[OS X TeX] Re: MacOSX-TeX Digest, Vol 34, Issue 8

[James Crippen]

On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 22:50, Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa at web.de> wrote:
> PTeX is a mostly Japanase variant to also be able to typeset top-down, right
> to left (were folks then all left-handed that they started to write, in
> columns, from right to left that they did not have to lay their hands on the
> just written ans still humid text?).

Traditionally writing in East Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese,
Korean, Vietnamese) is done with a brush and ink. When writing this
way, one’s arm and hand never touch the paper. The brush is held
vertically and one’s elbow is up in the air. Thus there’s no worry
about smearing the ink. It takes more effort perhaps, but the results
are quite beautiful.

There is however a risk of dragging one’s sleeve through the ink. This
is why learners tie up their sleeves and experts are just good at not
getting their sleeves on the writing. Modern clothing has tight
sleeves so it’s not as much of a problem.

Mongolian writing is vertical as well, but from left to right. This is
because it was originally something like Arabic, horizontal and right
to left, but then the entire writing system was turned 90°
counter-clockwise.

Cheers,
James