A guy I work with suggested I write in smaller letters. This is perhaps the fourth or fifth time he has made the suggestion since I’ve been working here, about a year ago.
“You see how I write?” he said. “My print is small and neat. Compare it to yours. Maybe if you wrote smaller, it would look neater. Like mine.”
For some reason, this bothered me a lot. So much so, that the guy sensed I was sad/angry and he apologized. I’m tired of him harping about my handwriting. It’s perfectly legible (he has admitted as much) and does what it is supposed to do: convey information. Also, I think I’ve reached a point in my life when I should be able to write the way I want to, the way that comes naturally to me. I took penmanship in 2nd grade. I’m way past that stage in my development.
I’ve always been sensitive when it comes to my handwriting. I guess it’s because it represents my internal voice and personality (it looks like how I think, and when people see my writing, they immediately know it’s “me”). Growing up, my teachers would give me hell because of the crazy way I held my pencil. I like thinking that my penmanship is my way of telling the world “See? I’m writing the way I want to. Fuck ya’ll if ya’ll don’t like it!”
I don’t pretend that my handwriting is beautiful or caligraphic. You can see that for yourself. But is it so ugly that I need to be scolded every time I write something? I don’t think so.
Am I the only one who is this sensitive? Maybe I should lighten up?
you should lighten up. but on the same note, if this guy has mentioned your handwriting more than once, he probably has deeper issues at work that need to be addressed.
i haven’t actually used cursive in almost 10 years. my handwriting is barely legible as printing, but my cursive turns into a long series of squiggly lines that i can’t even read myself. by using printing primarily i’m forced to slow down a little, which helps (but not much, ask my workmates)
Huh. People still write? Using pencils and pens and stuff?
I think your handwriting is neato. How much handwriting do you do at work, anyway?
You ever seen a doctor’s handwriting? They make boatloads of $$ and they can’t write worth shit (QtM has explained that it’s cuz they’re so damn busy, which makes perfect sense).
My mom has always bugged me that my handwriting was TOO small. I developed a tiny writing style when I was in school and kids always tried to copy off me. The smaller I wrote, the harder it was for them to copy.
But I don’t hand-write anything anymore. I gave up pencils!
Naw. Don’t change anything. Screw 'em! I prefer to write in cursive, as anything I print looks horrible. I’ve got my own flair with my writing. My daughter prefers to print and she prints quite small letters, as does my husband. I don’t see why anyone would gripe about your printing. It looks cool to me, and I didn’t have any problems at all reading it. I think that guy might have some sort of control issues.
I don’t think you have anything to worry about, except your co-worker’s control issues.
My handwriting has gotten all sloppy in the years since I started using a keyboard nearly full-time. But for a good many years, people would see my printing and ask me what font it was.
I actually hate my own handwriting. It’s messy and resembles the handwriting of a first-grader, except that it looks so practiced. I can write more neatly if I slow down, of course, but I can’t keep that up for more than a few seconds without losing patience. I much prefer to type.
Whenever anyone criticizes my handwriting, I just say, “Yup…”
My handwriting is lousy. My students sometimes mock me and I have to laugh with them, because I know it’s bad. This has worked to my advantage in some ways-- I can sympathize with kids who have the handwriting of mental patients, and I have excellent decoding skills.
Your coworker is being a jerk for criticizing your handwriting. Also, he’s wrong. Writing smaller will not help. Writing LARGER will help, in my experience. And writing on lined paper and sticking to the lines and margins. Other than that, you write how you write. If he doesn’t like it, he can wait while you type it out.
Well, mostly “no.” My handwriting is really nice looking, it’s combination of cursive and printing with a few leftover calligraphic elements thrown in. When most people glance at it, they think it’s pretty. When they have to actually read it, I occasionally get complaints. But most adults can work through it. Small children who are just learning to read really, really can’t. About a year ago, I had to write for 6-8 year olds and they hated my handwriting. I would do my best to do easy-to-understand printing, and they’d look and say “Is that an ‘R’?” “That doesn’t look like an ‘F.’” “I learned how to do 'E’s in kindergarten. Why don’t you write right?” Then I was sensitive.
But the idea that smaller writing is more legible is not true. In fact, I would guess that smaller handwriting is generally going to be harder to write (requiring tighter fine motor skills) and harder to read. Your writing is perfectly legible and he’s able to figure out what you’ve written - it’s not your problem.
Amarinth, your writing sounds exactly like mine, cool! Nobody seems to have trouble reading mine, though I don’t have kids trying to read it. Oddly enough, my white board writing is even better than my handwriting. I figured how to brace my hand on the board to get really good results after a couple of years of wobbly stuff wandering around the board.
I can understand how someone’s writing can mean a lot to them. My grade school put a huge emphasis on good handwriting, it was part of the grade even. Good handwriting was a sign you cared about your work and all good people cared about their work. Bad handwriting meant you were a bad person, in their eyes.
By the time I got to high school I was drunk on the freedom to write as I wished and the result was ridiculous. Lavender pen, circles instead of dots, and the words looked more like someone had doodled a row of spirals. It was pretty and different and it was representative of me. College cured me of any writing that couldn’t be done quickly during lecture, but it’s still in the back of my mind whenever I write. That it’s a little piece of who I am going out into the world for people to judge.
So monstro might be a bit sensitive, but the co-worker was being rude. No one particularily enjoys criticism, it was unsolicited opinion, and he’s wrong to boot. Small doesn’t equal legibility. Legibility equals legibility.
I always get bagged on for my handwriting, too. Tough crap, I like it. It’s me. It’s mostly legible. I don’t wanna write the big fluffy bubble letters of the rest of my female contemporaries.
Love your handwriting (I think it looks cool!). Screw 'em if they don’t like it.
TSC, penmanship dunce.
I know my handwriting isn’t great, but I love it because it’s part of me and shows who I am. I even made a 2 fonts of it (Jen’s Handwriting Immortalized 2003 and Jen’s Casual Scrawl 2005). If anyone wants a copy of these fonts, probably for purpouses of framing me for a crime, I will send them!
