While mindlessly doing my job today, I got to pondering the way we read. And why. Specifically, why do we read from left to right, and top to bottom. What caused this to develop? Why do other people read the exact opposite way? Does anybody know? Or should I just keep such weird thoughts inside my own head?
The way we read
- Thread starter April
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CelestialBody
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CelestialBody
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Mischka
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Ah, just read the "ho" post on the other thread. Mistress, you have an inordinate capacity for kindness to talk with anyone that associates with such racist trash. Up 'til now, I've assumed he's presented a seemingly tough guy front on this board, and you got to know the "real" KD1 in your off-board conversations. But now that he's dragging such low level creeps onto this board, I'm simply filled with disdain. You are a kind soul, Mistress, and certainly should ignore the laughably dim-witted postings of those people.
LordMagicMan
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*hugs Mistress, edging towards a snuggle so innocently*
I read upside down and backwards as well. Confuses the hell out of people
I thought everybody could. Interesting.
I read upside down and backwards as well. Confuses the hell out of people
I thought everybody could. Interesting.
LordMagicMan
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Awww April dont give up *hugs* Be strong, fight one, don't be a quiter... and turn on msn every once in a while *g*
Weird Harold
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April said:
I'm not sure why there are so many different conventions on how text should be arranged. It does seem the the left to right and top to bottom (In either order) are more "natural" although I suppose those who read backwards would claim the same.
Left to right seem natural to me, because I'm right handed. When I put things on a shelf, I put the first Item to the left so it doesn't interfere with the movements of my hand placing the next item.
Top to bottom seems natural because when I start writing, I start at the top of a page and the space below is the only place left to add another line. When I unroll my antique scroll, I want the start of the story on the outside of the scroll. I tend to unroll that scroll so the unrolled portion is below the portion being read so if I drop it it doesn't obscure what I'm trying to read.
I suppose that the people who decided what order and direction the words should go were right handed and clumsy too, so the way they decided seems natural to me.
alexander tzara
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I think I read somewhere that in Western plays traditionally the hero or heroine comes on from stage-right and the villain comes on from stage left. I think back then, the left side was seen as being sinister (in league with the Devil) and the right was seen as being associated with goodness (just look at words like "right" and "righteous"). My Grandmother used to get belted by her teacher for writing with her left hand in the '40s, so maybe it's an idea that's deep rooted in our culture.
So, it might be that when Western reading and writing developed the left-to-right, front-to-back standard
came in to symbolise the fact that through reading you were going to go from lack of knowledge towards understanding.
Just my theory. I don't know if it's correct.
So, it might be that when Western reading and writing developed the left-to-right, front-to-back standard
came in to symbolise the fact that through reading you were going to go from lack of knowledge towards understanding.
Just my theory. I don't know if it's correct.
cymbidia
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(Pssst... there's a short answer at the end)
Human beings didn't begin to write until long after we formed settled and "civilized" societies, usually for mutual protection. Unfortunately, one of the reasons we know so little about these early people is because they didn't leave any written records.
The very first artistic paintings as well as the very earliest writing was in the form of naturalistic paintings of animals and people in protected places like caves. The pictures of animals were attempts at honoring and appeasing the spirits of the animals that the group needed to kill in the hunt.
Gradually over time, primitive cultures stylized their representational messages. We do the same thing when we use arrows to indicate direction, symbols to indicate restrooms or handicap-accessible places, or use international road signs.
For ancient cultures, these stylized symbols are called petroglyphs and hieroglyphs. The ancient Egyptians had a sophisticated system of hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphics are partially representational pictures that have been highly stylized. The cliff paintings of Native Americans in the desert Southwest are usually called petroglyphs (because they are written on stone).
In ancient Europe, knowledge was preserved in the form of runes and sometimes in an alphabetic writing system called ogham. Horizontal left-to-right writing was, by then, the natural order of the day. It's been suggested that these early people wrote from right to left to avoid the writing hand obstructing the words as they were being written. (Lefties were frowned on until very recently.)
In the Middle East, about 3500 years ago, a totally new development in writing appeared. The Phoenicians, the ancestors of the Lebanese, invented an alphabet. This alphabet was different from all other writing systems before it because the symbols represented sounds, not pictures or ideas. Combinations of sounds make up words in all languages, so a set of twenty to forty symbols representing most of the important distinctive sounds in a language could be used to represent the words of a language.
The Phoenician alphabet, written left to right, top to bottom, spread into Northern Africa to become the writing system of the Arabs. From there it went northwest into Greece. The Greek letters were modified over time to become the Cyrillic alphabets of Russia and the Balkans. Coming after the Greeks, the Romans modified the letters into the alphabet we recognize today, the one we use, called, sensibly enough, the Roman alphabet. Western European languages use the Roman alphabet, as do the written languages of North and South America which are, of course, European languages.
~~~~~~~~~~
Short version?
One needs to go back to the roots of Western Civilization to find out why we read and write left to right, top to bottom.
