it's one of those random polls where i attempt to start conversation about random topics

[lirazel]

Okay, so. The other day some of my co-workers were mocking me because I still write in cursive. Yes, that's right: 90% of the time I use cursive. I can write in print, obviously, but my cursive is A) prettier and B) much, much faster (all the letters are connected! You don't have to pick your pen up nearly as much!). Apparently I am the only one who didn't learn it in third grade and then immediately start using print again as soon as I was allowed.

So I want to know about you! Take this poll! And note that the first two questions are asking about the majority of the time. Please only choose the "back and forth" option if you really do change it up most of the time as opposed to just some of the time.

[Poll #1817294]

[eta] One of my ultimate pet peeves: people who write "bare with me." NO I DO NOT WANT TO GET NAKED WITH YOU, AND CONSIDERING THAT WE HAVEN'T KNOWN EACH OTHER VERY LONG, I'M A LITTLE OFFENDED THAT YOU ASKED.

Comments

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

Lol, I can't even imagine myself using print. It would take AGES, while cursive is quick and practical. I only put things like key words and titles in print when I'm taking notes, and when I'm writing a fic, I use cursive only. I was actually surprised to see this kind of poll. I guess it's culture-specific; in my country, hardly anyone uses print.

Well, ok, my father does. But only because his cursive is so terrible he sometimes can't read it himself.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Lol, I can't even imagine myself using print. It would take AGES, while cursive is quick and practical

I KNOW!

I guess it's cultural and also generational--most of the people I know who are younger than me only print, whereas most older people often use cursive.

[treadingthedark.livejournal.com]

I use cursive for my signature, and signing greeting cards and that's about it.
I teach high school and it is definitely becoming a lot art, though I have been informed that there is a cursive font in the computer so maybe it will come back.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hear fewer and fewer kids are learning it. Do you know if they still teach it well in elementary school, or do they just do a cursory sort of overview?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Mine is mostly an 'unholy mixture' but it does also change back and forth seemingly at its own will because I don't consciously choose. I mostly strive for 'legible' of either font, but cursive is indeed faster so when I'm in a rush.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

My mama's is an unholy mixture, which is why it occurred to me. :D

. I mostly strive for 'legible' of either font, but cursive is indeed faster so when I'm in a rush.

Makes sense!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

School fucked up my handwriting big time. We had to learn cursive, but not how to do it well, which means my handwriting is basically all squiggles and drawn-out lines with random crosses and dots. Quoth my English professor, out loud, to the entire auditorium:

"Foamy's handwriting is APPALLING! It looks like drunken spiders crawling across the paper!"

I've used a computer ever since for anything that anyone else may have to read. Or that I have to be able to read 2 weeks from now when I've forgotten what it's supposed to say.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Every time I see that icon it cracks me up. I have decided it's a very good thing I don't often drink, because if I did, I'm pretty sure I would become the female equivalent of Bernard, and the world just does not need that.

Anyway!

We had to learn cursive, but not how to do it well

That sucks. As does your professor reacting that way. Who does that in front of so many people?

I figured there'd be at least one or two people who almost always type.

[gillo]

Mine is generally an unholy mixture; it can also slant in different directions, depending on mood and some letters even change formation without my noticing. My mother thinks it's because one school I attended aged 7 started to teach me a lovely cursive; I then moved house and the new school punished me for using it, as they didn't teach "joined up writing" until a year later.

As a teacher my writing on the board tended to be more print, for clarity and legibility, but comments on work by pupils was more cursive.

I used to play with calligraphy, but not for a long while, so I ticked the first box for that. Creative writing I mostly do on a keyboard these days. I am more likely to be able to read it, and I type faster than I hand-write anyway.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, mine does not even slant. Straight up and down, really.

My mother thinks it's because one school I attended aged 7 started to teach me a lovely cursive; I then moved house and the new school punished me for using it, as they didn't teach "joined up writing" until a year later.

That sounds like a very reasonable explanation. I HATEHATEHATE when schools punish kids for being ahead. I used to get in trouble for reading ahead in the books we were reading as a class. LET'S PUNISH INITIATIVE AND INTELLIGENCE!

As a teacher my writing on the board tended to be more print, for clarity and legibility, but comments on work by pupils was more cursive.

That makes sense.

I played with calligraphy, too, but it's not something I've maintained. It's one of those "one day I'll get back into that" things.

For creative writing, I type when I'm at home with my laptop, but I always carry paper with me to scribble on when I'm out and about.

