block letter

Block letters may mean any of the following :

• In America they are simple letters that children are taught to write in first grade. They have no serifs and are upright. The name presumably comes from their appearance on wooden blocks that children play with, although these often use conventional Roman typeforms. Deriving from this usage, “block letters” any crude serif or sans-serif font that is formed by cutting a material such as wood or metal without the finer-artistry sophistication usually associated with professional type design in typography.

• On official forms, when one is asked to write one's name, the request is usually made to write entirely in capital letters (block 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. Contrary to popular belief, and requests from Treasury, block letters can be written in both upper and lower case, at the writer's discretion. Cases such as Fossil Inc v The Fossil Group involving patents, trademarks and registration of designs clearly indicate that block letters may comprise of either lower or upper case.

• A style of business letter format in which the text is fully left-aligned and contains double-spacing between paragraphs instead of having indentations.

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