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The demise of handwriting







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Tony Burbs said…
Penmanship was still a required class and cursive was the name of the game when I was going through fourth and fifth grade circa 1999. Is there even such a class anymore? Anyway, I don't think the written word is dead, rather it's now saved for more special occasions.

As you alluded to, greeting cards, invitations, notes to a special someone and, of course, trade packages. My point being, a handwritten piece of paper is now a sign that you matter to whoever took the time to scribble it.
Tony L. said…
I handwrite stuff all the time, especially at work. It's why my post today is on yellow legal pad paper.

Of course, I'm a middle-aged man. I type fast, but I lose track of what people are saying to me if I am typing while they talk. Plus, I hit the keys pretty hard so it's kind of rude too. But, I can write what people say and be able to think about what is said and interact with my co-workers/clients/opposing counsel. Or, not interact, if I am aiming for that.
Matt said…
Your handwriting looks great. Very legible. Mine looks like a dr's and I am not one lol.
I still hand write a few things. Grocery lists, notes to the Mrs, and TTM's are always done that way. It's not dead, just dulled down.
Kudos on another creative post!
Mike Matson said…
I put a note in a package I sent with a reminder of my return address and the person couldn't read cursive...
defgav said…
I remember working on cursive back in elementary school was such a pain. I was relieved down the line when I eventually realized it wasn't required for adults to write in cursive. As soon as I didn't have any teachers who required cursive for handwritten assignments, I stopped using it. Although now I'm thinking it might be a fun challenge for myself, next time I do a handwritten post, trying to write it all in cursive.
AdamE said…
My daughter is in third grade and started learning cursive this year. Writing just may be dead because it is just as illegible as her printing. To me that is odd because girls are all supposed to have pretty handwriting.

At work when I have to write something that has to be seen (even as simple a thing as on the tab of a folder) I bring it to one of the girls in the office and tell them I need girl writing done on it.

Your mixture of cursive and printing isn't as strange as my own writing. I go one step further. I mix the two just like you but I also capitalize the first letter of each word but the first letter is always printed even if the rest of it sometimes isn't. I don't know where I picked that up from.

gcrl said…
apropos of nothing, i type lowercase but print in caps.
Kevin Papoy said…
In France, it's cursive only. We never ever hear of print
BobWalkthePlank said…
I remember having "handwriting" class in the late 80's. It didn't help me.
Jason Presley said…
I disliked cursive because it took so much longer for me to write legibly than I could in print. It's all well and good for those people who somehow managed to naturally have great penmanship, but for the rest of us, why bother? I have to assume that in prior years, students were just required to practice cursive a lot more than when I was in school, or somehow teachers actually managed to drill in some level of pride in their penmanship.

Today, I don't even print properly, it's mostly all caps, just with larger letters at the beginning of sentences and for proper nouns. Technically I can still write in cursive, but it takes so long it's not worth the effort. My signature has devolved into a doctor's scribble over the years.
Very well "written". Or you writed it good. Ha! It was very legible and I enjoyed reading it. So there.
AdamE said…
Forgot to mention, I love that Nomo card. That is my absolute favorite parallel set of all time. Actually I would probably vote it my favorite insert set of all time too.
Fuji said…
It's slowly dying. Today I corrected over 50 (8th grade) projects and don't recall seeing cursive writing on any of them.