# Handwriting Question



## Aravis60 (Feb 18, 2009)

Last week I spent part of the afternoon in a meeting to discuss cursive writing. There was a lot of talk about whether or not cursive was a dying art form. I know that the readers of this forum are a well-read and intelligent bunch, so I wondered what your feelings are on the subject. Thanks for your help and input!


----------



## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

That is so interesting. What do you do? Since I'm the first vote, you can see that I combine both.


----------



## MAGreen (Jan 5, 2009)

I combine both too! Sort of like the Kindle boards banner....


----------



## dollcrazy (Jan 12, 2009)

I also combine both most often. If I'm actually writing a letter though (how often do any of us do that these days) it's always cursive. Lists and notes are another story it's a combo of print, cursive, and my own form of shorthand.


----------



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

I can write much faster in cursive but my handwriting is abysmal so I print when someone who doesn't know my scrawl is going to read it.


----------



## Wheezie (Oct 28, 2008)

I am a combiner also. My handwriting has always been terrible and it seems the older I get (44) the worse it is and I seem to be using less cursive.
I think is is also one of those "if you don't use it you lose it" types of things. I hardly ever write by hand anymore except for a quick and short note to self. I don't write checks by hand anymore and even put the grocery list in the PDA. Handwriting is really becoming a lost art.


----------



## PJ (Feb 25, 2009)

Like most I combine the two - but it is more likely that the first letter tends to be printed (especially if it's capitalized) and the rest is cursive.  There are some letters that are a hybrid since they never looked good to me in my cursive hand (r is an example).  I don't know if you would call it connected printing or broken cursive but it is something like that.


----------



## LSbookend (Dec 22, 2008)

Okay I'm trying to remember, so if I'm wrong I apologize.

In elementary school they made us write in cursive because that is the only thing we would be allowed to use in middle school (at least that's what they told us, I don't remember this being the case.)

Now years later (not that much later, I just turned 25) I could not think of asking some of my students to write in cursive, I can barely read their print and I teach high school. Oh my. The computer age is upon us.


----------



## PJ (Feb 25, 2009)

LSbookend said:


> Okay I'm trying to remember, so if I'm wrong I apologize.
> 
> In elementary school they made us write in cursive because that is the only thing we would be allowed to use in middle school (at least that's what they told us, I don't remember this being the case.)
> 
> Now years later (not that much later, I just turned 25) I could not think of asking some of my students to write in cursive, I can barely read their print and I teach high school. Oh my. The computer age is upon us.


I know what you mean. My sister's kid's writing is horrendous. They are 23 - 18 years old and I don't think they ever really had to write anything for school. But they did have to take "keyboarding" when they were in grade school. Isn't like teaching them to use the graphing calculator before they can do it on paper. Oh, wait they did that too! 

When I was growing up all my papers until college where had written. And they better be legible or else you would loose points.


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I pretty much quit cursive 40 years ago when I got my first job as a mechanical draftsman. I can print much faster than I can do cursive.

Mike


----------



## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

I always print, at least if I want to be able to read it later.


----------



## frojazz (Feb 10, 2009)

I have to do a lot of writing at work where it needs to be legable.  I like to print almost everything, except my initials.  I've been mostly printing since school, when some teachers required us to use cursive.  I don't like a lot of cursive letters, like 'r' and 's', so I avoid it most of the time.


----------



## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

I print. My cursive is awful. Heck, my printing is barely legible. I have some fine motor skill issues and dysgraphia. By the time I was in Junior High my teachers had me typing my answers for exams on the computer. 

My mother attempted to improve my handwriting by enrolling me in calligraphy and teaching me needle point. I can't say it made much of a difference.


----------



## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

My cursive has always been horrible and I use a mixture, if I want someone else to read it, or even myself.  My DH on the other hand has absolutely picture perfect cursive and wouldn't know how to print.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

My cursive is good, my printing is good.  I like printing better, I started using it for note taking in college because it forced me to think about what was important when I was taking notes.

My husband can only print in caps or do cursive.  The small letter font was not installed, apparently.  

Betsy


----------



## Kind (Jan 28, 2009)

My handwriting has not changed since elementary school along with my signature!   ....... seriously though.


----------



## DawnOfChaos (Nov 12, 2008)

The only thing I do in cursive is sign my name.  I print everything else.  If I try to write in cursive it looks like an 8 year old did it.


