Why are there two a's?

[@h0ser]

sorry for the audio on this video, was trying a new mic that didn't work out

[@uarealsoplayingdude2580]

Okay

[@ashut0ast23]

No problem

[@blokman7151]

two 7's next?

[@flux.aeterna]

Just curious, which mic?

[@romrommi]

@@flux.aeterna my balls

[@emorygleason6138]

everything you say sounds like you’re about to make a joke but never do. i love it

[@horsesho3]

canadian accent 💀

[@maxmeepmeep991]

@name aaa aa aaa

[@numers_]

ti evol i .od reven tub ekoj a ekam ot tuoba er'uoy ekil sdnuos yas uoy gnihtyreve

[@maxmeepmeep991]

@@numers_ pu tuhs

[@numers_]

@@maxmeepmeep991 N I Z C M C X D J S O D B S K W B D J D D Y T A R V C S N I Z C M C X D J S O D B S K W B D J D D Y T A R V C S S H I N P C S P S O X S X N I Z C M C X D J S O D B S K W B D J D D Y T A R V C

[@HoneyyChai]

“The letter a is derived from the Egyptian letter of a bull head. Not sure what it means, but it’s a bull head.” Love this sentence

[@pattyryopotybuttongamer3063]

and after that you have to plug the red wire into the socket to make sure the engine boots at launch. Wrap the green wire around it's coil that sits directly beside the A button. After you put the back shell on, place the battery in the slot. Screw the Vr26 Jeeper back up and press the reset button. If everything worked according to plan you're device should show a thumbs up sprite. Plug the HDMI port into a monitor and wait three seconds. If it boots up on TV your in the good side. If it doesn't boot in less then 5 seconds quickly unplug. This can severely damage your TV and possibly start a fire

[@hah-no.]

Read it as they said it 😂

[@JustBramz]

I read this as he said it.

[@Ofer.Sheinberg]

For what it’s worth, it is derived from the word “Aliph” or “Eleph”, which in biblical Hebrew was used to mean “cattle” - hence, bull.

[@noobkingd706]

When i was prep i used to write the a with the top then i somehow i changed to the one without the top

[@veggiet2009]

It's interesting, I remember being taught the "double story" a in my textbook, but then the "cursive" a by my Mom. So as a child I thought this was actually just a style choice. I also learned cursive so I just assumed that we were just borrowing the cursive version, which made sense because it was easier. I had no idea that this was a historical shift.

[@silentshadow3894]

Yeah that is basically how I thought about it as well. Especially since I would do the same thing with the other letters that are easier in cursive. I would even some times loop the tail of my y. I guess the difference is that the other letters are more similar to each other.

[@PhantomOfficial07]

*It's interesting, I remember being tɑught the "double story" ɑ in my textbook, but then the "cursive" ɑ by my Mom. So ɑs ɑ child I thought this wɑs ɑctually just ɑ style choice. I ɑlso leɑrned cursive so I just ɑssumed thɑt we were just borrowing the cursive version, which mɑde sense becɑuse it wɑs eɑsier. I hɑd no ideɑ that this wɑs ɑ historical shift.

[@silentshadow3894]

@@PhantomOfficial07 why copy the original comment as a reply?

[@burry1254]

@@silentshadow3894 the a's are changed

[@cillavision]

@@PhantomOfficial07 dang, missed one

[@solarpriestess]

The portrayal of Niccolo de Nicoli as an exaggerated clipart of an Italian baker made me laugh way harder than it should have, especially when he frowned. Great stuff.

[@niismo.]

Thanks a lot for this, it's genuinely a question I had on my mind a while ago

[@MissingGamer]

same

[@theparadigm8149]

same

[@Aya_32125]

same

[@StephfUck]

same

[@dbone_]

stop usin that a!!!!!!!

[@zvidanyatvetski8081]

The reason for the bull's head representing the letter A and other vowels comes from the fact that the word for bull was something similar to "Alp" which became "Alef" in Hebrew and "Alfa" in Greek

[@vladimirlenin843]

Is the alp just bull mount?

[@pitbull635]

also alif in arabic

[@revenger211]

Alef is Phoenician not Hebrew. Arabic and Hebrew, two of many descendants to Phoenician, later adopted many of these letters and it kept on evolving since then.

[@spaghettiking653]

@@revenger211 Sounds like it's still also Hebrew to me.

[@SammytheawesomeILikePotatoes]

@@revenger211 paleo hebrew and phonecean are dialects of original canaanite. Paleo Hebrew, or pre Aramaic influence hebrew used to use the same alphabet as phonecean (aside from a few minor regional variants of letter shape).

[@unusuariodinternet]

Seeing a single history 'a' in a computer is uncanny. Italic 'a' is so beautiful.

[@lyrimetacurl0]

if you put underscores on either side on a KZbin comment it becomes italic but the a is still double storey _a_ 😮

[@chad_god]

_a_

[@kindanooby2988]

_a_

[@CashierNub]

ɑ

[@CashierNub]

;)

[@michaelweiske702]

I actually write using the "double story" a, for the reason that it does take longer to write. I've had a bad habit of writing too fast and my letters being nearly illegible to anyone else, so by slowing down and taking my time it becomes easier to read.

[@leonardosanchezaguirre2459]

Weird. I use it to write faster, I write it like this: ___ / \ ____| / | \___/ (Some kind of upside down e)

[@tilsgee]

So, you're a doctor?

[@parafuegosarchive]

@@leonardosanchezaguirre2459 literally me

[@kkh701]

a famous doctor detected *triggered*

[@jackiboi307]

i do these a's too, since first grade. idk why. i also play tf2 btw.

[@hatsunetunes]

Storytime: When I was in kindergarten learning how to write, I insisted on writing the double story 'a' because that's what it looks like in books, but my teacher told me I needed to stop and only write single story, just because that's what everyone else did. I went home and told my parents, and my dad actually agreed with me, and he decided to change his handwriting from that moment on. To this day my dad still writes the double story 'a' even though I actually just use single story now because it's faster lmao

[@yyerami]

α

[@ItsBunnyBuns]

That’s so wholesome.

[@mjbe]

Awesome parent to take that discussion seriously either way!

