Crossed Number 7

[hydrolad]

When I was a very young child, maybe 4 or 5, having just learned to do my numbers, when my Nursery School owner, noticed that I was writing the Number 7 all wrong, she said.

Instead of writing like her and others, out of the clear blue sky, I would write the number 7 and then cross the descending element (7 then -), just like some students being taught in Catholic schools and persons of European origin, but I was not Catholic nor had I lived/studied in Europe.

Everyone debated on what to do, and it was finally decided to leave me alone with my crossed Number 7, since it was not hurting anybody.

Perhaps this was a "throwback" to a previous life where they did this, and to this day, I still do that.

I hope this is the correct area for this post, if not, please feel free to move it elsewhere.

 

[argonne1918]

Instead of writing like her and others, out of the clear blue sky, I would write the number 7 and then cross the descending element (7 then -), just like some students being taught in Catholic schools and persons of European origin, but I was not Catholic nor had I lived/studied in Europe. Perhaps this was a "throwback" to a previous life where they did this, and to this day, I still do that.

I'm sure it is from a past life. Maybe you can explore that sometime. How long have Europeans been crossing 7's? I know the Germans have been doing it for a long time. British? French? Italians? Maybe I'll search on the internet and see what I find.

 

[Edelweiss]

I have found that this is actually a common practice (I've seen preschool/kindergarten teachers teach it that way too). I do it, and I know many others who do it. I also have family and friends who are catholic and they've said that they were never taught this. It's also the scientific way of writing a 7, and also many people and places use this method to differentiate between a 1 and 7.


It may or may not be past life related, I guess it depends on the situation.

 

[BriarRose]

If you wrote it that way at five, Hydrolad, it seems more past life related to me. I thought British people crossed their sevens. Eidelweis' point that scientists do that, touched a cord. From reading your posts, a Pl where you were a scientist entirely makes sense.

 

[kmatjhwy]

Hydrolad, very interesting and thanks for posting. At such a young age, could very well be past life related. It is little things like this which stand out for me in being past life related. Little things which many will shrug off but are actually such clues to the last previous life. I love of hearing of such little things like this.

 

[argonne1918]

I know many people, including myself at times, who cross their sevens. But until recently that was not very common in the U.S. And the fact that hydrolad's teachers asked why they did it led me to believe it was probably PL related. You're right, it's the little things that often stand out.

 

[Red Night]

I do, but I notice that so do a lot of people. That's why I started, I noticed so many of the other kids in school doing it when I was about twelve that I just starting copying them.


But if you were just doing it out of the blue, then yeah, it's probably PL related.

 

[BriarRose]

Age has bearing on this subject. I think Hydrolad and I are age contemporaries, and I don't remember seeing that custom before I was an adult.

 

[flashback]

i used to draw number 7 like that, i think that i learned in school, but i stoped doing that, as an adult, i never thought that was unusual. nowadays i think nobody do that anymore.

 

[argonne1918]

Age has bearing on this subject. I think Hydrolad and I are age contemporaries, and I don't remember seeing that custom before I was an adult.

When I was going to school in the 50's and 60's I never saw anyone cross their sevens, except for a few people who grew up in Europe. Not even math or science teachers. I think it's more common now because we are not as isolated as we used to be. With jet travel common, the internet, more immigration, etc. I now sometimes even slash my "zeros". I wish more people did this. Trying to decipher tiny software install codes can be very frustrating when the "0" looks like "O".

 

[Sister Grey]

It’s also used in radio, air traffic logs, etc., etc. I went to grade school in the ‘50’s, some kids were doing it, I know some of them had relatives in Europe, and many had returning soldiers for dads. I remember one kid saying he figured the teacher would tell him it was wrong and thus he’d get to tell her she was wrong, but she’d seen it all before and wasn’t at all flummoxed.

 

[Shiftkitty]

I don't know the OP's age, but is it possible that before starting school they may have seen a scientific article or something that contained a crossed 7 and just remembered the style without remembering (let alone understanding) the article?


I slashed my zeroes very early on, recalling only later that I had seen it in a science book before starting school. (No book was off limits to us, and even if we didn't understand what we were reading, it was fun to watch the grown-ups reactions to see us, toddlers, flipping through books on behavioral psychology and studies in thermodynamics...)

 

[helz_belz]

I thought British people crossed their sevens

As a Brit born and bred, I just thought I'd add that crossing the 7 is quite rare here. I've never done it and have only come across a few people who do. I'd guess maybe 1 in 10 people here cross their 7s.


however, Wikipedia has this to say about crossing the 7, which would explain the European connection people are mentioning:

Most people in Continental Europe and Latin America write 7 with a line in the middle ("7"), sometimes with the top line crooked. The line through the middle is useful to clearly differentiate the character from the number one, as these can appear similar when written in certain styles of handwriting. This glyph is used in official handwriting rules for primary school in Russia, Ukraine and other Slavic countries, as well as in France and Romania

 

[Shiftkitty]

Thanks for the info. I had read that it was a German thing, but started seeing it in documents from the more eastern countries. Given some people's penmanship, I really appreciate it when things are done to make figures more clear! (Glares at the numerous dentists who work with our company...)