The Letter T Written As A Cross By Children

[joko]

when i see a post of something funny supposedly written by a child, i notice a lot that the letter Ts are written like a cross.
I remember at school we were meticulously taught the alphabet writing them all out properly - with a curved T ...we were never ever taught that writing a T like a cross - why would we be?

to me this is something that happens over time as you get older

so im always doubtful when i see this written by a supposed 5 yr old & suspect its just the parents faking kid scrawl.

was anyone here taught to write crosses as children? why would they be taught that?
or is it perhaps an american thing?

im asking because its not just once or twice ive seen this - its a lot!
you'll see what i mean now ive pointed it out

thanks :)

[Electrochem]

Where you not taught where to use upper case letters, when needed as well?

[jno]

we were taught italics for a year or two, but otherwise T was not a curved letter, so the lower case did look like a cross - a tall crucifixion-style cross, not a plus sign.

[Mamyalynne]

As long as it is recognisably a T/t, I really don't mind.

Bog children down with too much pickiness and it turns them off learning.

[joko]

electro - yes, & i use them, when needed. here they are not needed.

[Peter Pedant]

yes no- I kept with Italic jno - a bit slow for exams

single letters - we called "printing" frowned upon at big school and penalised. The t was a character now known as a turnstile. Think of a cross with one arm knocked off, and the arm is at the level of the top of an 'a' or 'e'

the cross - - an 'x' but standing on one point ( rotated 45')

and I guess / speculate that this was a child cdnt use the sign of a bishop

Justin Welby DD Arch - B of C signs - yes signs - himself +cantuar

Bish of Salisbury ..... +sarum

I can't imagine anyone coming up to a child and saying in their best AB accent ( aged 10 1/2) - "foo you a bishop den?"

I do not

[joko]

jno, i dont think i've ever even seen a computer font where the t is a cross, its always like it is here, with the curved bottom.
so youre saying your teacher specifically didnt include the bottom curve & none of the learning literature had curved ts either?

not sure what you mean mama, this is nothing to do with bogging kids down and nitpicking, not sure how you got to that, nor is it about whether i like it or not

[Peter Pedant]

// Bog children down with too much pickiness and it turns them off learning.//

I was grinding ( drilling ) a 9 y o in basic maff ( fundamental arithmetic), and she did amongst many sins, an oirish 7 - wivva bar froo it
and I said - "today is the last day you will do that. we were told at your age, a bar frooda seven, and we would lose marks!"

and she looked suitably horrified

and I said - "why lose marks on the way you write? it is not even maff! if you gonna lose marks, screw up the calculation"

Ones must not have a hat on it - it may look like a seven - only a vertical strike.

about half the men in employment where I am - print
christ what were they doing at school?

Boris quite correctly has ointed out that we are the only society ever recorded where the parents and grandparent have greater arith/maff skills than ten y o.
Christ

[THECORBYLOON]

I've just written, "title" and there's no curve on the "t".

[gingejbee]

I'm always surprised that some people can get agitated about the minutiae of life.
Just be grateful that they can still write and not just press letters on a keypad.

[joko]

ginge- im always surprised that merely asking a question, calmy & just curiously, somehow, to some people, means foaming at the mouth angry at it ... where have i even remotely seemed agitated by this? where have i even a little bit had an issue with it?

maybe try to read the words actually written rather than spinning them to what you assume they must mean

[joko]

corby - yes i do it too, have done for most of my adult life i think, just dont remember it ever been taught in primary schools, to very little children - theyre just about learning the curved T, so adding variations in seems unlikely.
I figured it was something perhaps subconsciously learned in later life

[Peter Pedant]

Just be grateful that they can still write and not just press letters on a keypad.

a horrifying number cant.

[jno]

that's right, joko. Bear in mind that this was back when there were only about three computers in the world, so they weren't an issue. This chart is pretty much what we were taught except for the capital G

https://tinyurl.com/4at9bp4c

[joko]

thanks jno, interesting.