2006-10-21 09:40:09 · 7 answers · asked by deli_cate2 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Other - Arts & Humanities
It is believed to go back to Roman times and the Latin word for truth. The history of the checkmark goes back to the ancient Romans: When keeping checklists, they marked the items that they had checked with a V, standing for the Latin word veritas ("truth").
Another theory suggests that it comes from the use of fountain pens. A fountain pen (a "self-filling pen" not a dip pen or a quill pen) would not always start flowing ink without some initial action. The downstroke of the pen's nib was enough to get the ink flowing and then the ink was available for the upstroke
2006-10-21 10:00:45 · answer #1 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A tick mark has been used for centuries, when counting, etc. As for the shape, it's probably because it's an easy character to write.
A check-mark was so called because it indicated that something had been checked. As to why any character is any particular shape, I think it just comes down to the most popular character to represent a particular idea. Our alphabet doesn't look like the korean alphabet, but they're both phoenetic and in many cases represent similar sounds.... they just do so with a different physical shape. It's arbitrary at the beginning, and then comes to be agreed upon and standardized.
You could probably get away with using a symbol of your own desing, and after explaining what it means, you would be able to use it to communicate meaning to others. Could be just a bit different, or much different. Give it a try.
2006-10-21 09:46:16 · answer #2 · answered by Deirdre H 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
as 2 ticks makes a x for no,, 1 tick is for yes
2006-10-21 10:40:55 · answer #3 · answered by getmeout2001 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a guess would be a tick/check mark was originally a V, meaning Very good :)
2006-10-21 09:47:57 · answer #4 · answered by Dazza 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
in ancient times ticks or fleas were regarded as godly beings and always right, professor reginald postlethwaite of conneticut university disected a tick in saskatchewan and it was the tick shape and thus we use ticks to denote correct
2006-10-21 09:43:19 · answer #5 · answered by elcraigo 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think because it is one movement that does not involve lifting the pen to make a seperate mark.
2006-10-21 10:26:53 · answer #6 · answered by freetodervish 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I assume you mean a "check mark,." in America, we do not say "tick."
2006-10-21 09:41:39 · answer #7 · answered by newyorkgal71 7 · 0⤊ 4⤋