# Can you write in cursive all the alphabet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544 "2009-10-12T16:43:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544/81 "2009-10-20T03:41:35Z")
This really is my first inkling that not everyone can do this these days. Obviously, modern education is going to hell in a handbasket, dadgummit. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544/82 "2009-10-20T04:01:22Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > The main Wikipedia page for cursive defines it thus: “Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing notes and letters quickly by hand. In the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic writing systems, the letters in a word are connected, making a word one single complex stroke.” M-W gives cursive as “flowing often with the strokes of successive characters joined and the angles rounded”–note that it does not require that letters be joined. You seem to be qualifying the form of cursive used in English (i.e., joined letters) as the exclusive definition, which it’s not. Okay then, but it’s the same issue as with Arabic… aw, fuck it, I don’t feel like having this conversation anymore. I have other things to do. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544/83 "2009-10-20T22:32:34Z")
> [@foolscap](#): > > My cursive is a mixture of cyrillic and english. > for example I use the russian n for my capital H > It looks better that way. exactly!!! i also love the russian k and use that. lower case d’s go russian they have a cool flying tail. mine is a mix of both as well. i was that poor kid who had to go to russian school on saturdays, just like the girl in big fat greek wedding had to go to greek school. i learned to write russian right handed. writing left handed in russian is very frowned on even to this day (over there). i learned english left handed in normal everyday american school. i switch-write left and right in english, but still only write russian right. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544/84 "2009-10-21T03:14:27Z")
I personally enjoy writing capital Xs, Qs and Zs. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544/85 "2009-10-21T15:42:29Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > But the fussy type is what we’re talking about in this thread, right? The proper type we were taught in school and that no one actually uses because writing a Q as a stylized 2 is really weird? You said “Well, there are two ways to write Latin letters, right? Print and cursive. Cursive is often seen as sort of fancy and old-fashioned, to the extent that it’s often not even taught anymore.” I’m saying, there’s a huge space between “fancy and old-fashioned” cursive writing and printing. That’s normal handwriting, which is a kind of cursive in that it is (mostly) joined-up, but it isn’t the “fancy and old-fashioned” kind. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544/86 "2009-10-23T03:33:36Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > I’ve forgotten many of the capitals > …I still think the [cursive capital A,E,F,G,S and T](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive) are hideous. Of course they’re hideous, they’re D’Nealian. They took all the pretty out of them and just left the rest. It’s like some unholy cross between cursive and print. I’ll stick with the old-fashioned ones that these are cheap imitations of, thank you. And yes, I can, and do, still use it. I can make all the letters and write that way regularly. I don’t understand why anyone prints instead. It’s always seemed clunky to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-write-in-cursive-all-the-alphabet/513544.md?page=4)