I forgot how to write!

[JohnT]

Sophia, my daughter, is earning "Excellents" (or whatever) for her cursive penmanship, and it does look great, especially from a 10yo.

A couple of weeks ago she was with a friend of hers who commented on Sophia's handwriting, adding "You should see my Daddy's handwriting - it's bad." Hearing that, Sophie took up the challenge:

"My Dad's writing is worse."
"Nuh-uh."
"Uh-huh."

The contest thus being offered and met, they approach me with Sophia asking if I could sign my name to show Angelica how bad my writing is. So I wrote my name, but then Angelica made a pretty cogent point:

"All grownups write their name bad, they just get lazy about it."

Not too sure about that "all", but many (if not most) of us do. So I responded:

"Well, how about I write a full sentence? There's a famous sentence that uses all 26 letters - 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' - how about I do that?"

So I bend over the paper, pen in hand, and start to write...

But I can't. I could not remember how to write cursive!

And I still can't, weeks later (I just tried - I couldn't remember how to do a 'b' and make it link to the 'r'.) It's a skill lost due to 25+ years of typing and block printing on forms. To be honest, other than school, I can't remember the last time I wrote anything substantial in cursive.

Anybody else have this happen to them?

[PunditLisa]

Nope, can't say it has. Of course, I frequently write (thank you, sympathy, congratulatory) cards to people.

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Anybody else have this happen to them?

Absolutely. I print in capital block letters and have for years and years now.

I can barely even do that.

[Barkis is Willin']

At this moment, I couldn't write a capital Q in cursive to save my life. And I'm not 100% about capital Z, either. But otherwise, I think I'm good. But I will admit that my writing is much, much sloppier now than it was when I was doing it in 4th grade.

[tdn]

I just tried, and wow, yes, I remembered. It has to have been over 25 years for me too. But I did have a problem with the b and the j.

[Dallas Jones]

Oh, yes! Not talking about cursive though.

I used to have perfect block style printing skills at a job I worked at for almost 30 years where I wrote myself a 'to do' list and also sent notes to others. Very legible, clear, readable font type writing.

Then I was un-employed for 18 months and almost all my corespondance was typed on a computer.

When I went back to work in a completely unrelated field, I found that my writing skills had suffered a great deal.

It has taken almost all of those 18 months of writing little notes to get the skills back. I simply didn't use them and lost them.

[friedo]

I learned cursive in fourth grade. I forgot it by fifth grade.

[enipla]

I stopped in 8th grade.

I have a problem signing my full name. Meaning, if I have to use my full first name and my middle name, it's a mess.

[Acsenray]

Y'all are mistaken in equating "cursive" with D'Nealian script or some other gawdawful, curlicue-infested schoolmarm's scourge. Everyone can have decent handwriting of their own design without having to resort to block letters.

[JohnT]

Whatever it's called, I can't do it anymore.

[Acsenray]

Of course you can. Just do it. You don't have to remember the letterforms that your third grade teacher taught you. Just make up your own. You don't have to remember what the b looks like in D'Nealian or how it links up to r. Make your own b and your own r and link them up in whatever way feels comfortable to you. Your handwriting is in your hand, not in some dusty textbook.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Acsenray

Of course you can. Just do it. You don't have to remember the letterforms that your third grade teacher taught you. Just make up your own. You don't have to remember what the b looks like in D'Nealian or how it links up to r. Make your own b and your own r and link them up in whatever way feels comfortable to you. Your handwriting is in your hand, not in some dusty textbook.

Yeah, but even when I knew how to do it, my handwriting sucked. And if I made up my own letters, the damn thing would be unreadable, almost by definition.

[Acsenray]

To the extent that this is true, it's because you decided it will be true.

[JohnT]

When letter forms deviate from the standard, people say that the handwriting "sucks" and is "illegible." So I must conform to the standard so people can read it, correct? Otherwise I can draw a division sign, call it "A", and tell people they don't know how to read.

So I don't see how making up non-standard shapes is going to solve anything.

And you're right about one thing - there is absolutely no motivation for me to relearn this skill. I haven't had to use it in 25+ years, and I don't think that will change in the future.

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by JohnT

When letter forms deviate from the standard, people say that the handwriting "sucks" and is "illegible." So I must conform to the standard so people can read it, correct?

No, this isn't true actually. There isn't a "standard" when it comes to letterforms. There are archetypes and the human mind is very flexible in recognizing forms that vary quite widely. That's why your word processing software offers you hundreds of typefaces. That's why that just walking around and going about your business you can see dozens of different letter styles in a day. That's why even though no two people's handwriting is the same, you can read almost all of it.