[@neonch1]

absolute legend

[@rionka]

💜

[@rizzen2997]

Once i heard that when you type "a" in italic on a computer it changes into a single story "a", i IMMEDIATELY opened ms. Word and started doing what was said. After i hit ctrl+i on the letter "a", I WAS MINDBLOWN. never knew that kind of small things that the software developer adds, have a history behind it. Well done video!

[@kirat2009]

also did this immediately, shocked i never noticed it before

[@DeepSeaLugia]

It’s not the job of software devs :) Typography is part of graphic design Anyone can make their own font with enough glyphs (individual characters) but there’s so much more that goes into making words.

[@madisonbrown8851]

@@DeepSeaLugia Hm, yes, a very interesting subject 😀

[@rionka]

Graphic design is awesome 💜

[@hecdavid11]

I've always noticed it and thought everyone just knew it. It's always cool to see people learn new things and get excited about it! (And of course even cooler when it happens to me 🤣)

[@elitettelbach4247]

This is one of those things that I probably saw at one point and didn’t question it. I’ve never really thought about the two types of lowercase a’s. But this was a great breakdown of it. Also the fact that italicizing an a turns it from double story to single story is super cool!

[@arinmei5584]

I use the double story "a". When I was younger I wrote the single story, but I somehow ended up with writing the double story as I got older and now I can't get out of it lol. I thought the reason was simply a matter of choice, so thanks for making this video! Now I have something else to add in my stock knowledge.

[@Lilacs4]

I purposely started using the double story a cuz I like how it looks better in my handwriting 😅

[@ivorycyan]

@@Lilacs4 same

[@arfansthename]

I've only written double story since I could write

[@randon19yearold]

@@Lilacs4 Me too! I use single story a in algebra thought, since double story looks like a 2.

[@randon19yearold]

Same with 4, i liked the computer 4 better because it looks better and is faster to write, so ever since 3rd grade i write 4s like the computer.

[@BarelloSmith]

The double storey "a" is actually faster to write, if you just write it like a curved alpha. You only use one continuous movement, instead of two. I used to write the single story "a" in my handwriting, since it was the way I learned it at school, but after a while it turned automatically to a double storey "a" since it didn't interrupt my writing flow as much.

[@EHMM]

lemme test

[@EHMM]

DoubleStoryA - 0.82 SingleStoryA - 0.58

[@BarelloSmith]

@@EHMM Did you actually time how long it takes you to write either one? xD

[@elijahsmall5873]

Interesting 🙂

[@shnrbl]

Yup, I write like this and it doesn't affect me at all. I just start drawing a c starting from its upper hook and then the stem starting at its lower hook to form an a smoothly.

[@nicholasho1595]

I'm also interested in why we have 2 capital I's, and why one of them looks almost exactly like a lowercase l.

[@Gadottinho]

I never seen anyone in my life write capital i as I, maybe it's just a computer thing?

[@mollystrong523]

@@Gadottinho In my handwriting I write capital I as just a line. Context is plenty to distinguish it from lower case l and it's simply faster to write one line than three, just like the single story a.

[@goatythecringeyone7686]

Illicit Illness

[@luzcro7345]

@@Gadottinho When using "I" on its own I use the one with horizontal lines i.e. "I am here." if not, I use the vertical line only version i.e. "Illuminate" That's limited to handwritting tho. Unless you're using an All Caps font then uppercase/lowercase might switch between the two versions of "I" like they do in comics.

[@ineedausername9617]

We also have two versions of upper case I because one looks too similar to 1

[@DutchDread]

I just realised, that while I can easily read the double story a, I don't think I've ever actually written it. I wouldn't even know how to. It's odd that in my mind I barely realize that there are multiple shapes for the same letter, it just feels like the same letter to me. Learning as a child is amazing, wish I could still do it.

[@user-rt8hl4rp4k]

When I was in grade 6, I thought the double storey "a" looked fancier and so I literally trained myself to write that one. Sometimes I would still accidentally use the single storey, but after a while I got used to it and I've been using the double storey one ever since

[@tud5708]

same

[@oorrbbiitt]

I am going go start doing that for absolutely no reason

[@loureece9005]

Me too. I changed mine to double story a few years ago in school just because I wanted to be different. Kinda cringe I know

[@melanieruddy399]

Same here!! I also write e as a half moon with a line in the middle like a curved version of the capital E

[@nickster99]

Wow. I did the exact same thing in 6th grade. Lol! still writing double story today!

[@Morn__]

I don’t know if it’s the same in the rest of the world but in Italian school they teach us that there are two types of writing: “stampatello minuscolo” (print writing) and “corsivo” (cursive). The first “a” belongs to stampatello minuscolo and the second one belongs to corsivo.

[@simonabattaglia7522]

Ma infatti, sti inglesi si fanno troppe pare

[@dark_wolf017]

In American we pretty much just learn print. cursive is almost only used for our signatures and that’s up for interpretation

[@lauramolto4641]

Same in Argentina. "Imprenta" and "cursiva".

[@70ren]

i think it is because both our languages (italian, spanish) are derived from latin so we learn the two, print and cursive in school.

[@Morn__]

@@70ren English derive from Latin too but they only learn print (I think)

[@morevaluethanrubiesxo1175]

In 6th grade my math teacher had the most admirable handwriting and she used the double-story A rather than the single story. I decided to improve my own handwriting by copying hers and I’ve been writing double story A’s ever since. Sometimes i alternate between the two if I’m in a rush. But this is really interesting.

[@leabee.62]

when i was in pre-k and kindergarten learning how to write i always used the double story a!

[@AntiagoXD]

I am actually not even kidding, I am in 6th grade right now. I changed my handwriting because of my maths teacher, because she had beautiful handwriting. I am seriously not joking. I don't if this is a coincidence or what. And also the crazy part is that I also use the single "a" when I am in a rush

[@krasistefanovlol]

@@AntiagoXD i almost always use single "a", but im thinking of changing to the double "a"

[@Yeard491]

I’m so stoned I had to listen to the opening paragraph like sixteen times to understand it

[@namelessnarrator7271]

I remember my 7 year old self practicing on writing the double story "a" lots of times when learning english, with no success. As a greek I was like "screw it" and I use the much easier single story one ever since. Back then I even used to believe that it was wrong, that I was using a greek letter on the latin alphabet, but didn't care because there was no way in hell my lazy ass would try the other one ever again.

