Among Friends

[just bee]

I'm on a computer every day, but I also use pen and paper every day.

I was blessed to be born into a family of individuals who had beautiful handwriting -- both printing and cursive.  I was taught to read and write long before I started school.

And I was fortunate to experience the teaching of penmanship in school.  We were required to use a fountain pen.

It was a challenge for me because penmanship requires holding the pen a particular way.  My teacher actually placed a coin on the back of my hand to ensure I was holding my writing instrument correctly.

I don't know how I adopted this, but I have always held my pen in a rather unique fashion.  My penmanship teacher, as determined as she was, could not change that.

[Sooner]

@JoyFilled Warrior and others interested:

You can sign up for free online calligraphy classes through Montblanc's web pages.  They are free and you don't even have to buy an $800 fountain pen for them!!!

There are two women who teach the best ones.  The dark haired lady does more traditional style, while the blonde one does the modern calligraphy, journaling, card writing, etc.

Both are excellent!!!!!!  And even if you don't learn the formal way it will help your writing.

[just bee]

What's funny is that I have always had beautiful handwriting so I assumed my college calligraphy class would be a breeze.

It was not.

I admire those who master the art.

[jubilant]

@mrshckynut   Same here.  

 Lately the cursive doesn't look so good so whatever looks the best that day is what I do!

[Puzzle Piece]

Cursive all the way. 

I had learned that it helps as you have memory issures.  I had them but the cursive helped brig me back to what I know.  It works. 

[Icegoddess]

@THEY CallMe Mr Wilkes , I think it is important to at least learn how to read cursive.  Otherwise, you would be dependent on others to tell you what is in historical documents and what they tell you might not be correct.  

I do Genealogy, so I'm always reading cursive, and I've had to learn how it has changed over time, especially some of the upper-case letters  Surprisingly, my older sister, who has dabbled in it, says she won't look at Census Records because they're too hard to read.  I have found many transcription errors.  

We had a discussion once about a marriage.  She had resd tht maybe an ancestor did not marry a certain lady becuase she hae read somewhere on Ancestry, I think, that some were saying that it was a different Obedience.  I finally ran across a handwritten letter where the ancestor proclaimed that he would be marrying said person shortly "...if there be no lawful cause to obstruct from said marriage...".  While there are still a couple of words in that letter I haven't been able to figure out, had I not been able to read cursive, I never would have found that letter.  There was no description as to what the letter was.  I just happened to run across it.  

[Venezia]

"Rachel Jeantel, star witness in the Trayvon Martin murder trial, was asked in Seminole Circuit Court in Sanford, Florida this week to read from a letter that she allegedly "wrote" to Mr. Martin's mother. The letter detailed what Ms. Jeantel allegedly heard while on the phone with the late Mr. Martin moments before he was fatally shot by 29-year-old defendant George Zimmerman.

However, when prompted in court, Ms. Jeantel couldn't read that letter.

Though she pored over the page, Ms. Jeantel could not, in fact, read one word outside her own name, the date, and the words "thank you."

In explaining her difficulties, Ms. Jeantel, a 19-year-old rising senior at Miami Norland High School, claimed, "I can't read cursive." "

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I rest my case.  Whether you use it everyday or just to read something in cursive, the skill is important.  And being a witness in a trial, where you can't even read what you purported to write, is pretty damning and harmful.

A "rising senior"?  And what legal hotshot allowed her to be put on the stand without finding out that she couldn't read the statement?  Point to the defense.

Oh and, yes, I still use cursive every day.  Use it or lose it.

[Desert Lily]

Cursive writing is unimportant & obsolete now. It's going the way of cuneiform writing from 3000 BCE and hieroglyphics from around 3200 BCE. The 2 early writing systems were interpreted by scholars around the world.

We don't need cursive anymore. I was sent e-docs 4 years ago for transactions; no cursive signing was necessary.

Do you prepare your income taxes on paper & sign by hand, or do you do them online & sign electronically?

I'm sure that computers & scholars will be able to break the very simple code for cursive writing so that people will be able to read all documents that were written in cursive. 

[THEY CallMe Mr Wilkes]

That's my view also.

Cursive will become a lost "language" that may be taught by scholars of history in college for those transcribing and interpreting historical documents. 

I can read and write fluently.   But I don't need to.

I have approved tax documents,  employment documents,  legal documents and real estate documents on line with no cursive signature required.

[Tinkrbl44]

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@Desert Lily wrote:

Cursive writing is unimportant & obsolete now. It's going the way of cuneiform writing from 3000 BCE and hieroglyphics from around 3200 BCE. The 2 early writing systems were interpreted by scholars around the world.

We don't need cursive anymore. I was sent e-docs 4 years ago for transactions; no cursive signing was necessary.

Do you prepare your income taxes on paper & sign by hand, or do you do them online & sign electronically?

I'm sure that computers & scholars will be able to break the very simple code for cursive writing so that people will be able to read all documents that were written in cursive. 

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@Desert Lily 

Whether you use it regularly or not, being unable to read cursive puts people at a huge disadvantage if they are still working. 

It also indicates a substandard education.  

JMO, of course.