Chapter 1: The Nature of the Letter G

Do you recognize how the letter G appears? Are you certain of its form?

What if I mentioned that the lowercase letter g has two distinct versions? Would you regard me with disbelief?

Quickly, can you identify which one is the correct form?

Let’s examine it in printed context.

At the top, we have the Corporative font, and at the bottom, the Antic font, both designed using Canva. You’ve likely encountered both forms throughout your life without realizing their differences. The looped g is prevalent in fonts like Times New Roman and Calibri, whereas the fish-hook g is typically seen in Helvetica and Arial.

In 2018, a study conducted by researchers from the Department of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University investigated this phenomenon.

In one experiment, they asked 38 participants to list any letters that have dual lowercase forms in print. Surprisingly, only two individuals mentioned "g," and only one could accurately illustrate it. However, despite this, most people easily recognize the letter in its printed form, often overlooking its variations across different fonts.

In another part of the study, participants read words featuring the letter g, which was presented in a looped form. Subsequently, they were asked to replicate the letter in handwriting. Interestingly, most individuals wrote it in the fish-hook style, highlighting a common tendency: the looped g dominates in printed text, while the fish-hook g is favored in handwriting.

A further experiment involved the images showcased at the beginning of this piece, where more than half of the participants struggled to identify the correct version of g.

(The correct one was the third option.)

Researchers believe this discrepancy arises from the brain's efficiency in processing and storing information. As long as we can recognize the letter g in print, we seldom question, “Wait, that’s not how I learned to write it in school,” so we simply don’t.