----------



## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

DawnOfChaos said:


> The only thing I do in cursive is sign my name. I print everything else. If I try to write in cursive it looks like an 8 year old did it.


Still looks better then mine (sigh)


----------



## Abby (Feb 7, 2009)

I do a combination.  I've never actually studied my handwriting long enough to see if I have a pattern or if I use cursive or print with certain words or letters.  If I'm writing something for my 5.5 year old DS to copy though I use all print.


----------



## LSbookend (Dec 22, 2008)

My Spanish teacher in high school showed us a letter from her family in Columbia (the country) and I remember the handwriting being super neat. I believe she said they spend more time in school on handwriting then we do. 

I print and my handwriting depends upon my mood on how fast I'm writing, oh and if I'm putting it on the board for my students.


----------



## Linda Cannon-Mott (Oct 28, 2008)

I started printing in nursing school and it stuck, that was 30 years ago.


----------



## BrassMan (Dec 8, 2008)

I had cruddy handwriting until after college. I'm left-handed. In disgust, I studied calligraphy several years, and ended up using a lot of the strokes and fine motor skills from that in my regular handwriting. Handwriting isn't genetic or God-given. It can be changed if you really want to.


----------



## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

My classmates and teachers love my cursive and pring, but they just don't like taking the time to read cursive. Apparently my friends' middle school didn't require work to be submitted in cursive...but I went to school overseas at a DOD school. I also had an interest in calligraphy (japanese and regular) since jr. high.
So I just use cursive for personal notes and my diary (use cursive to stop mom from reading my journals). you can see my cursive in my avatar, in the screensavers I've made and posted on the site. they look like:


----------



## Britt (Feb 8, 2009)

BrassMan said:


> Handwriting isn't genetic or God-given. It can be changed if you really want to.


I get bored easily, and from elementary through high school, every few years I would get bored with my handwriting... so I would write the alphabet in the new way that I wanted to write from then on (looping the tails of ys and gs, for example) over and over until I memorized it.


----------



## Britt (Feb 8, 2009)

Aravis60 said:


> There was a lot of talk about whether or not cursive was a dying art form.


When I took the SAT (about 4 or 5 years ago--I was in the last group to take the old one before the format was changed) there was a section before the actual test began where you had to bubble in your name, date of birth, etc. There was a part where we had to copy down a statement, but the instructions said it had to be done in cursive. It seemed like almost everyone in the room was struggling to remember how to write cursive, myself included (I use print except for my signature). Though we weren't supposed to talk, I remember a lot of people in the room talking about how they hadn't written in cursive since elementary school and joking about how that was the hardest part of the test.


----------



## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Interesting to read everyone's responses.  I, too, use a combination but tend toward cursive probably 80+% of the time.  I had a friend in junior high (do they even have junior high instead of middle school anymore?) who I thought had the most beautiful cursive handwriting.  I used to sit at home after finishing homework and work on copying her style - I still have people tell me its beautiful so "Thanks, Tina S., for inspiring me!" On the other side DH is an attorney and his cursive is nearly illegible - thank God for the computer so he can type!


----------



## Brenda M. (Nov 26, 2008)

Very interesting! I use cursive most often for notes etc., but since I studied drafting eons ago I also print "drafting" style so use that if things have to be legible.


----------



## busy91 (Feb 27, 2009)

Most of whatever I'm writing is in cursive, but a letter or two here and there are in print.


----------



## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

VA - Beautiful writing


----------



## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

In my son's middle school and high school they prefer that students print.  They don't like for the students to use cursive.  They figure since almost every job application out there says to print why bother with cursive anymore.


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

My drafting-style printing is probably the reason I never had any problems with the Newton Messagepad interpreting my handwriting.

It's amazing to me how many people say "my handwriting is lousy" without attempting to do anything to make it better. It just isn't that difficult with average motor skills, you just have to want to.

I have a friend of many years who is the brightest guy I've known, he taught himself electronics and assembly programming to the point where he is a consultant for a very large company (his degree is in Physics). He's a metal- and wood-worker, a pilot, solders components on microwave circuit boards, and still just chuckles about his undecipherable writing. Go figure.

Mike


----------



## Rhiathame (Mar 12, 2009)

I do a combination, in fact when I look at my handwriting when I am printing most of the time I notice that if I were to simply continue the line it would turn into cursive. In general cursive is taking printing and continuing the letters without your pen leaving the paper. So, that is my 2 cents.


