Cursive at the crossroads

[Baron Kurtz]

E-mail and chat is destroying the written language.

As are tiny serif fonts.

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Why is it that doctors are notorious for having poor handwriting?

Because they're generally rushed off their feet and have very little time to do the actual writing. This is the standard explanation.

I blame it more on the thousands of hours spent in lecture theatres trying to write down all the information being spat in their direction by sadistic lecturers. Fast writing forms in the writer a habit of slovenly writing ...

bk

 

[GOK]

I'm left-handed. The only gripe I have about being such is having my watch stem on the wrong side(I wear it on the right wrist).

We need a Ned Flanders shop! Is it even possible to get left-handed watches? I'd love one!

I went throught that whole "You must write with your right hand" nonsense at school. Even when they gave up, my teachers tried to make me write legibly with a right-handed cartridge pen. Eventually I spoke to my headmaster, who ordered my teacher to get me a left handed pen! Yay! He wore a Fedora - all day in school....and smoked a big fat cigar. In school!

My handwriting is less than Rosie-perfect and is evident when I write out cards. Perhaps I should get a penpal to write to so I can practice! Any volunteers?

 

[Kim_B]

As mentioned in the other topic about handwriting, I am a freak. I love to write - I'd volunteer to be the official note-taker for any of the study groups I was in during school just for the sake of writing. I posted a scan of my writing in that thread...again, just for the sake of writing

 

[LizzieMaine]

I blame it more on the thousands of hours spent in lecture theatres trying to write down all the information being spat in their direction by sadistic lecturers. Fast writing forms in the writer a habit of slovenly writing ...

bk

That explains my indecipherable scrawl -- fifteen years as a reporter made sure of that. Often a fellow reporter would look over at my notebook and say "Wow -- shorthand! Wish I knew how to do that!"

 

[Fletch]

Women whose writing is spikey, scrawly or semilegible are usually interesting, and often singular personalities.

 

[Feraud]

My handwriting is terrible. I prefer to type.
I could never correspond in writing due to the many revisions I put my writing through! It would take me a week to write one letter.
Are handwriting traits genetic? I would think so based on seeing my son's writing. The poor child lacks a decent handwriting gene just like his dad. :eusa_doh:

 

[MrBern]

Hmmm, I think there was a report recently linking poor penmanship to high intelligence.
I've noticed doctors usually have poor penmanship.

 

[Feraud]

Hmmm, I think there was a report recently linking poor penmanship to high intelligence.

I am tha eksepshun.

 

[Elaina]

Now I'm left handed, and like my accent, shows ony when I'm tired.

I turn my paper 90 degrees, so my letters are usually upright, and don't show I'm a lefty at all. Conversely, my handwriting only looks like a woman wrote it only when I write in cursive, otherwise, I have a very masculine handwriting.

Changing the hand wasn't just a church school thing. In 1983, my 3rd grade teacher (whom I threw up on once intentionally) tried to make me write with my right hand. My mother came in and had words.

My son is a lefty too, but his handwriting at 2nd grade is so atrocious I can't even read it. Its all jumbledupwithnospaces and coupled with a lefty...ugh. We generally don't worry about the watch thing. We both tend to wear it on whatever wrist is available when we pick the watch up, and when I write, I've been known to push the band up my arm.

 

[Barbigirl]

Hmmm, I think there was a report recently linking poor penmanship to high intelligence.
I've noticed doctors usually have poor penmanship.

Physicians may be intelligent with regard to medicine and book learning, but it doesn't mean they have a lick of sense or social graces. I know, I have 106 of them around here at work that I deal with regularly and it is only a very small percentage that I have any real respect for.

 

[MrBern]

Physicians may be intelligent with regard to medicine and book learning, but it doesn't mean they have a lick of sense or social graces. I know, I have 106 of them around here at work that I deal with regularly and it is only a very small percentage that I have any real respect for.

Yeah, I know
I've dated a couple pretty ones.
Being over-educated doesnt mean that someone is particularly efficient in day to day existence.
or good at penmanship.

 

[Feng_Li]

How how about vintage handwriting?

 

[DeeDub]

That's very interesting writing...

How how about vintage handwriting?

What language is it?

 

[Feng_Li]

Normally that script is written in German, but it wasn't too difficult to adapt to English. It is a little more awkward, because some of the common letter combinations don't flow as easily.

Until someone finds a Rosetta stone for my lecture notes, we will never know what language they are. :-/

 

[Lady Day]

Good cursive takes too long to write. That just wont do in this instant now now now-

Lost interest.

LD

 

[Lonn]

I forgot I knew

Oh, dear.
Until I stumbled into this thread, I had forgotten that I knew, that there even was, cursive. I grabbed my sketchbook and dashed off a few lines. It's rusty, but it is still there. Whew! Thank you for reminding me. I will want to remember that the next time I send a thank you note.

 

[Slicksuit]

Upon reflection, I've realized that I summarily dropped my use of cursive sometime between high school and college - and I was known to have good penmanship, especially for a male. My writing has now become more like pseudo-drafting block, except I use upper and lower case.

The mention of doctor's handwriting makes me think about prescriptions. I work in the medical field, and we have dropped some of the classical abbreviations and clarified some useage. For example, we don't use the degree symbol "o" to indicate hours any more, it's written "hr. or hrs.". Use of decimal point requires a preceeding zero (ex: 0.5mg, not .5mg), in large doses the decimal is avoided (ex: 50mg, vs. 50.0mg). All in the name of reducing ambiguity. I've often wondered how in the world a pharmacist deciphers half the hand-written prescrptions that come his way. At my hospital, we have converted to computer-printed prescriptions for inpatient care.

 

[Cherry_Bombb]

Oh, dear.
Until I stumbled into this thread, I had forgotten that I knew, that there even was, cursive.

I had the same realization!! My grandmother would be so upset with me!! She had taught 4th grade since the late fifties and is very partial to a delicate penmanship. She actually went into my 4th grade classroom because she wasn't pleased with the "cursive" we were learning and told my teacher that I was going to be learning the correct way from her. She would not be happy to learn that I've pretty much forgotten about it!! Especially after that fiasco!!

 

[Panamabob]

We still teach a variation of the Palmer method style of fonts, but our F's and T's are a bit different.