History Main / TheIllegible

* WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} once lost his diar-[[InsistentTerminology journal]] in which he writes the events of every episode. It's picked up by [[TheBully Roger]], seemingly the worst person who could find it, but Roger gives it back unread, simply because he can't make out a word of Doug's cursive handwriting.

* When Sally needs help in class during chapter two of ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'', Undine says she'd offer her notes but Sally always makes fun of her handwriting. Sally replies that it's less "make fun of" and more "legitimately can't read". When shown, Undine's writing is improbably fancy.

* TheNineties' Canadian dub of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' badly Bowdlerized the series as a whole, including calling the Japanese symbols written by Sailor Moon herself "squiggly handwriting" in one instance where the viewers got to see what she'd written (when it wasn't shown, characters would instead comment that she couldn't spell very well or used horrible grammar). This is partly due to a LostInTranslation issue since not too many people are familiar with Japanese writing. In a way, this is actually a brilliant adaptation: a way to convey a similar concept in English. In the original Japanese, Usagi is known to be academically inept, so her writing, while mostly legible, has lousy grammar: namely, she either avoids using Kanji or uses the wrong ones. The Viz dub takes a different but still-quite-adaptive approach: changing the focus from the lack of Kanji to the idea said lack demonstrates that Usagi has the writing aptitude ''of a kindergartner''.

This attribute is often associated with doctors, lawyers and other professionals, as well as English teachers and secretaries.

* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': There is an ''Uncle Scrooge'' comic that had Scrooge finding an old IOU and being unable to make out the signature (it didn't help that he had broken his glasses). He starts tracking down people he thinks it could be, but finds that he owes each of them money. He eventually realizes that the signature is his own and it was an IOU he wrote to himself.

* In ''Literature/FireEngineByMistake'', the titular mistake happens because of the factory works manager's habit of writing 8's which look like 6's.

* ''Literature/InTwoWorlds'': [[TheSpeechless Anthony]] has made a few attempts at communicating through writing, but his motor skills are so bad that the results look like he was using a five-foot long pencil.

* According to Lobsang in ''Literature/TheLongEarth'', attempts to understand Willis Linsay's notes on alternate Earths have fallen foul of the man's handwriting as much as the fact he was inventing his own mathematics as he went along, and then writing that in code.

* During a "Teach Me, Ms Litchi" segment of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', Ragna says that Taokaka's handwriting looks like chickenscratch.

* Doctors are notorious for having illegible handwriting. [[http://www.bmj.com/archive/7072ww3.htm There are studies]] that show doctors do not write any more or less legibly than other professionals, but the consequences for illegible writing are much more severe. A popular alternative explanation is that it's an extension of skills learned in medical school, where students must take a lot of notes very quickly. The illegible handwriting is an unfortunate side effect. In any event, illegible handwriting is one of the reasons why there's a strong push for computerized medical records, charts and prescriptions.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'': Carver's terrible handwriting is a RunningGag throughout the series. One episode featured Carver attempting to send notes to their favourite band, Chum Bukkit, in various ways. The band interpreted every one as some bizzare new lyric suggestions.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', the police are unable to tell whether Rorschach's journal is written in some elaborate code or it's just that his handwriting is totally illegible. That said, the newspaper he mails the backup copy of his journal to doesn't have any trouble reading it, so maybe the problem only occurs when he's writing quickly because he's on the job instead of taking his time.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'': Carver's terrible handwriting is a RunningGag throughout the series. One episode featured him attempting to send fan mail to their favourite band, Chum Bukkit, in various ways. The band interpreted every note as some bizarre new lyric suggestions.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'': This is StudentCouncilPresident Robert Chestnut's biggest character flaw. Vallejo jokes that He used to be called "Officer Chickenscratch" while he was a Safety Patroller, and the autograph he gave O'Farrell was read as "Romblo Chmangey". [[spoiler:This was also his motivation for committing the crime of the episode: His poor penmanship botched an order for some novelty foam "We're #1" lobster claws so they instead read ''"We'ne #7"''. To avoid the shame and embarrassment of this getting out, he discreetly disposed of the faulty shipment and made it look like they'd been stolen by a rival while he quietly ordered a replacement.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'': Carver's terrible handwriting is a RunningGag throughout the series. One episode featured Carver attempting to send notes to their favourite band, Chum Bukkit, in various ways. The band interpreted every one as some bizzare new lyric suggestions.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'': This is StudentCouncilPresident Robert Chestnut's biggest character flaw. Vallejo jokes that He used to be called "Officer Chickenscratch" while he was a Safety Patroller, and the autograph he gave O'Farrell was read as "Romblo Chmangey". [[spoiler:This was also his motivation for committing the crime of the episode: His poor penmanship botched an order for some novelty foam "We're #1" lobster claws so they instead read ''"We'ne #7"''. To avoid staining his perfect image and shaming his family's legacy, he discreetly disposed of the faulty shipment and made it look like they'd been stolen by a rival while he quietly ordered a replacement.]]

