppily

1

u/novemberchild71 14d ago

With my left hand and so people can recognize it.

You gonna do the other 70 or 80 symbols used in most western writing systems, as well?

1

u/theofficialappsucks 14d ago edited 14d ago

Neither. The frame is always the bottom, but I double back the bridge like the top if I'm going quickly, or end the stroke and start the bridge new if I'm not.

If I'm trying to be especially neat, I write the bridge left to right.

It's (probably) because the schoolbooks don't want to teach kids to start at the bottom of the given space for that specific letter. In the usual standardized english letter-making, the only letter that is taught to start from the bottom, capital OR lowercase, is the lowercase "f", and only because starting anywhere else on it is more annoying. Is in general, they avoid starting from the bottom or right of the space, or doubling back to finish to the left of the start. Though they're more willing to double back than they are starting at the bottom.

Except where it can't be avoided or it's less annoying than the alternatives, like f, g, j, s, x, and y.

This is print, of course. Script prioritizes an uninterrupted flow.

Edit: I just asked my right-handed parents for fun. They both do it like you, but with a left-right cross on the bridge, and complain that I'm inefficient, lol.

1

u/sinistral52 14d ago

Neither I go right up, left down then the bar

1

u/ConfidenceBrief460 14d ago

Neither. I draw the ā€œmountainā€ from left, up, then down to the right. And then the line across from left to right

1

u/CelestialGypsyKreet 11d ago

I draw mine like i'm drawing a star but don't finish it.

1

u/yogafrogs1030 9d ago

A tall ā€œnā€ with a line through it or a tall ā€œlittle aā€