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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ask CNN: Where Does Cursive Writing Originate?

Aired August 13, 2001 - 07:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXIS ZARNOWSKI, NORCROSS, GEORGIA: Hi, my name's Alexis Zarnowski and I'm from Norcross, Georgia. And I'd like to Ask CNN: Where does cursive writing originate?

CHARLES PANATI, AUTHOR: Cursive writing is what we call handwriting. It has the most practical origin. It goes back 5,000 years, almost to the beginning of writing itself. It started when government scribes used to have to write very quickly government documents and wills. To write quickly, they liked not picking up their pen from their parchment paper.

Another factor that contributed to cursive or handwriting was the art of calligraphy, which is also several thousand years old. And the word calligraphy means beautiful writing. And if you want something to look artistic, you want it to have a flow and a rhythm to it and that meant connecting the letters.

The type of handwriting that we use in the United States came about in the 1800s in England when the system was actually formalized with certain types of loops and hooks beneath the line.

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