[@KingNedya]

@@Ten_Thousand_Locusts Ah, the very slightly more polite way of calling someone stupid.

[@Ten_Thousand_Locusts]

@@KingNedya I wanted to call them a politically incorrect word for slow, but KZbin doesn't like that.

[@KingNedya]

@@Ten_Thousand_Locusts But why? There's no need to be rude about it. You could've said, "I'm not sure what you find difficult about it, it was easy for me," and left it at that. Still an unnecessary reply in my opinion, but at least it's less rude.

[@Ten_Thousand_Locusts]

@@KingNedya where's the fun in that?

[@KingNedya]

@@Ten_Thousand_Locusts There doesn't need to be fun in it. Besides, I don't find there to be any fun in disrespect either, so it's not like one is fun and the other isn't. They are merely different ways of treating people.

[@thetherrannative]

I actually hand write the double-story a. It makes my handwriting look a lot neater and fits better with my writing style, which almost entirely consists of very short lines instead of long, single-stroke letters. I developed this writing style while I was working on an ambulance, as it is much easier to write neatly in a moving vehicle using shorter strokes.

[@emmypersonal4033]

Yess

[@dinoshi64]

Saaame

[@elainad6728]

Same, I use the double-story a. Because the simple a sometimes looks like lower case "o" and or upper case "Q" to me.

[@CanteLizzie]

Yup. I taught myself the double-story a because my a's and o's looked identical and was low-key offended when he assumed no one writes it 😢

[@In_Our_Timeline]

The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it from a true alphabet). In turn, the ancestor of aleph may have been a pictogram of an ox head in proto-Sinaitic script influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphs, styled as a triangular head with two horns extended. the consonant sound that the letter denoted in Phoenician and other Semitic languages, and that was the first phoneme of the Phoenician pronunciation of the letter so they used their version of the sign to represent the vowel a, and called it by the similar name of alpha.

[@MrLB67]

Wwewwwwwwwwe

[@موسى_7]

The consonant sound of aleph you're referring to is the glottal stop, right? It's now the hamza in Arabic, because in Arabic, aleph went from glottal stop to being a vowel, and it's pronounced with a glottal stop when the hamza is written above it.

[@mrbilter83]

abjads do have vowels but they serve a different purpose abjads are written in consonents only but when you write in a vowel that indicates a long sound

[@ADeeSHUPA]

@@موسى_7 もせす اَلَزَّوِي

[@bakrahabibi5471]

Those are impure abjads. In pure abjads there are no vowels. Arabic is impure abjad. So is Hebrew and other aramaic derived scripts.

[@colinstu]

I believe it was 4th grade where I randomly decided to start only using double story 'a's … still do it over a couple decades later.

[@ethanpschwartz]

Doctor of Linguistics here! A FANTASTIC explanation, but it can't be stressed enough just how popular Italic Script became. And how recent majority literacy is. It all adds up to: Writing systems are always in flux.

[@dorol6375]

What field?

[@dianneaquino9083]

​@@dorol6375 nnnnn.ĺ n

[@turtles10]

did you also click on this video wondering if it'd explain the a-ɑ origins in IPA?

[@briarrose29]

It took me over 40 to realize that we are taught a standard way, but it’s ok to have our own handwriting style. When I realized that’s all cursive was, I finally stopped being mad cursive wasn’t taught anymore. I suppose the most important thing is others being able to read what you write. I love cursive, but I don’t write in proper cursive & totally forget how to make a proper cursive capital T and Q. I’ve also had to “translate” old recipe cards for people my age, who never used cursive out of High School because most of our society had a home computer and was typing on keyboards more by then. It’s crazy and fascinating to me! Great video!

[@proxima8219]

I'm not a native speakee and I always found it interesting that English native speakers don't write in cursive, because I believe that cursive saves time that you would normally spend on taking your pen away from the paper. But in my native language everyone writes in cursive, I've only seen 2 people in my life who wrote in type letters. Strangely, when I was at school during English lessons quite a lot of students were writing in type letters, only about 20% carried on writing in cursive to their second language. But now I'm studying linguistics of English language at the university and here at least half of the people are writing in English using cursive! That's so delightful to see! So at least I can say that there's still a noticeable percentage of non-native speakers who use cursive even now :D P. S. It's not like I'm opposed to writing in type letters, I just think that writing in cursive is cooler, looks more personal and has more character.

[@yes78]

Youre the first person ive seen that want to write cursive. But yeah, its your own style, thats why therere so many fonts although most people enjoy reading clear letters instead of squigglies

[@klondike3112]

@@proxima8219 There was a rather common meme that Cyrillic cursive is incomprehensible, similar to a doctor's handwriting. XD I've had to explain to multiple people that English cursive would be just as bad if you didn't speak the language.

[@proxima8219]

@@klondike3112 any cursive is incomprehensible if you don't know the language. As a person who writes and reads in Cyrillic cursive all my life that's just what I'm used to seeing and imo, cursive writing is mostly read by the author, and other people get to see it only if they ask you to show your notes, or you write letters by hand, or you're a doctor writing medicine prescriptions. I have no problem reading other people English cursive too, you just learn the most common ways a letter can be connected and altered and then everything just falls into place by itself

[@orinblank2056]

I never learned cursive in school, and now as an adult I'm trying to learn it. I've noticed that I actually write more evenly in it, so I want to try and get it down consistently. I think the reason for why I write more evenly is because I have a lot of muscle memory built up from earning to write as a kid, which has made it basically impossible to improve my handwriting. But I noticed that when I write in Japanese, I write much better, to the point where I have gotten a lot of compliments on it from my Japanese and Chinese friends. I concluded that it was because I started learning Japanese as an adult in university, so I trained my writing to be clean and consistent from the start, whereas foe English, I learned as a kid when having good handwriting wasn't a priority for me. Since I now have more focus when it comes to handwriting, I'm hoping that cursive will help, since I'm not as familiar with it and won't have bad habits to fall back into

[@matteo-ciaramitaro]

I only use double story because i like how it looks, but I've always wondered why we were taught single story when the keyboards always featured double story. Thanks for the video! very interesting stuff

[@Lilacs4]

Same here!

[@randon19yearold]

Same, I switched from single to double in 11th grade, and it was surprisingly easy to pull off. I still write a single story every once in a while, it looks so weird with a single and double in the same sentence lol.