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

Being weird and Belgian, I had to look up the difference between cursive and print (in retrospect I could have guessed). People actually write in print? That just feels weird to me. I type most of my writing, but I still write down notes in class and I've never seen anyone write in print. Except for official things, I guess.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I'm really interested in the cultural differences. I wonder if this move towards not using cursive at all is purely an American thing or whether it's technology-based and we're just ahead of the curve? I hope it's the former, because I think cursive is beautiful and don't want it to die out.

[silverusagi]

I pretty much always write in cursive. It's faster.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Word.

[snickfic]

Here is the thinking process I went through as a kid: printing looks roughly like what you see in books. Everyone can read the printing in books. Therefore, (roughly) everyone can read written printing. And why wouldn't you write so as to be legible to the largest possible number of people? (This line of logic aided by the fact that as a child I couldn't read most people's cursive, often including my own.)

And I never got good enough at cursive that it was any faster than printing; when I tried to write it quickly, legibility went down the tubes.

It's just better for the world that I print, in other words. *g*

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it largely depends on how comfortable you are with cursive whether you use it. We were required to use it at school at least through middle school, so I got used to it to the point where I don't even have to think about it.

[local-max.livejournal.com]

My cursive writing is not pretty at all, but it is fast, and I've never understood why people act like it's so surprising to keep using it. It is fast! What? I even use cursive in the middle of equations sometimes, but then that can get confusing (like if uv is actually u times v, it seems inappropriate to join them up, even though it kind of comes naturally to do so).

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm with you--I totally understand why people would print if they're not as comfortable with cursive or if theirs isn't very legible. But I don't understand why they're surprised I use my cursive!

even use cursive in the middle of equations sometimes, but then that can get confusing (like if uv is actually u times v, it seems inappropriate to join them up, even though it kind of comes naturally to do so).

I haven't done math in forever, but I remember doing that sort of thing, too.

[next_to_normal]

Unholy mixture! I sort of start out printing, but then end up connecting about half my letters because I'm writing quickly.

When I write for someone else, I try to slow myself down and print more clearly.

I don't actually find writing proper cursive to be faster than print, though? Maybe because I have to go slowly in order for the cursive to be neat, but print can get a bit sloppier and still be legible.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Most of the time when I start out in print I end up writing in cursive unless I make an active effort not to. Connecting the letters: so much easier!

[janie-aire.livejournal.com]

I pretty much type everything these days, it's so much faster than writing anything by hand. That said, I do write by hand on occasion. Greeting cards and letters, those are always in cursive. To-do lists, outlines, and editing notations on manuscripts are always in print.

And actually, I lie. I prefer to type because my handwriting - print or cursive - is rubbish, and I feel bad that I can't make the letters pretty.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I'd type more if I owned a printer? I don't, so I have to go out of my way to print things off, so scribbling things down on paper is way easier for me. But I do type pretty fast!

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

I never print anything, unless I absolutely have to. Printing takes longer and I don't have that kind of patience.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I do on occasion for clarity's sake, but I'm with you: cursive is so. much. faster.

[pocochina.livejournal.com]

lol, I like my unholy mixture. (Why would you write a cursive S or G? Or, like, I don't connect a "t" to the rest of the word.) I find it easiest but apparently nobody else can read it, so print it is.

"bare with me."

pfft.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Ha! I have incorporated a few non-cursive letters into my cursive. And capital Ss and Gs are two of them.

[coalitiongirl.livejournal.com]

I am surprised at how few people only type! (But I'm mildly dyslexic in the first place, so I avoid handwriting of any kind because it's so much easier for me to write by computer/phone. The occasional English finals in college that require lengthy writing are torture.)

ETA: Though it occurs to me that this is only how I do it in English. I write quite a bit in Hebrew and I don't think I've written in Hebrew print since, like, first grade. And most people don't, either. Too boxy and awkward.

And I also hate that omg to the point that now when people say it I also can't hear anything BUT it which actually made time spent with certain high school teachers incredibly awkward. *nods*

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

(But I'm mildly dyslexic in the first place, so I avoid handwriting of any kind because it's so much easier for me to write by computer/phone. The occasional English finals in college that require lengthy writing are torture

Interesting! I didn't consider learning disorders, but of course that makes sense that typing would be easier.

I just looked up the differences in Hebrew print vs. cursive, and yes, the cursive looks like it would be much easier to use.

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

I am all for the unholy mixture, but the proportion of cursive to print varies. In general, I prefer print capital letters and lowercase bs, but I write cursive zs (and sometimes s's) even when almost everything else is print. Letters, etc. tend to be mostly print, but notes are usually mostly cursive. Basically, it's all about speed vs aesthetic (cursive lowercase bs are just dumb. I think print bs are much nicer).

