What's your opinion of your own penmanship?

[chuckr9]

I rate mine as medium - easy to read, but not many points for style.

[bkfist]

Tried cursive a few months ago when I got re-united with FP... Couldn't even remember how to connect some of the letters.

Even during high school I typed everything I could type. Even my chemistry workbook papers, I'd remove the pages and type everything, including formulas... The idea of computers were totally new at the time (You could buy a heath-kit and make your own - that was about it for "home computers"), but I'd been reading the science/electronics magazines and KNEW I wanted one, so I wanted to learn how to type, and how to type well.

In Freshman high school, everyone had to have 1/4 year of typing, I went on to take 3 more years. The only male in our typing teacher's LONG career (He retired after my sr. year) to take 3 years of typing classes (and one semester of short hand - which I do not at ALL remember).

My senior year apple came out with their computer and Tandy/Radioshack came out with the Model 1, (got one at home that summer) and our school had their first "computer" class. (My daughter's senior year the school started "1 laptop per child" at our school).

Interest in computers, typing everything I could get my hands on on my typewriter, primarily taking science & mathematics classes, combined with the absolute case-sensitive nature of writing programs, and my cursive didn't get used for my last 3 years of high school, unless forced to do so.

(plus my cursive was atrocious to start with)

I never, ever, liked trying to read other's cursive writing to start with, could see absolutely no sense to it, I think I pretty much purposely forgot it existed.

My typing skills, the ones I worked so hard to develop because I wanted to be able to type on a computer, unfortunately, have suffered BECAUSE of the advent of computers. My once 100-120 WPM typing skills, which I could do with almost no mistakes, has gone down hill due to the lack of any need to concentrate on what I'm typing. When you used to have to correct your mistakes, you took a high penalty for losing concentration, now that there are cursors & backspace keys, not so much. While I still consider myself far above average in my typing speed, it's nothing like it was back in high school and college.

Having my keyboard sitting on my lap at the moment wedged between my left thigh and the arm of the couch, rotated about 15 degrees away from me, and at the same time having the left side of the keyboard about 4 inches lower than the right side of the keyboard probably isn't doing anything to enhance my typing at the moment either, although even at that odd angle I can still keep up a respectable rate/accuracy compared to what I see most others doing in a day to day basis at work. LOL

[BowTieGuy]

I have to say, since picking up the fountain pen habit I have made more of a point to slow down and write better - it has truly changed my penmanship for the better and now I look for excuses to write. Especially with my Sheaffer italic.

[Mike H]

I rated mine fair...

[Doc4]

[Mike H]

Doc, cant help you with the button, but I will send you three cents.

edit:... if the post office can read my handwriting

[mboschm]

That's what I think. Others either compliment it as "classy", "old letter-like", "handsome" or compare to that of a doctor's.

[Doc4]

Doc, cant help you with the button, but I will send you three cents.

edit:... if the post office can read my handwriting

Thanks!

My address:

[CrotalusHH]

I'm getting better writing with a FP. Before this my cursive was so lazy I couldn't read it myself. I printed notes to myself and especially to anyone else.

I am in electrical customer service and product support, so I am writing notes all day.

[LegendofVogel]

Mine is so bad I use print and people cannot tell what I have written.

[Dennard]

I would say mine is good enough.

[crowdog]

I would say mine, printing wise is good enough. I still struggle with cursive. In my sample, I should have said that my sample of all caps too longer to write then my sample of what I consider italic.





Marty

[N2theBreech]

I chose good enough. It's not excellent, but I do get the occasional complement. It's better sometimes than others, depending on how rushed I feel, etc.

I give "credit" to my 8th grade teacher who was a stickler for handwriting. He got frustrated enough about the poor state of our writing that he altered his lesson plans and put us through an hour a day of intensive hand-writing boot camp for a week or two, and he played the role of drill sergeant to the max. It was so "enjoyable" that I still remember some of his umm... finer moments 40+ years later! Unfortunately, college note-taking did a number on it so now I have to pay closer attention than I used to.

Having said that, my handwriting, also, is becoming more consistent since I started writing with a fountain pen, and... that "fountain pen" is only a Pilot Varsity that I picked up a couple of weeks ago! Can only imagine what kind of improvement I'll see if I ever make the leap to a better quality pen. I think the broadness of the Pilot's nib contributes to the improvement. I have to make the letters more distinct to be legible.

Looking forward to developing a fine Spencerian script some day, maybe by the time I'm 60. :-)

[Andy]

I selected poor, it looks better than when I first started but I think that it still looks quite bad.

[SFsc616171]

My handwriting suffers from needing to settle into a rhythm, similar to older civilian piston-powered aircraft, which had a few minutes ground time to 'settle in', before flight. It looks to be I'm starting as a left-hander (Thanks, mom!), and then settle in right-handed, to something similar to a not-too-well-practiced Spencerian script. John Adams once said, that putting a hand to a pen, makes one to pause. Hahaha. My brain, once engaged with pen in hand, hears 'the word given', "WARP SPEED, NOW!"

[Slivovitz]

I selected poor, it looks better than when I first started but I think that it still looks quite bad...

Although I mentioned at the beginning that I'm not interested in judging anyone else, I'll venture to say you're too hard on yourself; I don't think the sample you gave is bad at all. I can certainly read it quite easily.

I think some people see samples of "fancy" scripts, something like Spencerian script or copperplate, and judge their everyday handwriting by that standard. I admire "fine" penmanship, but just in my opinion, it's a different skill from developing a workable everyday style of writing.

[DunEdinRanger]

While others may think it good, and some may think it wonderful, I still defer to the opinion of the MPF - Chicken Scratch!

[chuck81]

+1

+1

[chuck81]

I can read it easily. I think it's pretty good!

[Go West Young Man]

I selected poor, it looks better than when I first started but I think that it still looks quite bad.

You consider that to be poor handwriting? Wow!