[@ChapperMan]

the reason why i don’t do the double story a is because they look goofy on my papers

[@petersantos6395]

The printed a has a higher recognizability than single story a, the optimization of which is a priority for printed text, but the handwritten form is much restricted by how efficiently people can write, so the distinctions are kept. You can try changing all the A's (especially with a serif font) to single story, it will be slightly harder for you to read.

[@AdfasSSBM]

and that's kinda why i reverted to writing the double story a, when writing fast too often my "a" would turn into a "c" or a "u", to the point that a teacher called me out for it in highschool. i write it with a small c followed by a 7, and ive never really flipped back to the single story a, even when taking notes

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

@@AdfasSSBM a "c" or a "u". Mine can be confused with a "o". I have a hard time figuring how your single a isn't a close letter...

[@jpase]

@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 Mine often look like "u"s too if, when writing fast, instead of going to the left I immediately start moving down when I begin drawing it

[@birdiexoxo]

I hated when they changed the font on the iOS notes app. It used to have double story a’s which made it way easier to read. I don’t know if there is any sort of research about double story a’s being easier to read for those with dyslexia, but they are definitely easier for me!

[@MybeautifulandamazingPrincess]

The problem with the simplified a is that sometimes you can confuse it for an o in cursive handwriting, they can look too similar specially if you're out of time and rushing

[@SkylightCiel]

I always thought the computer A was a fancy stylized version of it

[@the_mariocrafter]

Same

[@TheLazyWitch]

0:49 No humans! Please don't turn me into a simplified logo!

[@alexgratzaTV]

In Germany I learnt two ways of writing in school: Schreibschrift (cursive) and Druckschrift (printed writing). In the first the letters are connected and the a is one story. In the second the letters are never connected and you can write a double story a if you want to. We never really got deeper into cursive, maybe because I am from Mainz where printing was invented and literally attended the Gutenberg school💀

[@justsumkid]

its weird how for the longest time i never even noticed how they were different. They both were a's and carried the same message so child me never took sight of it. It was only when i started learning about linguistics and the history of english that i saw it.

[@mozzie2729]

Never knew I had this question until now, thanks hoser! What about g? Typing g with Times New Roman brings up some weird abomination.

[@h-Films]

That was simplified to the modern g

[@GrayDaDolf]

Yeah, I've always wondered about our other disfigured friend! (double-story g)

[@asynchronousongs]

@@h-Films perhaps but it's kinda weird since the 2-story g has the vertical line on the left

[@h-Films]

@@asynchronousongs it became the stem

[@asynchronousongs]

@@h-Films wait wdym?

[@AwSamWeston]

Cool. Now do the "s" that looks like an "f"

[@yourlocalcyborg]

nigga what?

[@taargustaargus9908]

@@yourlocalcyborg He's talking about long S (ſ) which is an archaic way of writing S's. Basically, you use it when ever there's an S that isn't at the end (ſo it would look ſomthing like this) and as the first S in a double S'ed word (Example: congreſs - congress). Also, the letter ß (Eszett or scharfes S) in German came from writing a double S with the two letters combined. (Groſs to groß, Fuſs to Fuß, etc.)

[@moritamikamikara3879]

Oh god please talk about that. I'm doing research into the American revolution and in all the fucking documents they're using the long S that looks like an F and I CAN'T FUCKING READ IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@AwSamWeston]

@@moritamikamikara3879 "the purfuit of happineff"

[@jairokachow]

Why stop their what about the whole Greek alphabet

[@AlyssaFoxah.]

I write with the double story "a" personally, and I don't find it to be any slower than the single story. You can very easily and quickly do it in one stroke of a pen

[@aranyak1881]

It's like writing a backwards s

[@AlyssaFoxah.]

@@aranyak1881 yeah exactly

[@JustinDaniels]

I typically write the "double story" a, like as seen in typing. For me it is just as quick, and more distinguishable quickly from the letter "o".

[@meowmacaroni]

same here! everyone is confused why i write it like that

[@JustinDaniels]

@@meowmacaroni Yeah, when I started doing it back at age 7 or 8, my parents didn't understand why I wrote my a's that way.

[@meowmacaroni]

@@JustinDaniels same here! i’ve gotten to the point i don’t even know how to write it the other way!

[@JustinDaniels]

@@meowmacaroni I know how to write it the other way, but I must consciously think about it every time if I want to write it that way.

[@Lilacs4]

Same here!!

[@frogiko9638]

g is actually like this too :o) there is the g with two circles, mostly seen in fonts, and then the one mostly seen in handwriting with only a tail like y. they are also called double-story and single-story, respectively

[@FreyasArts]

Well, the g with 2 loops is still used in cursive

[@JfromUK_]

Aye, I just wrote a comment saying to check what happens to f, g and y when you make them italic :) It's font-dependent but they also have different forms, as do r and z especially in cursive.

[@tyu951]

It's a looptail g

[@ery5757]

With g i always handwrite double story so it can't be confused with a 9

[@MD.Akib_Al_Azad]

@@JfromUK_ the n looking r and the T looking r

[@cake5diamond249]

0:45 "I don't know what it means, but it's a bull head." I died laughing lmaoo keep up the good work

[@paula-zzz]

i'm a proud user of the double storey a!! i initially changed to it cause i thought it looked cool but now i'm learning that i'm keeping history alive (and also it looks cool :))

[@procrastination2204]

I was taught single story but switched to writing double story when I was around 15 or so because it just looks much better in my opinion. I know a lot of other people who write double story As too.

[@k4erie]

the double a’s actually have a use in linguistics (specifically french linguistics)! i’m a linguistics student that studies in a french-canadian uni and, in the french international phonetic alphabet, there’s two kinds of a’s : posterior a’s (it’s similar to the regular a in english, it’s articulated in the front of the mouth and it’s presented as such: [a]) and anterior a’s (which are represented by [ɑ], and articulated in the back of the mouth; hence, they’re deeper like a “uh”) anyways, hope this helps :]

[@nimisha6584]

That's really interesting, thanks!

[@boop_beep_sheep4876]

What would be an example of a word for each different a?

[@kikialeaki1850]

It’s not specific to French linguistics, it’s just IPA. And what’s even more interesting is that people don’t really differentiate between the 2 a’s, but combine them into a middle ground sound ä. Don’t ask me how to pronounce that lol; I learned what you learned.