What makes a particular person's handwriting "suck" is not deviation from a "standard" but rather inelegant shaping, excessive slanting, lack of care, attempted adherence to ugly schoolmarm letterforms, and failure to sufficiently vary one letterform from another.

If you think your handwriting sucks or is illegible, you can change that in five minutes, by looking at a simple, elegant script, such as this one. It will take you a little bit of practice, but not much. You just have to teach yourself to care what your handwriting looks like.

And notice that script. There are no loops, no curlicues, and no letterforms that take any effort to remember. They're just basic shapes. You decide for yourself how and where you want to join the letters, and no matter what you decide, it's guaranteed to be legible and less sucky than trying to recreate the script that you were taught in third grade. And it will also be unique, because no matter what, someone else who uses this script will make different decisions about joining letters, and, of course, no two people are going to make these things look exactly the same unless they're trying to.

And doubtless, there are times when you have to write things by hand, either for yourself or someone else. If you think your handwriting sucks or you avoid writing things because it embarrasses you, there's nothing easier and faster to fix.

[purplehorseshoe]

Since taking a computer-based job ... and then after a few years of that, a different computer-based job ... my handwriting has taken a complete turn for the worse. For a while, all I wrote was a running list of tasks at work, and my grocery lists and To-Do post-its at home.

Then I got a grocery list app (so I can synch with the Other Shoe) and now I can barely scrawl reminders to myself anymore. The muscle memory in my hands has been replaced with touch-typing muscle memory.

Relevant Oatmeal comic here.

[Michael63129]

Originally Posted by Acsenray

Y'all are mistaken in equating "cursive" with D'Nealian script or some other gawdawful, curlicue-infested schoolmarm's scourge. Everyone can have decent handwriting of their own design without having to resort to block letters.

For whatever reason, I never learned to write cursive with slanted letters; I always write them straight up. Not that I have used cursive much, aside from signing my name, since high school, although I still remember how to do it; after all, it has only been 8 years.

Also, I wonder if there are people who have forgotten to write period, whether cursive or print (your name doesn't count); certainly, in today's computer/text message/email-oriented society the need to write is becoming less and less.

[John Mace]

What's interesting is that cursive is supposed to be easier, and yet so many of us switched back to printing as soon as we could. I remember doing so in 7th grade, wondering what would happen if I just starting handing in my assignments printed instead of the usual cursive. Nothing happened, and I haven't used cursive since.

And even printing is tough now. I often see notes that I've written where the words just sort of end half-way through, and I have no idea what I was trying to write.

I feel confident I could write in cursive, although a few of the capital letters might take some head scratching before I got them right.

[Sister Vigilante]

I use a mixture of cursive and block letters, often pausing, wondering how to do the next letter. Especially now that I'm married and have to add a whole new last name onto the end (I appended it rather than losing any of my previous name).

The results usually end in the UPS guy asking "and your last name is...?"

[GuanoLad]

I never learned joined-up-writing (as we called it when I was a kid) at all, it just fell through the cracks as the curriculum was in a state of flux throughout my school years. But I think they also anticipated the future, that as printing was more legible it would be a more useful skill to learn.

I also took typing, but that didn't take. I'm a two finger typist, though pretty speedy I suppose.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by Acsenray

To the extent that this is true, it's because you decided it will be true.

Exactly why are we peddling New Age crap on this messageboard?

And you do you seriously think that people who don't write well don't know their basic manuscript letterforms? Bad handwriting is a fine motor skills problem, not a mental problem.

[GameHat]

FWIW, I pretty much dropped cursive after High School (graduated '99)

We still had to write in those dreaded blue books in University at least until I graduated ('04). Most professors were ok with print.

By the end of college, I had nearly entirely forgotten/dropped cursive. Those few classes my senior year that still insisted on written exams I wrote kinda a bastard cursive/print hybrid. Ugly, but I graduated. And I haven't written cursive for nearly 8 years now. Not that I miss it.

/Can barely sign my own name in cursive anymore. But I can type at like 80 WPM, so I don't shed many tears.

[Suburban Plankton]

I can't remember the last time I wrote anything substantial in cursive either. I just tried writing "the quick brown fox..." and got stuck for a few seconds trying to remember what a capital 'T' is supposed to look like. I also had some trouble linking the e 'b' and 'r' together so that they look right, and I somehow wound up with an extra 'hump' in my 'z'. But overall, I think it's legible...

