# What's faster, your printing or your cursive **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787 "2011-09-10T03:33:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/81 "2014-06-22T23:07:09Z")
Printing, because I never really learned cursive. Even in elementary school I always printed. Cursive takes way too long because I basically have to think how to write every letter. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/82 "2014-06-22T23:13:56Z")
Cursive is faster, but not more legible. I have to slow down if I want to be able to read it later. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/83 "2014-06-23T09:45:04Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Printing, because I never really learned cursive. Even in elementary school I always printed. Cursive takes way too long because I basically have to think how to write every letter. But that’s sort of like someone who says writing with a pen is faster than typing, because they hunt and peck when doing the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/84 "2014-06-23T10:17:52Z")
My experience sort of mirrors that of most Americans in this board. In Spain we were only taught cursive, but not out of pretentiousness, but because it was considered simpler and easier and you could take notes faster with it, even if the teachers had some trouble deciphering what some of the kids wrote. When I was eleven or twelve I changed my regular cursive handwriting on my own to make it like the “cooler” type from books or the one in a keyboard. That made my note- taking considerably slower, but it did impress my teachers. I never went back to cursive, and it would be a real pain to get used to it again if I tried. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/85 "2014-06-24T03:04:16Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > _snort_ yourself. Reagan was president when I was over 40, and get off my lawn. Well, I turned 30 under Reagan at least. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/86 "2014-06-24T17:50:43Z")
I use a mishmash of printed and cursive, which is often barely legible even to me, especially when I write in a hurry. I can type so much faster. Yet I often still carry a clipboard to meetings. Old habits die hard. But there are some kinds of notes I can take more quickly and less disruptively than tapping on a keyboard while someone is talking, and I can draw pictures and use arrows, circle stuff, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Earth001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a6a055/32.png) [@Earth001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earth001)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/87 "2014-06-24T19:15:42Z")
Printing is usually faster for me. I don’t really do cursive that much . ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787/88 "2014-06-25T06:37:50Z")
The fastest that’s guaranteed legible to me, and usually legible to others, is printed. The fastest that I can produce is some sort of cursive, but even I have trouble deciphering it later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-faster-your-printing-or-your-cursive/595787.md?page=4)