[@kikialeaki1850]

@@boop_beep_sheep4876 the [a] “ah” sound would appear in b*a*ttre or f*e*mme while the [ɑ] slight “aw” (I’d say [ɔ] is more of an “uh”) sound would appear in p*a*s or b*a*s.

[@boop_beep_sheep4876]

@@kikialeaki1850 oh okay thanks

[@whynotfrancis]

i used to write single-story a’s like most people do, but hated the way they looked in my handwriting and started writing double-story a’s. never looked back, i love them

[@v.l.coffer5732]

I didn't know where it came from, but I always thought the reason why we use one in print and digital vs the other in handwriting was that the double storey a is easier to distinguish from o when reading quickly, but the single storey one is faster to write by hand.

[@gulayse9065]

i used to use the simple “a” till secondary school but then our teacher gave us a task to make our writing more pleasing during summer holiday and it seemed like the duble story “a” was more elegant or old fashioned in hand writing so i started using that. Now my brain has an epileptic seizure whenever i try to use the simple one

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I stopped writing cursive somewhere around 6th grade but reintroduced parts of later on. But my non-cursive is still the more even and better looking one.

[@ivetterodriguez1994]

@@HappyBeezerStudios The only cursive-esque letters I use are g, y, u, , d, e, sometimes j, l, sometimes capital M and N because it's prettier, q, t, w, and of course x.

[@neonch1]

@@ivetterodriguez1994 damn how do y'all write only _some_ letters in cursive? doesn't it look weird when the lines from the cursive letters end abruptly?

[@nanda28cc]

It’s too damn relatable

[@gulayse9065]

@@neonch1 you kinda blend the styles i guess

[@AllisimaProductions]

As a young child I struggled with learning how to handwrite. I had grown obsessed with computers from an early age, so I much preferred typing over handwriting, and my teachers always had to get me computers so I could do my schoolwork. But when I absolutely had to write letters by hand, I basically just copied what letters looked like on computers, so I ended up using double story "a" all the time. Nowadays I do use single story "a" though, ever since I realized that its far easier for me to write. Although to this day, I still barely ever handwrite.

[@richardfarsang5606]

Some teachers

[@Mothalas]

Fun fact! In the modern day, a (double story ds) vs a (single story ss) is still used to differentiate certain things when talking about phonics. In the IPA, International Phonetic Alphabet, the DS a represents the sound /æ/, as in saying ampersand, or saying the letter A itself. Whereas the SS a is used to say /ah/ as in apple. Minor difference that most won’t notice but they are different enough in certain fields of study!

[@BewilderedCitrus]

I actually use the double-story 'a' because I found that it was easier for me to write in an efficient and consistent manner as compared to my writing the single-story 'a' (the one that I was originally taught). I think I made that change to my handwriting at some point in middle school, if I'm remembering correctly.

[@emmypersonal4033]

Same pretty much. Everyone else used the single story and theirs always looked like an "o"

[@skipdrill373]

I switched too you are cool.

[@zee446]

I've always wondered about this as well, thank you for answering it. I personally prefer 'single story a', it just looks better to me

[@MappingRobloxAnimations]

double story a is easier to read and farther from looking like a O

[@zee446]

@@MappingRobloxAnimations Meh, I don't think so

[@neno9975]

I too am a single story a user 🤝 Love it alot Have been using it since childhood!

[@MappingRobloxAnimations]

@@neno9975 single story a users realizing handwriting is becoming slowly obselete

[@MappingRobloxAnimations]

@@neno9975 single story a users when the contest is originality:

[@HobieInTheBox]

1:46 holy shit you just gave me an epiphany. I'm 20 and I never fucking realised this. What the fuck 😭

[@MikasCreationsWasTaken]

I actually am accustomed to writing a double-story lowercase a. It's pretty similar to d though so I try to make clearance between the two.

[@robertjenkins6132]

What's confusing a.f. is that these are two distinct symbols in IPA: [ɑ] and [a]. My whole life, my brain had been taught to automatically treat these as allographs of the same grapheme, ⟨a⟩, but when I learned IPA, I had to see them as distinct symbols. Another problem is that I find it more or less impossible to nicely draw "a" by hand - I can only type it.

[@NiIog]

I think of the a as a curved 2 but a little shorter

[@oorrbbiitt]

I thought [a] and [ɑ] were representing the same sound Guess im an idiot

[@BraddahSpliff]

You can't write the double story "a" nicely because you don't do it. I write it that way all the time to keep it distinct from my "O"s & writing them all the time makes me write them "nicely" with no effort because it takes the same thing writing in general takes to look good... practice. If you didn't write much at all, all your letters would look like chicken scratch.

[@F_A_F123]

α is from Greek alphabet, a is from Latin (probably)

[@GrayMajik]

Definitely different from your usual videos, but it managed to be just as enjoyable. If you are planning to start changing up your content more in the future, I support your move to other types of videos.

[@captainpalegg2860]

I write double-story a because it looks cooler in my opinion. Also I write lowercase r as a miniature of the capital R, because the version I had learned to write in elementary school often came out looking indistinguishable from a v.

[@oyoo3323]

In most of Europe, Oceania and Asia (I don’t know about Africa & South America) that issue is dealt with by removing minuscule r’s serif, thus making it just a hook, which forces people to not mess it up into looking too much like a v. It’s not a rule per se, as much as something most people realise as children, or copy after seeing someone else do it.

[@oyoo3323]

So most people would write as r as ɾ. If I understood correctly, you ended up using ʀ as a workarouns in stead, right? Which is an equally valid solution, though more rare. Personally, I don’t have my own “handwriting”. In stead, I just have a bunch of typefaces installed in my brain, between which I switch depending on what sort of aesthetic I want at any given moment.

[@lcreatesart]

My handwriting changes(as in it looks like 5 different people with different handwriting did my homework), but it’s usually loopy or cursive-y, and so then the stem of the r loops around. (Down, loop around the back, draw the curved line of the r on the right), and that distinguishes it. If it’s not super loopy or cursive-y, then I do what the first reply said, and cut off the serif.

[@MisterHunterRow]

I have that r-v problem as well. I've been using an elongated v for an r, which I like to call "Gamma-R" or "Gamma-V" for it's shape, but using Capital R sounds like a better idea, now that I've read this comment.