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' featured Carver attempting to send notes to Chum Bukkit [a band] in various ways. They read these as obscure new lyrics.
** Carver's terrible handwriting is a RunningGag throughout the series.

* Nova from ''Literature/PlanetEarthIsBlue'' is believed to be incapable of reading in writing. In fact, she can write, but her older sister Bridget is the only person who can read her handwriting. To everyone else, it just looks like meaningless scribbles.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', the police are unable to tell whether Rorschach's journal is written in some elaborate code or it's just that his handwriting is totally illegible.

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[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/SleeplessDomain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/undine_handwriting.png]]]]

* In ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'', Endou Daisuke's handwriting is outright ''shown'' to be completely illegible, and at least one character initially mistakes it for some elaborate secret code. The only other person who could read it is his grandson Endou Mamoru, and even this comes as a big shock to everyone else at first. Later, [[spoiler:Kudou Fuyuka]] comes along and can also read it; this turns out to be foreshadowing another plot point much, ''much'' later down the road.
** In ''Inazuma Eleven GO Chrono Stone'', Fei and Wondeba mention in their time (200 years in the future), there's a famous artifact book known to the people of the future as the "Holy Book of Champions" and stored in a museum under the tightest security. It's thought that the information contained in it was so powerful that it had to be written in code lest it fall into the wrong hands, and nobody had ever been able to decode it. Upon seeing it, several characters comment that it doesn't even look like writing at all. Turns out it was just extremely bad handwriting - [[spoiler:belonging to Endou Daisuke]], no less.
* In ''Manga/ChibiMarukoChan'', two classmates of Maruko are known to have bad handwriting.

* Kuroh says this about Shiro's handwriting in ''Anime/{{K}}'', which gives them an excuse to call Kukuri and ask her what she told them to buy [[spoiler: and find out her memory has been altered when she doesn't remember them]], but it also foreshadows that Shiro [[spoiler: might not be used to writing in Japanese]].

* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': There is an ''Uncle Scrooge'' comic that had Scrooge finding an old IOU and being unable to make out the signature. He starts tracking down people he thinks it could be, but finds that he owes each of them money. He eventually realizes that the signature is his own and it was an IOU he wrote to himself.

* This was a ''ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible'' strip once. Hagar, who's illiterate, wishes he could read the prescription a doctor gave him. So does the pharmacist (or whatever he is, since he's in the Viking age).

* Inverted in the Franchise/HarryPotter fic ''Where Shadows Go'', when the partner in Snape's Healer practice jokes that Snape can't be a "real doctor" because his handwriting is too ''legible''.
* In another Harry Potter fic, ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/4710065/chapters/10756880 Run that by me again?]]'', Hermione knows that Harry didn't enter himself in the Triwizard Tournament because the handwriting on the note is legible.
* In ''Fanfic/TheFirstSaniwa'', Yaobikuni is noted to write in all kanji, which is atypical of Heian women, in an indecipherable penmanship. Bonus points for her playing a medic/scientist role.

* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': Discussed in chapter 7, the fourth story, ''The Diplomat's Life''. As in canon, Starswirl's hornwriting in his journal is pretty bad, but Starlight's seen worse and can actually understand it (and later, she starts copying it over to give the others an easier time of reading it). Meanwhile, Spike notes that one of Fluttershy's chickens could probably write clearer, and Tempest asks how Starswirl himself could understand it.

* Hagrid from ''Literature/HarryPotter'' has a primitive, childish handwriting due to the lack of education. (Also, giant hands.)

* ''Literature/HowlsMovingCastle'': It has been pointed out by Sophie and other characters that Howl cannot write in a way that another human being could read.
* In one of Betty Neels' romance novels, her heroine is very frustrated while trying to read the hero's writing and claims it looks like a spider fell in the inkwell and walked across the paper. Yes, the hero is a doctor.

