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Do you still write in cursive?

I don't use the cursive capital "Q" either. It just looks silly in 99% of cases. Over the years, I developed a "loop" in my v's, so when I sign "Kevan" some people have trouble reading it. I don't do it all the time, though.

In terms of my signature, I envy people who have a distinct-yet-legible style to theirs, like Dan Smith from the FP Geeks Youtube videos. I tried to make mine stylish, but at the end of the day I just gave up and either sign regularly, or with the "K" on the top line link slightly with the "C" of my last name on the bottom line.

In a somewhat related point, a female friend of mine remarked on my FP's today. She saw the Custom 823 and said "Wow! A fountain pen! Those things are so classy, but they're hard to use." I was puzzled by that. I asked her why, and she said "They're just...hard to write with. If you've grown up with a ballpoint, they're weird."

I offered to let her write with it but she declined. But...hard to use? Hard to write with? I had no clue what she was talking about. Different, sure...but hard to use? I'm stumped.
 
It's interesting that a couple of people mention not liking the cursive Q. I do like it; it's one of those letters that encourages you to try for a bit of flair. To each his own, of course.

Although I never gave up on cursive the way some do, I did, over the years, develop a habit of printing many of the capital letters, Q, Z, and I definitely, possibly O and G, I'd have to go back to some of my old journals to remind myself. I decided I didn't like that I was getting sloppy, looked up some cursive style sheets, and made an effort to relearn to forms I'd been taught as a child. This was a few years before I even thought of trying a fountain pen. When I did finally get one, it made me appreciate the flow of cursive forms even more.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Kevan ... It is a brave man who loans out an expensive pen as a trial pen for someone who admits to knot knowing what she is doing. That is what 78g's are for!!
 
Kevan ... It is a brave man who loans out an expensive pen as a trial pen for someone who admits to knot knowing what she is doing. That is what 78g's are for!!
Not for an extended period...just to write with it in that instance, right then. So I could watch if something went wrong.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Not for an extended period...just to write with it in that instance, right then. So I could watch if something went wrong.

"Hey, I just got to see her bend my tines. Cool!"
 
37 and a physician. Most of my prescriptions are handled by the computer these days, but if I do write one out, it's always printed to avoid trouble. Probably because I don't have to do it often, it is printed in grade-school-beautiful handwriting. I think it is atrocious that the pharmacist supposedly couldn't read it. If the OP could read it, then she should have been able to as well.

Personally, I have a similar story to most my age. Learned it in grade school (parochial), used it in high school, lost it in college. I came back to it a few years ago with my fountain pens, and really had to work to get it back. Now it's not calligraphy-pretty, but legible unless I'm really just dashing off a note to myself.

Anyone else grow up with the distinction between "writing" (i.e. cursive) and printing? The word "cursive" was almost frowned upon as juvenile when I was a kid.
 

Alacrity59

Wanting for wisdom
"Muuuum ... I asked grampa where the '1' key is, and he told me to go to 'ell!!"

I went to the Helen Hunt school of typing. If you can't find a key go to hell and hunt for them.

The last exam I wrote was using my own laptop on a very very locked down website that prevented any looking at external resources. I was in a panic as on one question I was attempting to cut and paste in a usual Microsoft oriented manner . . . but with the software it was cut and zap/gone.

The exam a short time previous to this was hand written. It had been a couple of decades from when I had written so much.

One of my in-laws is involved in an MBA program. They are handwriting exams . . . students rubbing their wrists 10 and 15 minutes into the exam.

Clearly we need to be making accommodations both ways.
 

Alacrity59

Wanting for wisdom
Well, I'm 52 and still write cursive. My kids are 23 and 20. Both were taught cursive in school but they tend to print everything.

It seems to be a skill losing its importance. But like DE shaving, it too may make a comeback in a few decades. :)

I don't know why I like the cut of this guy's jib. Too funny . . . and I bet you have had this avatar longer than I have.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
Nope.

I sign my name in cursive, though. In my school district, we learned to write in cursive in 2nd or 3rd grade. I'm pretty sure we had to complete all assignments in cursive in 4th and 5th grade.

I print because it's faster and more legible than my cursive.
 
I graduated high school in 2009. I was taught cursive in grade school and wrote in cursive through jr. high. The teachers drilled it into our heads that we would need to know it to be successful writers in high school and college... they lied. Once I got into high school, we were told it wasn't required and we didn't need it to be successful writers.

Now i write using a hybrid of cursive and print. My handwriting is pretty legible, but I used to constantly get told not to write so small.
 
I was taught cursive from a very young age when I was being educated at a French school (I still remember her mantra, "You are not a computer, you DO NOT PRINT!").

However, when I moved back to England at the age of 8, in school I was actually told to stop writing in fountain pen and to absolutely stop writing in cursive for several years before everyone in the class was allowed to. I was forced to print, and that really screwed my handwriting, as ever since I've used an erratic mixture of French cursive, English cursive and printing.

It's a shame, because I used to have beautiful handwriting. Now it's scrawly and messy and inconsistent.
 
I went to a public school. Didn't have the money for private. I think this issue just varies district to district and state to state in terms of what's taught.

^^^ This.

I also graduated in 2003, and moved the middle of my 8th grade year. the school district I moved from was very paper and pen, long hand oriented. Teachers gave extra credit for good penmanship. The district I moved to was technology oriented and wanted everything typed, I was the only one in my class who still hunt and pecked to type. All of the other students were touch typing.


Today I do a mix of cursive and block letters. But the vast majority of my writing is technical documents that are typed.
 
I'm 49, and write all correspondence and anything for viewing/presentation to others in cursive. My cursive is more legible than my printing and faster. When I'm writing something technical/personal/informal, I'll print, but I have to be slower and careful to maintain legibility. I recall "penmanship" being an everyday subject in grammar school; right up there with math and grammar. None of my 5 son's have had any exposure to it in school at all, and none can do it well. Times have changed. As cursive disappears, I fear the whole art of writing and the instruments for it will eventually follow. All my kids already think I'm a hopeless Luddite.
 
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Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
Nope.

I sign my name in cursive, though. In my school district, we learned to write in cursive in 2nd or 3rd grade. I'm pretty sure we had to complete all assignments in cursive in 4th and 5th grade.

I print because it's faster and more legible than my cursive.

I now jump in and out of both, depending on what I'm writing. I print notes and quick memos. I use cursive when writing letters or testing out new pens or inks.
 
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