----------



## Veronica (Jan 23, 2009)

I do a combination, and I don't even do it consistently.  For example, the letter "r", sometimes it comes out in print and sometimes it comes out in cursive.

I think it probably depends on the letters surrounding it, and if it feels more natural to connect them in a cursive form or to break between letters in a print form.

I used to have great handwriting.  And now that I use a computer for just about everything, and don't write as much, it's become pretty abysmal.


----------



## Lotus (Oct 31, 2008)

I do a form of cursive  I write by hand so infrequently, that my writing has become worse and worse. About the only time I write is when sending a note to my grandmother (who isn't online). If I'm writing down something for myself, my cursive is fine. If I have to write something for someone else, I use an all-caps writing that's fairly easy to read.


----------



## durphy (Nov 5, 2008)

It's interesting that you brought this up. A teacher told me they aren't even going to teach cursive anymore.


----------



## Mom of 4 (Oct 27, 2008)

My 3rd and 5th grade boys are learning cursive.  But I will agree with those that think it is a dying art.  The 5th grader is so sloppy, that his teacher lets him use the computer to type almost everything and turn it in that way.

I do the combo thing myself, mostly with r and s.  I leave the extra "hump" out of the n and m too.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Two handwriting stories.

1.  When my son was in kindergarten and they were learning how to make numbers, he was having a really hard time making the number 5 neatly.  He had one of those sheets where they were just supposed to make various numbers and letters over and over for practice. He was getting really frustrated because he couldn't make them as nice as the 'example' one and eventually he threw the pencil down in disgust and said "I'm NEVER making another FIVE in My Life."  It was all my husband and I could do to not break down laughing. . . .

2.  My son had a witch 2nd grade teacher.  He was totally not her pet.  No matter how neat his handwriting, he never got better than C grade.  He hated it, he decided why should he bother, he could make it perfect but she'd decided he was a C in handwriting.  When he got to 3rd grade, at the first teacher conference, the teacher was talking about a variety of things including his 2nd grade record and my husband and I mentioned how frustrated he'd been in that no matter how hard he tried he never got anything better than a C.  Apparently she heard us because his first report card came home with a B in handwriting. . . .Nick now realized that trying DID work with this teacher.  By the time he got to 4th grade, another great teacher, he actually got an A.  

Now he types everything. . . . . . 

Ann


----------



## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

My handwriting - cursive - went to pot with shorthand and typing, now the computer.  My DH's writing would give VA a run for the money his is so absolutely perfect, but then he does not use the computer, or typewriter, or shorthand


----------



## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

I write cursive. It is very legible because I was a teacher and wrote a lot on the board.

patrisha


----------



## Aravis60 (Feb 18, 2009)

Kathy said:


> That is so interesting. What do you do? Since I'm the first vote, you can see that I combine both.


I am a teacher of middle grade students. 
I use cursive most of the time because it is faster for me. Sometimes I use print, but usually only if I am filling out a form or doing something else that requires short amounts of writing.


----------



## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Man, I had to sit and think about this. I think I'm a combo writer; I used to have decent cursive skills, but when I started doing 90% of my writing with a keyboard, those skills began to evaporate. Now it looks like med-student chicken scratch, and I'm probably better off printing. Fortunately, my printing only looks as bad as a third grader's...


----------



## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

I am embarrassed to admit that I cannot remember all of the letters in cursive.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I always had a problem with capital Q.  I was absent the day the sister taught that. . .  .

Ann


----------



## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I use a combination also.  My cursive is pretty neat when I think about it, but I really don't like many of the cursive uppercase letters - particularly A, N, Q, R, S and Z.


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

My grandmother had several arguments with her bank about signatures. Probably atypical of her generation, her handwriting was almost entirely upper and lower case printing in a semi-italic style. The bank kept saying it wasn't a signature, she said "tough."

Mike


----------



## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

Vegas_Asian (Experiment#305) said:


> ...So I just use cursive for personal notes and my diary (use cursive to stop mom from reading my journals). you can see my cursive in my avatar, in the screensavers I've made and posted on the site. they look like:


Wow, Vegas, you do cursive *and* use a fountain pen. I like that.


----------



## frojazz (Feb 10, 2009)

Andra said:


> I use a combination also. My cursive is pretty neat when I think about it, but I really don't like many of the cursive uppercase letters - particularly A, N, Q, R, S and Z.


