So I just copied out some song lyrics on a piece of paper, and because I was in a mood, I decided to write it out the oldey-chinesey style(?) that being, Top to bottom, Right to left. And because of my mood, I also decided to do it in 繁体 instead of 简体, ergo the need to write it out in pencil. Because of course there were going to be mistakes and weirdly proportioned parts of unfamiliar words. ;p
Anyway, that's over and done with, but I'm left with a pencil smear along the lateral side of my right hand, something my left-handed friends are all too familiar with. Right handed people would get it too whenever we had 抄作文 homework or basically any work that involved pagefuls of words.
And it got me thinking: how in the world did our ancestors do it with ink and brush? Write such complex words with an unruly brush AND making sure those words don't smudge out as they move on. Calligraphy is hard enough when we write the sentences (or 成语s in most of our case,) Left to right, Top to bottom. And they wore robes with giant billowing sleeves. I guess that's why the left hand always supports the sleeves in movies/dramas that I've seen. (There's always some grand, swooping gesture, amirite?) But what a hassle that must be!
Then I realized it would've been easier for left-handers in that case, since "we" are working/writing the words from Top to bottom, Right to left. They wouldn't have a problem with smearing ink as they write. BUT, another thought then occurred to me. The structure of individual Chinese characters are generally written in parts, and we generally write those parts of the words from right to left then top to bottom. Left-handers would face the same problem all over again.
Why so hard, calligraphy?
But I guess the main question is, why so random, brain? Why do you always wonder about the weirdest things?
Side note, I remember a friend jokingly telling me she gets a full neck workout when she reads English and Chinese novels one after another, because her head would go side-to-side (English novel) and then work up-and-down (Chinese novels). And sometimes she just goes round and round confusing herself. Silly girl.
Anyway, that's over and done with, but I'm left with a pencil smear along the lateral side of my right hand, something my left-handed friends are all too familiar with. Right handed people would get it too whenever we had 抄作文 homework or basically any work that involved pagefuls of words.
And it got me thinking: how in the world did our ancestors do it with ink and brush? Write such complex words with an unruly brush AND making sure those words don't smudge out as they move on. Calligraphy is hard enough when we write the sentences (or 成语s in most of our case,) Left to right, Top to bottom. And they wore robes with giant billowing sleeves. I guess that's why the left hand always supports the sleeves in movies/dramas that I've seen. (There's always some grand, swooping gesture, amirite?) But what a hassle that must be!
Then I realized it would've been easier for left-handers in that case, since "we" are working/writing the words from Top to bottom, Right to left. They wouldn't have a problem with smearing ink as they write. BUT, another thought then occurred to me. The structure of individual Chinese characters are generally written in parts, and we generally write those parts of the words from right to left then top to bottom. Left-handers would face the same problem all over again.
Why so hard, calligraphy?
But I guess the main question is, why so random, brain? Why do you always wonder about the weirdest things?
Side note, I remember a friend jokingly telling me she gets a full neck workout when she reads English and Chinese novels one after another, because her head would go side-to-side (English novel) and then work up-and-down (Chinese novels). And sometimes she just goes round and round confusing herself. Silly girl.
jessica@mail.postmanllc.net
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