Crossing sevens.

Falcon said:
When handwriting, why do some people cross the numeral seven (7)?

It's not crossed on the keyboard.
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This may or may not be the reason, I remember from my service days we crossed a seven to distinguish it from a one (1) and put a slash through a zero (0) to distinguish it from an o.
 
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Exactly, Son of Perdition; I always cross mine so that they can not be confused with anything else....this can be important in Pharmacy!
 

Crossing 7s mainly comes from mainland Europe. Most don't do it in the UK (I invariably do!) bur nearly every country on the mainland does.

Most of them also write figure 1 with the slight upstroke at the top, just as it is printed here, to avoid confusion with sans seirif upper case I or lower case l.

Probably another of Napoleon's foibles, like the metric system and driving on the right!
 
I deal with part numbers all day, it is necessary when hand writing to cross the 7 to ensure it's not mistaken for a 1 or an I, and put the slash through the 0 so it is not mistaken for an O. Keyboard type is clear when it comes to these numbers and letters. Handwriting, not so much.
 
Thanks for the responses. I think that Laurie came pretty close to my way of thinking; the little upstroke at the top.

I also agree that it's probably most Europeans who do it.

I also believe that SOME folks do it without knowing why but think it's kind of cute.
 

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