I think that 'G' in cursive is pretty awful, too. It used to be the first letter of my last name, but I couldn't get it to look good. Always too tall and gangly-looking. My mum can make it look pretty awesome, though.



Ann in Arlington (KindleBoardsInmate #65) said:


> I always had a problem with capital Q. I was absent the day the sister taught that. . . .
> 
> Ann


Oooooo...I was there the day we learned, but I can't remember this one either. Maybe someone had something really great that day in show-and-tell.


----------



## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

I'm really amazed at how many people have said they print because their cursive is so messy.  I thought I was the only one who couldn't 'write'.  

When I used to write notes to the school for my kid, I would use cursive because I though that's what you were supposed to do. But I'm sure they could never read it.  I'm glad we don't have to write notes anymore, now it's all automated phone messages.  Pretty soon I'll forget how to print too.


----------



## KMA (Mar 11, 2009)

I print. If, for some reason, I use cursive (one of the kids asks or something), it looks like the efforts of an earnest, but sloppy third grader. All of the way through elementary school, I was scolded for my lousy penmanship. Teachers could never see that I was trying. Personally, I think that, because I was a bit of a know it all, they enjoyed having something on which they could grade me down. The funny thing is that, once I started junior high and all anyone cared about was legibility, I tossed cursive aside and began receiving praise for my clear printing. Go figure.

I am frequently asked, as a homeschooler, if I will teach my kids to write in cursive. My answer is always, "if they want to learn it." Someone recently claimed that children had to learn to write in cursive so that they can read it, but I can tell you that it is patently not true. My older daughter has been able to read even the most extravagant cursive since she was four years old and I guarantee that she cannot write it yet.


----------



## webhill (Feb 12, 2009)

I'm told I have a lovely cursive hand; I rarely use it. If I am replying to a wedding invitation or something, I will use it on the response card to write something along the lines of "Dr. Webhill Lastname and Mr. Husband Lastname accept with great pleasure the kind invitation of Mrs. Extravagant Weddinghost to Jane and John's wedding on the fifth of November, 2009. We look very much forward to celebrating with you!" but you know, that's not something that commonly comes up. At work I use printing, for clarity's sake. The nurses say I'm the only one who doesn't have "doctor handwriting" which apparently is common among doctors who treat many species as well as doctors who treat only one . I just worry that if I wrote orders for a "convenia" injection in cursive, it could possibly be confused for a "cerenia" injection. I think printing is always more clear and less open to interpretation, even though as I said I am told my cursive is very legible.


----------



## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I have horrible handwriting.

My mother used to make me practice in notebooks and once, in a very un-PC turn of phrase, said my handwriting made me look retarded. I never forgot that and it always made me feel self-conscious. I know she meant well, but it had a lasting effect.

I can only write on a laptop -- if I had to write a book or story in longhand, it wouldn't happen. I can jot down ideas or general ideas, but can't do the whole enchilada.


----------



## russr19 (Feb 13, 2009)

I haven't written in cursive since middle school! In high school we were told to print so the teacher could read it. In college we useed computers. Now that i'm a surveyor everthing we write is in print.


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I never learned how to print.  I learned cursive from the very beginning.  Anyone remember the Palmer Method?

I wrote very small letters until the nuns told me it was a sign of a selfish person.  Then I starting writing in large letters.  

In my 20's, I learned speed writing and that ruined my handwriting forever.  Even I can't read my writing anymore.  

Now I mostly use the computer.  If I have to write a note, I still use cursive, but because of a bad right hand, I have to write very slowly and carefully so the note can be read.  If I'm writing a check, I print, but I have to do that slowly and carefully, too.

My mother has beautiful handwriting.  You can even read her signature.  One of my daughters and my grandson also have very nice handwriting, but not as good as my mother.


----------



## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

My signature is very ledgeable, my handwriting though is atrocious.


----------



## dcom (Feb 23, 2009)

From the time I learned to write in cursive, some time in elementary school (late 60s) up until 1994, I wrote in cursive. Then I got an Apple Newton MessagePad 110. It was the first PDA that would recognize your handwriting...cursive or printing. Well, maybe your's but not mine. I apparently wrote so badly that I had to switch to printing for it to work halfway decently. Ever since, I've been printing. I actually tried going back to cursive a few months ago and had a hard time remembering how to connect the letters.