* In ''Literature/{{Shtum}}'', [[spoiler:Georg's cancer destroys his ability to write beautiful cursive]]. His writing looks like it was done by a four-year-old on the Tube.
* ''Literature/InTwoWorlds'': [[TheSpeechless Anthony]] has made a few attempts at communicating through writing, but his motor skills are so bad that the results look like he was using a five-foot long pencil.
* In ''Literature/ExperimentalFilm'', Wrob Barney's handwriting is extremely hard to read, which isn't helped by what he calls uncontrollable hypographic pornocentrism, meaning a tendency to make sex-related misspellings.
* ''Literature/AKindOfSpark'': Thanks to her motor control problems, Addie has extremely poor handwriting, which results in Miss Murphy ripping up her story, throwing it away, and screaming at her for writing "lazily."
* ''Literature/IfIFallIfIDie'': When Will starts school, his cursive resembles a seismogram. When he learns how to print legibly, his teacher calls it a minor miracle.

* ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' riffs on the old "illegible doctor's handwriting" concept. Larry spends the night with a doctor, which is oddly reminiscent of a doctor's exam from start to finish. In the morning, she leaves him a note that he can't read. He eventually realizes that the only people who can read doctors' notes are pharmacists, so he takes it to a pharmacist to read it to him, which causes a comical misunderstanding.
* Chris Kattan's recurring character Suel Forrester on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' is TheUnintelligible, so people sometimes ask him to write down what he's saying, but his writing is no more comprehensible than his speech.

* A meta-example: Some earlier games by Creator/{{CAVE}} and Creator/{{Atlus}} had a copyright notice written in [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish perfect English]], except for the last sentence which read "Violator and subject to severe penalties and will be prosecutedt to the full extent of the jam." Over a decade later, CAVE's current CCO Tsuneki Ikeda conjectured that this was due to someone on their legal team having bad handwriting, since "law" ''can'' look like "jam" if the handwriting's messy enough.
* During a "Teach Me, Ms Litchi" segment of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', Ragna says that Taokaka's handwriting looks like chickenscratch.
* In the Trainer House in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', there's a book on the table on the ground floor. Upon reading it, your player makes a mental remark about how the writing looks like Onix tracks.

* [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]]: Principal Skinner showed him an "obviously fake" parental note that Bart had turned in, but discovered that [[http://springfieldfiles.com/albums/notes/0244.JPG Homer's handwriting really was that poor.]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' featured Carver attempting to send notes to Chum Bukkit [a band] in various ways. They read these as obscure new lyrics.
** Carver's terrible handwriting is a RunningGag throughout the series.
* WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} once lost his diar-[[InsistentTerminology journal]] in which he writes the events of every episode. It's picked up by [[TheBully Roger]], seemingly the worst person who could find it, but Roger gives it back unread, simply because he can't make out a word of Doug's cursive handwriting.
-->'''Roger:''' You call this handwriting? It's nothing but chicken scratches! If I were you, pal, I'd learn how to type, fast!

* TJ in ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' once got himself allowed to chew gum at school by presenting a fake doctor's note that was intentionally illegible, allowing him to fast-talk his way into having gingivitis and being prescribed medicinal gum.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'', General Specific's handwriting is implied to be this. Farmer John claims that it "looks like a chicken walked in ink."

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Steven tries having [[spoiler:a partially-healed Centipeedle]] write something, and she produces a bunch of scribbles. Except [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue she was writing in the Gem language]], which Pearl notes is surprisingly legible.
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', Buff Frog has extremely poor handwriting, which becomes a plot point when he sends Star a letter warning her of [[BigBad Ludo's]] return, but since she couldn't read it, she was completely unprepared. When confronted about it, he says he never went to school.

* It has been pointed out by Sophie and other characters that [[Literature/HowlsMovingCastle Howl]] cannot write in a way that another human being could read.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/illegible_8187.jpg]]

--> '''Minako''': ''(displaying the letter)'' It looks like ''a child'' wrote it!

* Inverted in the Franchise/{{Harry Potter}} fic ''Where Shadows Go'', when the partner in Snape's Healer practice jokes that Snape can't be a "real doctor" because his handwriting is too ''legible''.

* The Asian [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive_script_(East_Asia) cursive script]].