[@oyoo3323]

@@MisterHunterRow using ʀ is a good solution indeed. You could also use change your r in to an ɾ in atead, which is the most popular solution.

[@NickAstalos]

“not sure what it means but it’s a bull head” absolutely took me out

[@tylerbeaumont]

I actually write my a’s like they’re written in font. Everyone finds it weird, but that’s just how I’ve always written them as far as I can remember

[@7racc]

🤝

[@ibaxterrwoof]

they look cool and i’ve accidentally gotten used to it now. feels weird to go back

[@mavisseafoam]

same! i think it’s because i was raised by the internet in a way - spent more time looking at screens than books, so naturally i began to replicate the a i was more familiar with, which was the typed two-storied a. everyone always found it weird and my english teachers would mark me down for not writing it like everyone else’s. but i couldn’t break the habit and still write it this way.

[@austrakaiser4793]

@@mavisseafoam Your English teachers need to get fired.

[@Gadottinho]

@@austrakaiser4793 why tf? They teach people how to write and there's a standard accepted in documents, tests, etc, so obviously they should teach and enorce it

[@kynist]

I've been using a double story "a" (never knew it was called that) since I was in college. And I also use a "g" that has the two circles. Looks cool.

[@jamesmmcgill]

Canadian: Oh, hey there. You're having some car troubles, eh? Stewie: Yeah, we're trying to get to the North Pole. I don't suppose you're from Triple A, are you? Canadian: Who? Stewie: Triple A, you know? A-A-A. Canadian: Oh, AA, eh? Oh, I just came from AA. Stewie: No, not AA! AAA! Canadian: Yeah, that's what I said. AA, eh? Stewie: Oh, so you are with Triple A. Canadian: Oh, no, that's AAA. I just came from AA, eh? Stewie: Huh? Brian: Stewie, I think he's just a drunk. Stewie: Well, drunk or not, can you help us? Canadian: I can if you wanna join AA, eh? Stewie: Oh, I'm already a member of AAA! I need help with the car! Canadian: Oh, I see. Yeah, looks like you got some water leakage. You might need a hose, eh? Stewie: José, Roberto, whatever. If you got some Latinos up here that can fix cars, that'd be great. Canadian: No, I mean, it looks like you need a part, eh? Stewie: Well, yeah, when it's fixed, we can celebrate, but let's deal with first thing's first. Canadian: Well, I can probably take you to a gas station, eh? You have cash, eh? Stewie: Well, I dunno, my name carries a little weight, but I don't see how that matters here. Brian: Look, we...we...we don't have enough cash to fix the car and we're kind of on our way to the North Pole. Canadian: Oh, a car won't take ya there anyway. But if ya like, you can take my snowmobile. Brian: Really? Ya just...give it to us? Canadian: Oh, sure. That's what Canadian hospitality's all aboot. If ya like, you can have all my money and my leg. [pause] Stewie: Okay.

[@countryball-enjoyer]

I love how random this is

[@LDimno]

@@countryball-enjoyer eh it’s not really random

[@masterjayesh3575]

Someone give this man an award for his writing A: a Nobel? eh! Thats triple A without the capitalist part of society

[@Aktokesh]

I just can't read all this comments without looking at EVERY "a" letter

[@paulvinhage836]

Great video. Always love to see people nerding out about the alphabet. A couple misconceptions though. Single story 'a' existed at least since the first century CE, in New Roman Cursive, which formed the basis of many miniscule scripts in the Middle Ages. The ancestor of double story 'a', uncial 'a' existed side-by-side with half-uncial 'a', which is a single story 'a'. Both were used as book scripts in the fourth to eighth centuries. The uncial, double story 'a' becomes the dominant form of the letter from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, but single story 'a' is still regulary used in cursive Gothic scripts. The difference has always been in the speed and ease of writing--double story 'a' was reserved for formal and monumental books like the bible and the classics, single story 'a' used in faster writing environments like the chanceries and schools. The early dominance of double story 'a' in printing was based on the manuscripts used for the basis of cutting fonts. In Gutenberg's case, he had bibles with the double story 'a', so the font he had cut for his press used a double story 'a', like formal Gothic scripts of the time. Niccolo Niccoli's script doesn't really enter printing until fifty years later at the press of Aldus Manutius, who mostly printed classical texts. Thus, the divide you talk about at the end really concerns northern vernaculars (English and German) vs Latin and Italian texts. Yet, you will still find many Latin texts printed with italic fonts north of your line. It is also worth noting that Fraktur, the most German of German fonts, also uses a single story 'a'.

[@spectre-8]

I’ve never heard a native speaker pronounce ‘southern’ like that before @5:48

[@kukuandkookie]

Ahh, I always appreciate how people delve into mundane questions that everyone kind of has! As for myself, I actually write in the double-storey a, mostly because when I was a kid some girls in my class started doing it and I wanted to fit in. Funnily enough, they stopped eventually or we drifted even further apart, yet here I am 10+ years later, still writing in a double-storey a. Honestly, I think it’s pretty cute. 😂 And recently I did also stop writing capital I with the horizontal lines at the top and bottom, and _that_ actually _was_ because I wanted to write faster while writing my university notes ahaha.

[@richiehoyt8487]

Funny - *for my part,* I started to use the two - storey 'a' to *stand out* a bit from the crowd, and as a way of indicating that I was a stylish and 'innaresting' type of guy! Same with crossed '7's, although I *do* think they make a good deal of sense, especially in Continental Europe where those long initial up~strokes on the '1's might easily cause them to be confused with '7's... You're quite right about those upper and lower strokes on the Capital 'I' (What do they call those? Lintels? Pediments? Platforms?) For all that they give it gravitas and stature, they don't half make them fiddly to write if you _are_ in a hurry though! Incidentally, I was (genuinely) surprised to hear that there are students who take notes at 3rd level by hand, I was sure that had gone out a good 25 years ago, or more. Out of curiosity, what do you use - clay tablet and stylus? Knotted llama yarn? ;^) Sorry, I couldn't resist the temptation to pull your leg a little, there..!

[@krisi90]

as a hungarian i ask myself this every day

[@bigtomar]

This is really cool, I wonder, why are 4's sometimes written differently? Is there a history behind it like this one, or is it just random?

