# Why do adults stop using cursive writing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2000, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-adults-stop-using-cursive-writing/38915 "2000-10-30T14:05:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-adults-stop-using-cursive-writing/38915/41 "2000-10-31T22:49:50Z")
> [@](#): > > If people are subpoenaing your notes, why would you want them to be able to understand them? 🙂 Prosecutor: I can’t quite make this out. What does it say? You: It says “Pick up milk, eggs and bread at store. Return videos. Fill car with gas.” Prosecutor: Really?! It looks to me like it says “Pick up laundered drug money and transfer to Cayman Islands Bank. Bury body. Fill small lake with toxic waste.” You: Yeah, I have really bad handwriting. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![ReservoirDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@ReservoirDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReservoirDog)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-adults-stop-using-cursive-writing/38915/42 "2000-10-31T22:58:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rmariamp \* > \*\*I’m like Athena, using a mix of cursive & block lettering. An example, since I can’t scan: > > the name “Cheryl” > > I start with an uppercase C, that looks like a plain block C, except that I join it with the h,e,and r. The r is a block r (since script r’s are dumb). Then I picked up my pen, and added a script “yl.”\*\* I sign my own name like this because CAPITAL cursive letters all look retarded. My initials are DGT, and for crying out loud, the capitals of these letters are the stupidest characters you’ll ever see, with their little loopity-loops and swiggly tails. Screw 'em!! ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-adults-stop-using-cursive-writing/38915/43 "2000-10-31T23:22:14Z")
\*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > If people are subpoenaing your notes, why would you want them to be able to understand them? 🙂 \*\* My lawyer asked the same thing, but _he_ charged me, like, 800 bucks to hear the answer! But my notes were right, the alleged ambiguity in the contract was resolved, the regulator Gods were appeased and everyone lived happily ever after. We would have lived happily ever after _sooner_ if my notes had been legible. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-adults-stop-using-cursive-writing/38915/44 "2000-11-01T00:11:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yabob \* > **A friend of mine who’s been using his Palm Pilot for a while now says that he’s caught himself writing notes on paper in graffiti (the Pilot shorthand system).** Hey, I don’t feel so bad now, I’m not the only one. 😃 FWIW I class my natural cursive handwriting as neat, but it’s far too slow and if I speed up to it becomes illegible. I can print faster and still be readible (even with occasional lapses into graffiti). I have found that throwing out the ball points and using a good fountain pen has improved my script significantly as you need to form the letters properly or you just get a long black blob. I’ve got a personal handwriting font on my PC so I can type footnotes in quasi-cursive. (from Signature Software if anyone is interested) It’s very effective for brief notes but gets very hard to read if more than a couple of lines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-adults-stop-using-cursive-writing/38915.md?page=2)