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#21071 03/04/01 07:40 PM
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I am brand new to the site but I offer this as "fear of dyslexia"


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Welcome, storkie, I am sure you will enjoy your time here. It seems to me that aixelsdyd aibohp might almost be too highly structured for "dyslexia phobia". Have you tried running it through Anu's Anagram server? You would probably get some very entertaining possibilities with that collection of letters.


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Dear storkie1: I forget the word for spelling things backward, and welcome some other poster's refreshing my memory. Dyslexia is a cruel affliction, but if you are not born with it, it is unlikely to develop.So it need not be feared. Unless losing your glasses would fit the definition.


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I don't get the extra "d"


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aixelsdyd aibohp--- I don't get the extra "d"

The problem that afflicts us all from time to time?
FFS = Fumble Fingers Syndrome
wow


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Orthography is a second meaning of spelling. So to coin a word, would retrography mean spelling backwards?

I spent quite a bit of time looking for "retrography". In one place it was equated with "mirror writing". But in mirror writing, the letters would also be reversed, so it is not satisfactory definition.

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It's a well-known fact that Leonardo da Vinci wrote backwards and left-right reversed, as seen in a mirror. Apparently he wrote that way all the time. Was this some form of dyslexia (or more correctly, dysgraphia), do you know?


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Dear Bobyoungbalt: I have read that Leonardo did his mirror writing to make it more difficult for anyone else to steal his ideas. I marvel that he was actually able to do this readily. But since the pages could have been read using a mirror, it does not seem worth the trouble.
I am still unable to find a definition for spelling words backwards. It is common enough that it is surprising that a word for it is not readily available.


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It should be noted that Leonardo was left-handed.


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Dear Anna: To be sure lefties have trouble getting into wet ink if they write like righties. But Leonardo is the only person I ever heard of taking such a difficult method of solving this problem.
Incidentally I have long wondered if the unusual smile on Mona Lisa's face was a response to Leonardo's alleged problem with sexual identification.She looks as though she were privately a bit scornful of him.


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Was this some form of dyslexia (or more correctly, dysgraphia), do you know?

As another person noted, it's a good chance he wrote as he did to hid his ideas and inventions. On top of that, though, is the fact that he studied things that were outlaw at the time. Like cutting up cadavers to gain anatomical knowledge (he had to sneak them into his place for study). The favor of nobles isn't enough if you're crossing the current day boundries of taste, religion and law.

From studying him, I can just imagine how lonely a person he was, being unable to express what he understood about science, engineering, biology, etc.

Ali

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I marvel that he was actually able to do this readily. But since the pages could have been read using a mirror, it does not seem worth the trouble.

Have you ever actually tried it? I find it quite easy. Start with printing, not writing, although writing is possible. I'm not too fast at it but I haven't exactly worked at it. And I'm right-handed, just for the record. It was something I wanted to try!


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Backward block printing may be easy, but backward cursive would be accursedly difficult.


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backward cursive would be accursedly difficult.

Okay, I see the pun, but honestly, backward cursive is not too bad. You just have to force yourself to remember how they originally taught you to form cursive letters. Break it down into a few strokes, in a certain order, per letter, just like in elementary school. It does speed up after a while. Impossible to demonstrate online!


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In reply to:

I can just imagine how lonely a person he was



You've got that right, Seian. He must have had an IQ in the stratosphere, along with the inquiring disposition to go with it. You would have to be lonely if there is no other person in the world with whom you could have a conversation on anything approaching intellectual parity.


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