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by BigT

Bad handwriting is a fine motor skills problem, not a mental problem.

I don't believe for a second that the vast majority of people who claim to have bad handwriting have some kind of disorder regarding fine motor skills. It's simply a matter of not caring to do anything about it.

[JohnT]

I don't know if this matters, but holding a pen/pencil has always hurt/caused cramps.

The usual rejoinder is "you're not holding it right" when, in fact, I'm doing so just as the picture is showing me. And other methods don't help at all (still cramps, can't control pen, etc.)

[Jack Crazyquilt]

I stopped writing in cursive way back in the sixth grade. It looked ugly as heck back then, and having just tried the 'quick brown fox' experiment, I'd have to say it's actually gotten uglier. Also, like John T, it appears I've largely forgotten how to do it.

But I'm a real champ when it comes to printing! I've always been able to do it faster and easier than cursive, and I've heard people comment on how neat and legible it is. Which is surprising, since when these same people see me write, they'll often get a horrified look and gasp "How can you even write like that??" Apparently I'm doing it all wrong, and have been since I could first hold a pencil. Back in elementary school, well-meaning teachers would occasionally give me the horrified look, gently rearrange my fingers, and encourage me to try writing a few words the proper way.

"There now, isn't that so much easier?" they would ask.

"Yes ma'am, thank you," I'd lie, while they beamed with approval.

Of course, as soon as they walked away I'd go right back to my clumsy ape-grip. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

[Hari Seldon]

I am astonished. I write regularly. Shopping and other lists, notes to my wife, notes to myself and, above all, my mathematical research. When it is done, I then go to the computer. And all those other things, what I am going to crank up my computer for a shopping list? My handwriting isn't beautiful, but it is serviceable and I can make it really legible if I take some care. If the b doesn't join with the r, who cares? Not my fifth grade teacher who failed me on handwriting and could herself wrote so that it looked exactly like the charts.

[JohnT]

For shopping, I created (a LONG time ago) a shopping list in Excel, organized by aisle. If I need to put together a shopping list, I print out a blank one and start checking off items. Why write it out multiple times? It won't be properly organized, I'll forget stuff, and wasting time is a far worse offense than not writing cursive.

[Der Trihs]

I just checked, and nope I can't do it, except for my signature. Even my printing is getting pretty sloppy after years of mostly typing.

[Lord Feldon]

Originally Posted by GameHat

Most professors were ok with print.

Just most? There were college instructors commanding students to pick one form of handwriting over another in 2004?

[zweisamkeit]

12 years of Catholic school (graduated high school in 2000); you bet your ass I learned cursive. We started in 3rd grade and though class time specifically dedicated to handwriting only lasted a couple of years, handwriting was a separate grade on my report card until I went to high school.

I'm still trying to figure out what variant we learned; traditional Zaner Bloser is a bit too simplified but traditional Palmer isn't it, either (though I know for sure that's what my grandma learned).

I love writing, both in print and cursive. I have very small but incredibly neat penmanship and can switch between upright and slanted for both printing and cursive (and specific cursive letter forms are totally different depending on upright vs slant. I don't have to think about it; it's totally automatic). I usually write upright but it depends on my mood.

I'm in grad school right now and I know just about everyone prints. I generally have as well to be on the safe side, but I wrote (in cursive) a thank you note to a prof for a letter of recommendation and the next time she saw me, right after thanking me, she said, "you have *gorgeous* handwriting!" I played it , but inside was

[LawMonkey]

My dabbling in Russian has pretty thoroughly screwed up my Latin cursive. I did a lot of hand writing while I was in SPb, and Russian Cyrillic script has a number of similar letterforms to Latin cursive. Now when I think "r," I tend to write "p" and so on.

[GameHat]

Originally Posted by Lord Feldon

Just most? There were college instructors commanding students to pick one form of handwriting over another in 2004?

Well, most didn't care. The remaining few grumbled about it, but accepted my bastardized print/script hybrid. Didn't affect my grades, as far as I can tell.

[Tom Tildrum]

The OP reminds me of that time on Family Guy when Peter forgot how to sit down. (video)

[Antigen]

My "handwriting" is a mash of cursive and printed letters. Everyone finds it perfectly legible, unless I'm really rushed and it gets a little scribbly and careless. I think it would be fun to see a sample of everyone's handwriting - pick a simple phrase or two, get everyone to write it out, and link to a photo or scan of it. I'm curious to see just how bad everyone's "bad" handwriting is!