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It seems normal to me to speak of the angle of handwriting as slanting forwards or backwards, corresponding to slash and backslash. Most people’s handwriting is angled either upright or slightly forwards—leaning into the writing; backwards is uncommon.

The way I remember it is to think of the slash as a little person facing to the right (the direction that text flows). Is the person leaning forward or backward?

How often do you use this device?

I feel like I hardly understand the idea, because a / and \ is just as distinct as a b and a p. We don't make mnemonics for those?

Naturally, the occurrence rate of b and p in people's experience, as well as the circumstances in which they are semantically distinct, are also relevant...

Yeah, honestly not very often. Mostly they're second nature to me. I mainly just think of it when there's a topic of / vs \ like in this thread.

You now have me wondering whether I have, at any point in my lifetime, written a backslash with a pen. It's an interesting thought that possibly I never have.

Never had to write down a DOS or Windows path?