[@plater_the_uhhh]

the upside down chair 4 is superior

[@bigtomar]

@@plater_the_uhhh w

[@Gerton999]

I also wonder why g is written differently!

[@klondike3112]

@@Gerton999 This one is what I'm curious about. What is the deal with the 8-like lowercase letter g? I could look it up and almost definitely get a satisfactory answer, but knowing would ruin it for me to be honest.

[@throwawaythrowaway9764]

You missed out the number 9

[@1silenthunder1]

When I started working at a pack and mail shop, I noticed how the single story a could easily become an ‘o’ or ‘d’ if I wrote too fast, which was important for the job. So I started doing a double story to get rid of any mistakes and it’s simply more legible (Changed the way I write other things too but irrelevant to the video)

[@DroughtBee]

Good video, love to see a similar one explaining the two 4s and 9s… and 1s and maybe 2s too… also the 7… just make a video on the numbers please feel like it’d end up really well.

[@MadChristoph]

And two 3's as well

[@georgios_5342]

Wow! Cool story, I had never imagined! In Greek we still kept the same α in typewriting that we normally write

[@carultch]

Is there any specific reason why Greek theta is the de-facto symbol to use for representing angles in mathematics? I can understand alpha for ankulos and gamma for gonia, but how does theta have anything to do with angles? Or is it completely arbitrary?

[@mariemae2774]

3:40 jokes on you, i write with the double-storied a

[@KarstenJohansson]

The single/double story letter efficiency thing is obvious enough (Thanks Da Vinci!) but what about the letter g? I noticed the Lorem Ipsum text uses our modern handwritten g, but there are two of them that you see in fonts. We use a hook going in one direction, but a lot of fonts use a full circle going in the opposite direction. What's up with that?

[@trumpeterjen]

I've been using double-story "a" for years. My penmanship is less than perfect, and I've found it's way too easy to accidentally turn single-story "a" into something else. When you write a double-story "a," there's no mistaking what you wrote, and heaven knows my bad fine motor skills need that.

[@dinodino5602]

+++

[@Whatismusic123]

Completely opposite for me.

[@slovakthrowback3738]

I write not in cursive, so I go with the double decker, and I find that when I'm writing fast, I often make the symbols alpha, a, and 2 look the same, especially 2 and a, since if you make the loop (the first floor) too small, it just looks like the bottom right thingy of a 2

[@RedZeshinX]

I had to change how I wrote "a" to double story in university because when taking notes too quickly in math classes the easier-to-write single story "a" could come out sloppy and get confused with other similarly shaped variables like "g", "d" or "q" on future readings. Double story is very deliberate, distinct and clear so there's no confusion, only time I really use it in handwriting is for math though funny enough lol.

[@singerofsongss]

I did the same kinda thing to my handwriting because of university math class. All my “t”s are curved and my 7s are crossed, and my “x”s look like they’re in cursive. My “a” is distinct enough I think that I kept it single-story though.

[@shutapp9958]

I had to stop using it because when I came to the US, people that saw it said that I was doing the “a” wrongly. It’s just so meh. I also had to stop using cursive because some teachers wouldn’t get it.

[@qwertyTRiG]

In maths, I write my X cursive, like two C's back to back.

[@laiyemoboys9255]

It can also look like a 9.

[@cristiannicolas5349]

This video is: ✔ Life changing ✔ Informative ✔ Inspiring ✔ Heartwarming ✔ Useful ✔calming ✔Enjoyable ✔ Other

[@AceOfStars0]

We all know that one girl that took her sweet time making sure every letter was perfectly even and using the double story

[@2acidic4u]

This is funny, in my handwriting I sometimes write the "double story" a starting from the stem and going up and around, then going down to make a loop that goes back around and finishes the stem, but sometimes it looks like a 2

[@eamonnelliott8444]

I feel like I’m the only one who writes with the double storey a, but as someone who writes I swear that the double storey a is faster.

[@peti010218]

I also write like that and it's definitely faster. But hey, at least our handwriting is unique.

[@caprikosero]

No worries, there are more of us

[@flux.aeterna]

I changed to the double story a as part of my effort to write with more intention & to make my writing a lil more unique. Middle school me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Gandhi_Physique]

Eh, but cursive is even faster

[@goathann1006]

For anyone wondering, the song is 5 P.M. from Animal Crossing: New Leaf :)

[@greteb1951]

Thank you I was literally scrolling through all the comments just for this one

[@moonrisehowler1842]

Thank youuu I really thought it was from club penguin

[@0ee63]

thx. he could have atleast put the song in the description >:|

[@AwesomeHyperSonic547]

I thought it was Animal Crossing New Leaf music! It’s not even credited in the description or video. Oh well, interesting video anyway.

[@hedgehogenglish]

No way!!!!! I just checked it out by writing 'Italics' on my computer and changing it into italics to see the a swap forms. Amazing! Blew my mind. So unreasonably excited about this!

[@The_D0C70R]

For me, there's only one "a". I write my a's identically to the typed version (the double-story a). I'll still write the "single-story a" when I write in cursive though.

[@btat16]

I don't quite understand. You said there's only one version to you, but also that you use both versions?

[@tymondabrowski12]

I'm confused, what do you mean by "when I write in cursive"? Don't you write all things the same way? Or do you by cursive mean "fancy, italic style"? We learned cursive as "normal handwriting", and we didn't learn calligraphy, so the results were only as pretty as much the person wanted to make an effort.

[@The_D0C70R]

@@btat16 To me, the "single-story" is basically "cursive a" but I almost never write in cursive. That's what I meant.

[@The_D0C70R]

@@tymondabrowski12 Cursive is the style of writing designed in a way so that every letter in a word is connected. As a side effect, some letters are differently written. For me, A is one of those letters, since I use a double-story A for print and a single-story A for cursive. I normally write in print, and almost never write in cursive. Thus, I only _really_ use the "double-story a"

[@ivetterodriguez1994]

@@tymondabrowski12 I was taught Palmer Cursive, Zaner Bloser Cursive, or D'Nealian Cursive. Not sure which, but definitely not New American Cursive which s italicized. And cursive doesn't count as calligraphy. And despite knowing cursive I prefer to write notes in print because it's faster for me [ironically].

[@Kaizzer]

Italian here. Everybody use the "single story a" for cursive/italic style, while the "double story a" is usually for Roman/normal style, although I see many people use "single story a" also for that.

