alt Hacker News> Also, when left-handed writing became accepted, there were special left handed pens
its still a very unnatural action to do when writing, compared to a backslash
> Finally, how do you know nobody did that, and got harassed for writing incorrectly?
The parent asserts that it was invented for computer use, not beforehand. If a left handed person does it, its been invented beforehand
Replies
viggity • yesterday at 2:01 PM
There are some fascinating theories on how writing media affects writing direction and glyph shape. A lot of southeast asian languages have a lot of curves/circles because they'd use a stylus on a banana leaf and the curves are less likely to run a split in the leaf.
It was invented for the teletype. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backslash:
“What may be the first documented reference to the character is a 1937 maintenance manual from the Teletype Corporation, which includes a photograph showing the keyboard of its Kleinschmidt keyboard perforator WPE-3 using the Wheatstone system. In a 1945 document, Teletype used the name "diagonal key" for the symbol, and gives it a (non-standard) Morse code of ._.._ . Neither document gives its usage”
> If a left handed person does it, its been invented beforehand
I disagree. A left-handed person writing a slash in mirror image doesn’t write a backslash; they write a slash using a different glyph.