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National Handwriting Day was established by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association in 1977. Their motive is to promote the consumption of pens, pencils and writing paper. January 23rd was chosen as this is the birthday of John Hancock. John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Handwriting refers to a person's unique style of writing characters created with a writing utensil such as a pen or pencil. Handwriting is separate from calligraphy or typeface.

Because each person's handwriting is unique, it can be used to verify a document's writer. The deterioration of a person's handwriting is also a symptom or result of certain diseases. Even identical twins write differently. A person's handwriting is also relatively stable and changes little over time. Because handwriting is relatively stable, a change in the handwriting can be indicative of the nervousness or intoxication of the writer.

Handwriting that is hard to read or unreadable due to the deformity, or illegibility of characters is commonly called worst. A common stereotype is that doctors have bad handwriting. According to Time, doctors' sloppy handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually.