Writing Systems

The Alphabet That Failed

In the 1960s, a radical new alphabet for English was born, bankrolled by the will of playwright George Bernard Shaw.…

3 months ago

The Scribe’s Shortcut: A History of the Tilde (~)

That familiar squiggle, the tilde (~), is more than just a decoration on the Spanish 'ñ' or a casual emoji.…

3 months ago

The Vai Script: A Dreamed-Up Alphabet

In the 1830s, an illiterate Vai man in West Africa named Momolu Duwalu Bukele had a vivid dream where he…

3 months ago

The Scribe’s Mistake: Errors in Medieval Texts

Before the printing press, every book was a handmade original, and every scribe made mistakes. Far from being mere blemishes,…

3 months ago

10 Endangered Scripts to Watch in 2025

Long before a language falls silent, its unique writing system can fade into obscurity. This post explores ten beautiful and…

3 months ago

From Thought to Ink: The Neurology of Handwriting

Ever marvel at how a fleeting thought transforms into ink on a page? This article delves into the incredible neurology…

3 months ago

Clay, Papyrus, Vellum: How Writing Surfaces Shaped Language

Before keyboards or even paper, the very material a scribe wrote on dictated our linguistic conventions. From the wedge-shaped efficiency…

3 months ago

The Invention of Silence: When Words Got Spaces

For centuries, Western texts were written as an unbroken wall of letters, a practice known as scriptio continua. The simple…

3 months ago

Reading Japanese: The Brain’s 3-Script Juggle

The Japanese writing system uniquely blends three distinct scripts—Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana—often within a single sentence. This presents a fascinating…

3 months ago

Vinča Symbols: Europe’s Oldest Writing?

Long before Egyptian hieroglyphs, a mysterious Neolithic culture in the Balkans etched thousands of symbols onto clay. These Vinča symbols…

3 months ago

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