Why Cursed Texts Might Hinder Your Writing

Wondering whether that is a new pandemic in writing?

No, not at all. This might just be another element of creative work.

You can surprise friends with unique writing.

If you have always thought about how different or unique your content can be? Zalgo has got to make a difference.

This is noticeably another passion where I am writing an article about a topic that nobody has ever talked about on Medium. True. Results just came out.

The last time I did this was last year when I wrote about how to make hundreds of money from Google Maps and it was my first article to go viral.

So, here I am again today with a new idea. Writing using distorted texts.

We both love to witness uniqueness.

Attributed to productivity, cursed texts bring us into today’s discussion.

This may also be regarded as a form of creativity. It makes writing more creative especially when the texts are messed up creating heavy captivation, good audience retention, and admiration.

With cursed texts, readers have to take time to interpret statements. Given a group of words, — “WE LOVE YOU”, it seems like one word or rather, one sentence. This is how they appear when messed up.

山乇 ㄥㄖᐯ乇 ㄚㄖㄩ•

I played around with those few words but guess what, the full stop could not be distorted so, I added a big bold/ complete full stop.

I know that someone out there is holding their chin and wondering— “cursed texts”? What the hell is it? Cursed texts are also written texts.

What exactly are cursed texts anyway?

Also, known as distorted / demonic/satanic texts.

They are distorted glitchy texts formed by combining digital characters and diacritical marks with letters/symbols using Unicode.

For example,

This type of text is often used in art. The art of drawing using cursed texts is known as cursed text art. In some cases, cursed texts, also known as Zalgo texts are used to impair or cause computers to stop functioning. (malicious damage.)

Can cursed text impair my writing?

It may or may not. Now, let me explain that. Just a quick a little history here.

In 2004, with a global increase in access to the internet, one of the members of the forum, — “Something is Awful” developed cartoon characters using image macros.

In his images, he used different text styles to come up with a clear print of the artwork, and the images contained distorted texts on them.

The name “Zalgo” therefore emerged and cursed texts came in a trending discovery. Cursed text, therefore, is a description of Zalgo texts. Members of the forum used to interpret the cartoons as unique and apocalyptic figures.

Zalgo texts have continued to be in use up to today.

I believe this is how the icon/avatar of one of the early portable windows operating systems —Unix was created.

Unix’s creation dates back to the early 1970s when Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie were building a GE-645 mainframe computer. During the initial stages of the project, they worked as a team.

When nothing seemed to get done, a majority of their colleagues left the project. Thompson and Ritchie had to switch their mindset. They decide to venture into something simplified. A project whose cost was minimal and manageable by four people. And they came up with Unics which later changed to Unix.

During the innovation process, these guys are said to have also used diacritic symbols and Unicode to create a multi-tasking project that runs well-defined functions using only one language,– (C language.)

Initially, cursed texts were only used in art and computer graphics.

Today, with the modern or modified Zalgo texts, people can practice malicious damages like creating mobile App crushers and hacking computer systems.

iOS phone users are the most affected because very often, they can’t read text messages that contain distorted texts.

Some internet users especially those with the knowledge of Code prefer using cursed texts.

As a writer If they happen to drop a comment on your stories, if it’s not in the modified cursed texts, it brings an issue with the algorithm. Be observant with comments that people write on your stories because some of them use those texts carelessly.

Can I use cursed texts in my articles?

Yes.

You can use cursed/distorted texts which do not contain Unicode. A category of cursed texts that do not have any impact on the algorithm. For example,

𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔲𝔰𝔢 𝔠𝔲𝔯𝔰𝔢𝔡/𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔱𝔢𝔵𝔱𝔰 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔡𝔬 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔦𝔫 𝔘𝔫𝔦𝔠𝔬𝔡𝔢.

These texts are created by simply altering the font style to something else.

With the modified version of Zalgo/cursed texts, we can use them in articles or when we need to communicate on various internet platforms especially, —Social Media.

The example that I gave above is one of the finest distortions of texts.

I chose it because it makes the letters readable and eliminates diacritic symbols. There is no Unicode therefore, making it safe for use across all platforms and all mobile Apps like Medium.

Ways of using cursed texts.

There are various ways of using this kind of text but the two that I have cited may be very effective are;-

• Using cursed texts in place of illustrations or pictures.
• Cursed texts may be used to highlight key areas of an article.

How to use Zalgo/ Cursed texts in your writing.

To use cursed texts, you must know what you want them for. For example, If I'm using it in my writing, I want to impress readers and be unique.

There are two ways to go about this. Let’s start with the complex way — typing keys.

Hold the Alt key. Type any four-digit number beginning with zero, using the number pad, not the number keys. Release the Alt key. To get into detail on this, I suggest you follow this guide so you can learn what exactly is to be done.

The other way is a bit simplified. You can use a text generator to get distorted texts. Here, you find a variety of styles to choose from to avoid the creepy types which are only suitable for artwork.

Listen in, Jeof Ogire, is a very dedicated perfectionist, a father, a filmmaking practitioner, and an inspirational creative writer but above all, he is a teacher;– lives in Uganda, the “Pearl Of Africa.” Visit my LinkedIn profile.

You can also buy me a Ko-fi to support the work using that link.🙌🖕🖕