[@caballeroarepa9223]

I believe that this is also a thing in languages of latin alphabet. In Spanish this happens as well so...

[@Arqade38]

We also use the single story 'ɑ' . I live in Bangladesh 🇧🇩. We have both double story 'a' and single story 'ɑ' a's in our math book . ' *_a_* ' is used in normal text and ' *_ɑ_* ' is used as an unknown . We usually use this unknowns, *xyz* , *ɑbc* , *pqr* and *mno* .

[@AntiAntiVaxxer2008]

Love your content 👍

[@GavinLiuranium]

Well at least now there’s uses for the 2 different a’s (ey & alpha); in IPA /a/ (ey) represents an open front unrounded vowel while /ɑ/ (alpha) an open back unrounded vowel

[@ThePillowGamer]

“The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg” That one unknown Chinese guy who invented it hundreds of years prior: 🧐

[@namkedi]

His name was Bi Sheng, for everyone who doesn't eanna google that shit

[@ThePillowGamer]

@@namkedi since I have now “googled that shit”, I can accurately say I’m still right. According to the google that I used for “that shit”, Bi Sheng was only ever recorded in one book to have made it. If you were presented with one source, would you believe everything it says? I would certainly not, therefore I still believe he is unknown. Please make sure to “google that shit” further in instead of just skimming the surface next time. Thanks 😊.

[@namkedi]

@@ThePillowGamer damn bro sorry :p

[@rorypatton1678]

bro thought he did sun mmm💀

[@ilebillybobjoe]

Nice argument, however your mother.

[@Jonskipvp]

This is actually very informative! Didn't know this. Very cool!

[@CPS747-8]

I actually write the double-story "a" when writing. Sometimes, though, my hooks aren't curved enough and it can sometimes make it look like a "d." It did used to look like a single-story "a" when I was younger, though.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

That is the point where the long bar on the d starts turning towards the right. Oh the pain to make handwritten g, q and 9 distinguishable.

[@angel_existential]

A is my favorite letter, for obvious reasons. I use the double story a most of the time. I'll use single story if I'm writing in cursive, which for some reason is my go to short hand. Language and writing are such interesting topics!

[@streetzomb69]

wait whats the obvious reason?

[@angel_existential]

@@streetzomb69 my name is Angel.

[@streetzomb69]

@@angel_existential oh.. 😭 my name is Alyssa so I relate!!!

[@billaros1000]

2 a's seemed weird to me for a second, then I remembered there's a bunch of letters you can write differently in my language and I think it always comes does to laziness. Except π. The alternate form is so radically different I can't even begin to guess how it came to be

[@eragonunderhill5545]

i love how you grasp the pencil with your fingers like an alien trying to figure out how to use human appendages.

[@Sandalwoodrk]

I always use double-story A , and I'd never even heard that name for it before

[@ゾカリクゾ]

I think it's written double storey, as in, two "floors" or "levels"

[@bismajoyosumarto1237]

@@ゾカリクゾ Yeah it can be spelled that way too. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, "story" is the North American spelling for the word "storey"

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

@@bismajoyosumarto1237 is there a difference in pronounciation? Even if it's an older one (like "white" vs "height", 'hw' vs 'h') I'd still like to hear about it.

[@ゾカリクゾ]

@@bismajoyosumarto1237 oh makes sense. Thanks

[@bismajoyosumarto1237]

@@xXJ4FARGAMERXx I myself would like to know about that too

[@niek_de_piek]

When you said the single-story a is used when using italic writing, I tried it out. I was completely flabbergasted

[@alicesmith255]

2:00 you …you can write the double story a like you’d write a 6, not like that. fun fact i naturally picked up this double story, then force taught myself to write in single story at one point and later on decided i liked double story better after all and had to train myself back.

[@jameslaylyn]

2:35 You understand why computers use the double story a here; like this: “a” The lazy version of the a without the upside down j became mainstream but the “a” is still used today in computers.

[@squishyrocks1557]

I've been practicing the keyboard a on paper because I didn't know which I should use

[@avr4h]

When? When did that occur?

[@squishyrocks1557]

@@avr4h I've had it in the back of my head how the keyboard a looks like for a while, but only tried implementing it a couple weeks ago.

[@avr4h]

@@squishyrocks1557 haha I'm sorry, but I seem to have misunderstood you. I'll ask this instead: why would you think you should use the double-storey A?

[@squishyrocks1557]

​@@avr4h It's mainly for fun. It makes the words fancier and more intelligible. When I write the single story a, it sometimes looks more like a 9.

[@irishakita]

I use the keyboard one more often, it's easier to get right when you are writing in print

[@GriffintheGuy]

Concise and informative, great video

[@elijahsmall5873]

This was a very interesting video especially for a person like me who's really interested in languages and the history behind each of them. Now I'm interested in why we have two "t"s. Probably for the same reasons as the two "a"s. 🙂

[@EHMM]

Really?

[@elijahsmall5873]

@@EHMM yeah

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

What does the second t look like? I'm only aware of this 't' with a stem and a very short crossing line at the top

[@elijahsmall5873]

@@xXJ4FARGAMERXx It looks basically like a cross with not curve at the bottom. You know what I mean.

[@qvindicator]

What’s the other t? There is only one

[@yourlocalnoob4938]

i literally never realized there were two different forms of a, like, i just got so used to seeing both that i just thought "yeah, thats an a" anytime i saw either and never processed that they were different.

[@coberaleo3583]

The title was double meaning 😂

[@Drevo-1219]

💀damn

[@Jack-496]

Great video! Do something like this but for numbers! 2, 4, and 7 to some extent, all have different versions.

[@kosinusify]

Never thought I'd be so interested in basic questions of typography

[@aggebojkalos6518]

What other version does 2 have?

[@Jack-496]

@@aggebojkalos6518 One has a loop at the bottom, the other is more like an uppercase z.

[@joeymendoza1133]

Never really thought too deep about it, but I write in all capital letters 90% of the time, and differentiate the true "capital" letters by making them physically larger. I feel like it looks the most ?symmetrical? (if that makes sense) and legible if I am writing notes. I was taught in school to use the single story, but through an interest in handstyles and calligraphy - I have adapted to using the double story "a" in the 10% of lowercase writing that I use.

[@JivanPal]

In other words, you write in "small caps" style.