Block letters are a form of writing in which the letters are upright, separated, and usually made without serifs. In English-speaking countries children are first taught to write in block letters (also called printed letters), and later may advance to cursive (joined) writing. Other countries (Poland, Italy, etc.) focus on cursive writing from the first grade. On official forms, one is often asked to write in block capital letters. This is because cursive handwriting, and especially signatures, can be hard to read. It is often misconstrued that one must write in capital letters when writing in block letters.
In at least one court case involving patents, trademarks and registration of designs, the term "block letters" was found to include both upper and lower case. (Fossil Inc v The Fossil Group )
In typography, the term block letters is applied to crude fonts formed by cutting a material such as wood or metal without the sophistication usually associated with professional type design in typography.
Famous quotes containing the words block and/or letters:
“The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem.... I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”
—Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968)
“And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written her fair neck round about:
“Noli me tangere for Caesar’s I am,
And wild for to hold though I seem tame.””
—Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503?–1542)