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How can you quickly pick out all the alephs on a page of Hebrew printed text?

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Dare I ask how this came up? – Shalom Dec 23 '09 at 18:00
You may so dare. – Isaac Moses Dec 23 '09 at 18:18
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Close? Will anyone without an answer ask this? – msh210♦ Dec 27 '11 at 9:28
@msh210: {petulantly} Maybe someone would. – Isaac Moses Dec 27 '11 at 15:20

1 Answer

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Turn the lower-right corner of the text toward you and up toward your eyes, so that you'll be looking at the text from an oblique angle. The alephs will seem to pop out of the page. I think it's because they uniquely have a major line running top-left to bottom-right.

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What were you doing when you noticed this? Is there a practical application? – Bas613 Dec 23 '09 at 18:05
I noticed it years ago in shul. I don't remember why I was looking diagonally and obliquely at my siddur, but I was. I don't think I've ever had a practical need to pick out all the alephs on a page, but I'm sure such needs exist from time to time. – Isaac Moses Dec 23 '09 at 18:17
It sometimes works with tzadis too, although the angle of declension can vary with fonts. – WAF Dec 24 '09 at 3:59
WAF, did you notice this phenomenon independently? – Isaac Moses Dec 24 '09 at 5:04

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