Mine is. Almost all of my written communication these days is done with typing. Email, texting, etc. All I use handwriting for now is grocery lists, occasional notetaking, and the rare occasion where I need to sign a check.
I interviewed for a new job today, and they emailed me a standard application that I had to print out and fill out by hand. I was embarrased to hand it over. It seems that I have just fallen out of practice. I could not get my hand to form the letters or numbers properly. It was nearly illegible, even as I took great care with it.
I’m lucky that the interviewers didn’t even look at it, it is probably going straight to HR.
Absolutely. In third grade, I got a D- in penmanship, and things have gone downhill since then. I can barely do three consecutive words without a scratch out of some kind.
I used to pride myself on my good handwriting and printing. These days I’m lucky if I can read what I wrote. If I make the effort I can still print very nicely (and my block cap printing is quite good, even now) but my cursive writing is appalling.
My printing is still very good. My script can be very neat and methodical, but the further my arthritis progresses, the more painful it becomes to keep it neat so it’s becoming scrawly.
I used to pride myself on my good handwriting and printing. These days I’m lucky if I can read what I wrote. If I make the effort I can still print very nicely (and my block cap printing is quite good, even now) but my cursive writing is appalling.
My handwriting was always bad, but it’s definitely declined some. I’m not sure whether this can be entirely blamed on my computer, as there’s a noticeable downward progression throughout high school -> college -> first round of grad school -> second round of grad school, in all of which I took handwritten notes in a notebook. I remember going with my father when I was in elementary school to the polling place on election day, where they used to have you sign your name in the same book each election, each signature one under the other. It was interesting watching the twelve or fifteen years worth of signatures gradually degrade before your very eyes, from something that was legibly his name to an abstract scribble. All of this well predated his ability to type at all (he’s proud to be up to four-finger keyboarding now.)
Yup, mine has become steadily suckier, cursive especially. When I jot down phone numbers from a voice-mail message, I have to make a conscious effort to write legibly.
I still send handwritten thank you and sympathy notes, and I’ve almost gotten to the point where I have to write a draft as a practice run before I do the real thing.
Wow, I guess I’ll be the first person to comment to say my handwriting has been progressively getting better. I handwrite my notes while in class (because using my laptop tends to be distracting…) and I find that if my writing is messy, I’m less likely to want to study my notes. So I try to print attractively. Growing up I was never a good printer because I hold my pencil funny; I was taught to write by my parents before I started school so it was too late to unlearn it.
I love to blame typing for my godsawful penmanship, but the truth is that I learned to write at home, and it never, ever got any better; my folks spent 10 years trying to change it, handwriting lessons and exercises during summer vacation, you name it. Fuggetabowtit!
I am just LUCKY that I was forced into typing class <before computers> and found a way to communicate that didn’t blind my recipients. I have been told I hold my pen oddly; no clue. I really can’t hold it any other way; watching other people write gives me sympathy cramps.
Is this holding pattern that odd? *This picture was taken a few years ago to show how I hold my pen, due to someone saying it was ‘weird’. I am now curious as to whether anyone else holds it that way.
Yes, mine is terrible. It probably doesn’t help that I’ve never used cursive for things like jotting down notes; always printing. I’ve never been a fan of cursive.
Taomist, that is exactly the way I hold my pen to write. No amount of coaxing or scolding could make me change it when I was in school. It seems to be hereditary in my family, and two of my children also hold their pens that way. I don’t think we can do it any other way without our hands cramping up and our writing getting even worse.
My handwriting has always been sloppy, but I do really well at tasks that require the work load to be shared by both the right and left hand. I made jewelry for a living for 20 years. While I’m good at fine motor skills related to making things, my penmanship gets a bit worse every year.
Mine has never been great, but it’s been mostly consistent, at least. It helps that I use a drawing tablet regularly, so I’m reasonably practiced in the whole pen-holding thing. In fact, I used my tablet handwriting recognition software to write this post! (Which I am fairly impressed with, by the way; it hardly ever makes embarrassing mistresses!)
Mine’s always been horrible, generally due to me never taking the time to do a nice job. Unless I’m filling out a form and I really work at it, my “writing” really just consists of 1-2 barely recognizable letters and a scribble, which no human can read but it serves as enough to jog my memory later as to what I was taking note of.
Taomist, I hold writing implements exactly like that, and have also been told that it looks really weird and cramped. My problem is with instructions for using chopsticks - they always tell you to start with the first one the way you hold a pencil, but I hold pencils ‘wrong.’
Nope, I get compliments my penmanship. It’s much easier to read than when I was a kid; I knew being forced to sit at those stupid rightie desks was causing problems!
Thank you, thank you for letting me know I’m not the only one holding pencils that way! I always wondered.
Now I have to revisit how I hold chopsticks, which is to say ‘not very well’. Hrm…