The Phoenicians invented an alphabet 3500 years ago in which symbols represent sounds, which in turn combine to form words. The Greeks inherited their alphabet from the Phoenicians, just as the Romans inherited it from the Greeks. All of us here at Lit (well, almost all of us) got our language from the Romans. It's been suggested that early people wrote from right to left to avoid the writing hand obstructing the words as they were being written.
Hence, left to right, top to bottom reading and writing for all Roman-based languages, including, of course, English.
[Edited by cymbidia on 04-24-2001 at 10:08 AM]
Human beings didn't begin to write until long after we formed settled and "civilized" societies, usually for mutual protection. Unfortunately, one of the reasons we know so little about these early people is because they didn't leave any written records.
The very first artistic paintings as well as the very earliest writing was in the form of naturalistic paintings of animals and people in protected places like caves. The pictures of animals were attempts at honoring and appeasing the spirits of the animals that the group needed to kill in the hunt.
Gradually over time, primitive cultures stylized their representational messages. We do the same thing when we use arrows to indicate direction, symbols to indicate restrooms or handicap-accessible places, or use international road signs.
For ancient cultures, these stylized symbols are called petroglyphs and hieroglyphs. The ancient Egyptians had a sophisticated system of hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphics are partially representational pictures that have been highly stylized. The cliff paintings of Native Americans in the desert Southwest are usually called petroglyphs (because they are written on stone).
In ancient Europe, knowledge was preserved in the form of runes and sometimes in an alphabetic writing system called ogham. Horizontal left-to-right writing was, by then, the natural order of the day. It's been suggested that these early people wrote from right to left to avoid the writing hand obstructing the words as they were being written. (Lefties were frowned on until very recently.)
In the Middle East, about 3500 years ago, a totally new development in writing appeared. The Phoenicians, the ancestors of the Lebanese, invented an alphabet. This alphabet was different from all other writing systems before it because the symbols represented sounds, not pictures or ideas. Combinations of sounds make up words in all languages, so a set of twenty to forty symbols representing most of the important distinctive sounds in a language could be used to represent the words of a language.
The Phoenician alphabet, written left to right, top to bottom, spread into Northern Africa to become the writing system of the Arabs. From there it went northwest into Greece. The Greek letters were modified over time to become the Cyrillic alphabets of Russia and the Balkans. Coming after the Greeks, the Romans modified the letters into the alphabet we recognize today, the one we use, called, sensibly enough, the Roman alphabet. Western European languages use the Roman alphabet, as do the written languages of North and South America which are, of course, European languages.
~~~~~~~~~~
Short version?
One needs to go back to the roots of Western Civilization to find out why we read and write left to right, top to bottom.
The Phoenicians invented an alphabet 3500 years ago in which symbols represent sounds, which in turn combine to form words. The Greeks inherited their alphabet from the Phoenicians, just as the Romans inherited it from the Greeks. All of us here at Lit (well, almost all of us) got our language from the Romans. It's been suggested that early people wrote from right to left to avoid the writing hand obstructing the words as they were being written.
Hence, left to right, top to bottom reading and writing for all Roman-based languages, including, of course, English.
[Edited by cymbidia on 04-24-2001 at 10:08 AM]
Dixon Carter Lee
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It's true about the stage, but the conventions come from reading, not the other way around. Love scenes are traditionally played down right (which is "left" to the audience) because that's where the Western eye starts reading, and is most comfortable. Evil deeds are traditionally blocked down left ("right" to the audience) because that's where the Western eye finishes a sentence, and immendiately wants to leave for the comfort of the next line.
Directors today rarely use this convention -- but they know about it.
As for why we read left to right and up to down, I have a book at home that explains this perfectly and maybe I'll look it up tonight, but I'm fairly sure that it's an arbitrary decision with no real importance associated with it.
What's more interesting is the eventual invention of lower case letters and spacing between words, which led directly to the inventions of punctuation and grammar.
Directors today rarely use this convention -- but they know about it.
As for why we read left to right and up to down, I have a book at home that explains this perfectly and maybe I'll look it up tonight, but I'm fairly sure that it's an arbitrary decision with no real importance associated with it.
What's more interesting is the eventual invention of lower case letters and spacing between words, which led directly to the inventions of punctuation and grammar.
G
Guest
Guest
Re: (Pssst... there's a short answer at the end)
Thanks, Cymbidia. That's very interesting, and very practical, too. I appreciate the contributionsfrom everybody. Keep going. Please?
But what was it that caused the split between "Western" writing and "Eastern" writing? Was it one thing? Probably not. Or many small cultural differences? Ahh, who knows. But at least this will keep my mind busy for the next few days. LOL
cymbidia said:
Thanks, Cymbidia. That's very interesting, and very practical, too. I appreciate the contributionsfrom everybody. Keep going. Please?
But what was it that caused the split between "Western" writing and "Eastern" writing? Was it one thing? Probably not. Or many small cultural differences? Ahh, who knows. But at least this will keep my mind busy for the next few days. LOL
CelestialBody
Starlet of India
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