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In English, handwriting is generally seen as girl is the mini. caps are almost as large as the maxi. caps, the edges are rounded out, and if the dots are replaced with little cirles reminiscent of the japanese period (。). What characteristics are common of handwritting considered 'girlish' in Japanese?

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2 Answers 2

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Generally in Japanese handwriting the more feminine something is the more rounded out and cute it will be. If I think of girly English writing I think of neat bubbly letters while guys tend to be sloppy and angular. This carries over to Japanese.

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Additional reading:

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  • I'm embarrassed that even though I'm a boy I write Japanese kana like that, almost exactly! (honestly, though, except for the か and the お and the わ which are a bit weird) Though my kanji is more of a sloppy imitation of 楷書...I never learned how to write roundish kanji.
    – ithisa
    Feb 3, 2013 at 1:16
  • Same here, I think it looks a lot nicer and legible, more enjoyable to read. Any ways, thank you for the information and picture!
    – crayondraw
    Feb 3, 2013 at 1:58
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Legible and accurate writing is just good handwriting. What's 'girly' about is only that girls will write like this more often than boys. If we keep calling it girly then us males are going to keep excusing ourselves from proper handwriting! I'm male and I don't think sloppy and angular should just be necessary qualities of 'boyish' handwriting. But circles instead of dots, yeah I suppose that could be a feminine stylistic feature.

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  • Someone's always watching O_o
    – Earthliŋ
    Dec 27, 2014 at 1:58

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