----------



## KimmyA (Dec 11, 2008)

I think all of my writing is in cursive. Whether it is legible or not depends on how big a hurry I'm in when I write it.

I remember when I was in school, letters had to be perfect. Now I have a son in the 3rd grade and there is little to no stress on letter writing. His handwriting is horrible and is mostly one long word. Ex: helovestoplaysports. Every now and then the teacher will say something about spacing, but that's about it.


----------



## Rhiathame (Mar 12, 2009)

Gertie Kindle 'Turn to Page 390' said:


> I never learned how to print. I learned cursive from the very beginning. Anyone remember the Palmer Method?


Yep, I learned the palmer method and then when I moved to a different state they used something else. I moved between the 3rd and 4th grades which created some challenges for me. The capital letters T, F, P, R and Q were diffrent then what I had been taught and because I was having difficulties picking it up they placed me in a remedial class which was annoying since in 4th grade I was reading at a 10th grade reading level.

Arrrggg.


----------



## Esther (Dec 21, 2008)

My handwriting is a combination of about 50% cursive.  Nowadays, however, nearly all of my written communication takes place via the keyboard.  Seems like I only ever write by hand when I'm making personal notes, short cards, lists, checks, filling out forms, etc, ie not very often.  My third grader is learning cursive (and typing) and takes handwriting in his school for half hour daily (for just the cursive).  After third grade, cursive is not practiced or required so they tend to lose it in his school.  My sixth grader has forgotten most of what she learned and is not required to hand in assignments in cursive.  More often than not they want essays and reports in middle school word processed and they give them time in class to get that done.  On the other hand she is a good typer and her handwriting is legible.  

My kids could not read cursive until they were taught it.  It was like scribble to them.  As it continues to die off, even being able to read it will not be important any more.  I kind of think its sad.


----------



## Daisysmama (Nov 12, 2008)

Back in the stone age when I was in grade school, one of my classmates was naturally left-handed.  That was unacceptable to the teacher and she forced him to use his right hand.  Since that is how he learned, he never changed.  I remember his school papers actually curling because he pressed so hard, struggling with using his right hand.  But it was legible.

He eventually became a doctor...don't know what happened to his writing after that...LOL


----------



## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

As I have gotten older, both my hands have started to shake so much that the only time I use cursive anymore is when my signature is required.

I have even joked with my doctor that my writing has become so bad that I could qualify to be an MD with no problem.


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

dcom said:


> Then I got an Apple Newton MessagePad 110. It was the first PDA that would recognize your handwriting...cursive or printing. Well, maybe your's but not mine.


I didn't have much of a problem with a MessagePad. Since I was an ex-draftsman, I had a low error rate with the recognition. I still have a MP 2000 and a 2100 (they make great alarm clocks!), having given away the 110 and 130 that I used before that. I still curse Steve Jobs for killing the Newton off.

Stupid Steve.

Mike


----------



## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

My cursive writing used to be really great... as a matter of fact, my DD's middle school friends always wanted to see any notes that I sent to school with her because that thought my handwriting was so cool!!  

After years of office work on the computer, my handwriting is not very good at all anymore! I still tend to use cursive when writing in my journal or writing checks. Everything else is usually printed. Any and all writing I did at work was printed because it was required on just about every form we had.


----------



## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

I use a mixture of cursive and printed letters. Almost all of my capital letters are printed.

Side note: My handwriting is nothing special, but I made a font out of it a few years ago, using Fontifier (http://www.fontifier.com). I use it sometimes for personal notes. It's fun to type a document and see your own handwriting appear:


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

when Horton the elephant heard a small noise!  

That's a great font!  Can we have a BB button that puts our posts in your handwriting!  

Ann


----------



## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

That would be scary. 

("Horton" is one of my all-time favorite books. As a teenager I had it memorized; now I can only remember the first ten pages or so.)


----------



## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

Harvey, I like your font.  That is such a cool idea to make a font out of your own handwriting.


----------



## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

Harvey said:


> I use a mixture of cursive and printed letters. Almost all of my capital letters are printed.
> 
> Side note: My handwriting is nothing special, but I made a font out of it a few years ago, using Fontifier (http://www.fontifier.com). I use it sometimes for personal notes. It's fun to type a document and see your own handwriting appear:


How cool! I may have to give that a try!


----------

