> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Cowan [mailto:jcowan@reutershealth.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 5:13 PM
>
> "Reynolds, Gregg" wrote:
>
> > Speculation: stroke flow is LTR because most people are
> > righties and it's easier to pull the pen or brush.
>
> Yes, this is generally accepted.
>
> > Which clearly proves
> > that most writers of Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, etc. are left-handed.
>
> No, merely that they retain the writing direction which is
> most natural for
Foul! Most natural for righties, you mean. Since I've already
scientifically proven that they were lefties, this argument bears no weight.
Besides, who ever heard of chiseled Arabic? And the Mother of all Semitic
Writing was surely cuneiform, no?
> inscriptions on stone, where the left hand holds the chisel and the
> right hand hammers leftward. I believe that stonecarvers even
> today carve texts RTL in all scripts.
>
Interesting; I didn't know that. I shall have to check with the local
gravestone artist.
-gregg
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