bermuda triangulated

gra·phol·o·gy
n.
the study of handwriting, especially when employed as a means of analysing character.


SO, BLAIR LENT me chuck palahniuk's diary (go here to read an excerpt).

as well as introducing me to THE most brilliant phrase EVER ~ bermuda triangulated. AND being a highly unusual story about a carpenter who bermuda triangulates rooms from people's houses and a woman who grew up in a trailer park and may or may not become a famous artist, this novel contains some interesting tidbits about graphology, a hobby i've never considered but which sounds infinitely intriguing.


apparently, "real handwriting experts are known as forensic document examiners, not as graphologists. forensic document examiners consider loops, dotted "i's" and crossed "t's," letter spacing, slants, heights, ending strokes, etc. they examine handwriting to detect authenticity or forgery.

"whereas, graphologists examine loops, dotted "i's" and crossed "t's," letter spacing, slants, heights, ending strokes, etc, but they believe that such handwriting minutiae are physical manifestations of unconscious mental functions. graphologists believe such details can reveal as much about a person as astrology , palm reading, psychometry, or the myers-briggs personality type indicator."


whether or not astrology, palm reading, psychometry or the myers-briggs personality test reveal more than sweet FA about us i DON'T wish to go into. but here are some examples of the ways YOUR handwriting may be interpreted (according to diary):


"anything that falls below the bottom of a word, the tail of a lowercase g or y for example, that hints at your subconscious. what freud would call your id. this is your most animal side. if it swings to the right, it meanns you lean to the future and the world outside yourself. if the tail swings to the left, it means you're stuck in the past and looking at yourself."


hmmm...that would make me the latter. not so good, methinks. but who the HELL loops a lowercase g's to the right??

"update: if "they hang straight down...this means determination and strong leadership."

also:
"anything that rises above the regular lowercase e or x, those tall letters hint at your greater spiritual self. your superego. how you write your l or h or dot your i, that shows what you aspire to become.

"anything inbetween, most of your lowercase letters, these show your ego. whether they're crowded and spiky or spread out and loopy, these show the regular, everyday you."


presumably, spread out and loopy means you're precisely that!

anyway, the reason i wanted to post about this is because, as we may have all noticed, it seems that handwriting, as a practical skill, is WAY on it's way out, at least in the western digitised world. to the point where national handwriting day is celebrated annually by the writing instrument manufacturer's association in new jersey.

but does this mean that our handwriting is more or less indicative of our nature than it ever was? IF it ever was? and if it IS indicative, do we, for example, loop our lowercase Gs and Ys even more to the right than ever before because we're all looking further forward now due to the rapid pace of change in our lives?

or have i just got FAR. TOO. MUCH. TIME. on my hands?


here are some clues for you, if you feel like you need to practise.


today smells like ink.


oh, and today's diaretic task is to test a proverb and record it's practical usefulness. but i've already bagsed "you can't have your cake and eat it too" so you'll have to either have cake with me after work or pick another one!

xx