Mirror writing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mirror writing is formed by writing in the reverse direction than is natural for a given language such that the result is the mirror image of normal writing: it appears normal when it is reflected in a mirror. It is sometimes used as an extremely primitive form of cipher. The most common modern usage of mirror writing can be found on the front of ambulances, where the word "AMBULANCE" is often written in very large mirrored text, so that drivers see the word the right way around in their rear-view mirror.
Research suggests that the ability of mirror writing is probably inherited and caused by atypical language organisation in the brain . Approximately 1 in 6500 people in the population inherited the ability of mirror writing and half of their children also inherited the ability. There are more left-handed mirror writers than right-handed ones, probably because left-handed people tend to have atypical language centres in their brain.
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[edit] Techniques for mirror writing
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One can create mirror writing without practice by writing text with a thick pen on a thin sheet of paper, flipping the sheet over, and then tracing the mirrored text.
Another way is to hold a pen in the opposite hand. Then, while writing with your preferred hand, imitate the motions with your other hand.
You can also create mirror writing by holding a piece of paper to your forehead, standing in front of a mirror, and writing on the paper while looking in the mirror.
Another way to learn mirror writing is to simply start writing your words left to right instead of right to left, making sure each letter is written backwards.
[edit] Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci is famous for having written most of his personal notes in mirror and only using standard writing if he intended his texts to be read by others. There are two popular theories on why he did this. Leonardo da Vinci was left-handed causing the ink to smudge easily if he wrote in standard writing. He may also have wanted to protect his ideas from being stolen by others or hide them from the Roman Catholic Church with whom his scientific findings sometimes collided.
[edit] See also
[edit] Reference
- ^ Dr Iain Mathewson, Medical Hypotheses, May 2004.
