The Daily Prompt

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

This one is way outside of the box, but I remain hopeful.

Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance artist, architect, and engineer, kept copious notes detailing his research and ideas. Most of the time, he wrote in “mirror script,” starting at the right side of the page and moving left. The writing was only legible when held up to a mirror — assuming you could decipher his special personal shorthand, that is. It’s not entirely clear why the Renaissance polymath chose to write this way, although some have theorized that because he frequently used his left hand, the mirror script may have helped keep his hands clean and ink un-smudged. More than 7,000 of his notebook pages have survived to the present day and are held in collections around the world.

Source: Mental Floss | Date Updated: February 18, 2020

Comments

[hypatia-66.livejournal.com]

Leonardo was almost certainly ambidextrous. There is an example of his writing left to right with his right hand on the back of a sheet on which he had written left-handed right to left. He also wrote on a drawing once with his left, once with his right hand. The not-smudging idea must be a red herring: Arabic is always written right to left, as are Chinese characters sometimes.

I'm left-handed (only, sadly), and can write not only right to left, but upside down in both directions. Strangely-wired brain, I assume.