I also tend to doodle ponies and weird faces all over things. My notebooks end up looking rather odd.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I have mixed several print letters into my cursive--I never, ever do cursive capital Zs or Qs and I rarely do capital Ss or Gs. I go back and forth between using cursive and print lowercase zs.

[uwsannajane.livejournal.com]

It's ALL about cursive for me! I spent many many hours in 4th and 5th grade, when I probably should have been paying more attention to my teachers, practicing my handwriting. Perhaps would have had better grades?

As for your other point, indeed, I don't want to "bare" with anyone except my husband. Then there's waiting with baited breath, being put through the ringer, having free reign (though that one is understandable), missing danger by a hair's breath, receiving just desserts ... Oh, God, this is what comes of years of copy editing. I can't un-see this stuff.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

But I bet your cursive is great!

indeed, I don't want to "bare" with anyone except my husband. Then there's waiting with baited breath, being put through the ringer, having free reign (though that one is understandable), missing danger by a hair's breath, receiving just desserts ...

HAHAHA SO TRUE.

[ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com]

I love cursive and basically from 3rd grade on they made us use it for EVERYTHING in elementary school and jr high. What used to happen is that if I did print, somewhere in there I'd switch to cursive.

My cursive isn't that bad, my print is readable but not very pretty, but when I write letters I usually do print so that it's easier for everyone to read. Now I do an online school, I rarely use pen and pencil anymore so it's usually pretty messy when I do since I'm a bit out of practice. When I used to keep a journal, I always used cursive.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I start out in print I often end up in cursive without thinking about it.

My cursive isn't that bad, my print is readable but not very pretty

That's prertty much me.

[ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com]

YOU CAN EITHER BARE WITH ME OR BEAR WITH ME. YOUR CHOICE!

LOL my pet peeve is people who say libary instead of library. In my high school library you'd hear it all the time and one time a SECRETARY SAID IT OVER THE INTERCOM. Obviously you don't spend much time in one.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA NO OFFENSE BUT I'LL BEAR.

In my high school library you'd hear it all the time and one time a SECRETARY SAID IT OVER THE INTERCOM

Hee!

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I learned cursive early in school and was never very good at it... my right hand cursive was reasonably legible, but it was difficult enough to do cursive with my left hand that I never picked it up there and just stuck with print. Pretty much the moment my teachers made it clear we could turn in typed homework, I switched over (my handwriting was bad enough with both hands that my parents thought it was worth investing in a typewriter).

When I was in 9th grade, I took a calligraphy course and concentrated on right-handed writing in order to get at least one hand with decent writing (plus calligraphy is not left-handed friendly) and it worked pretty well... so now my handwriting is print, but with calligraphic elements (even the left hand writes that way, even if it's a slightly different style from the right -- oddly, my left handed writing looks a bit like my mom's and my right-handed writing looks a bit like my dad's).

Of course, nowadays I type nearly everything... but once a year or so, I break out the pen and paper and make myself write in cursive for a little while, just so I don't forget it completely. It definitely doesn't come easily anymore, though.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! My daddy is left-handed, and he has really pretty writing (in both cursive and print), but he has to go sooooo slow because of the fact that it just isn't meant to be written by a left-handed person.

[ruuger]

:)

Transcript:

Mine's an unholy mixture, and the more legible I want it to be, the more like print I write (when I write fast, it becomes more like cursive, but with my own rules for connecting letters instead of what was taught at school). I can write in 'proper' cursive, but it's slow and my handwriting is much uglier.

[blackfrancine.livejournal.com]

Your unholy mixture looks a bit like my unholy mixture!

[chickosaurusrex.livejournal.com]

My mom and I both use an awful mixture of primarily print and some cursive. When I was younger I wrote in cursive because I was proud to have learned it, but by the time I got into high school I switched to mostly-print because I was writing so frantically my cursive became illegible, making my notes useless. ("Is that a fat i, or a skinny r next to a smudge?")

My dad worked on computers in the Air Force back in the 80s, though, so we've always had a computer in my life. My typing skills are definitely better than my writing, to my dismay!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

It's so interesting to me the way that different peoples' experiences determine which one they use!

I liked ruuger's plan

[quinara]

[click on the image to see it bigger and possibly the right way round if it's refusing to remember I've rotated it]

Transcript:

I think my handwriting counts as an unholy mixture, or possibly just bad cursive, but I don't actually think about the difference - there's just handwriting to me and this happens to be mine. Although it's more legible on some days than others. I think we learned proper cursive with all the heights and letter shapes and stuff for about a year in school with the odd twenty-minute session a week, but otherwise we were mostly left to our own devices, and this is quick.
I also have Greek handwriting, though, which doesn't really come in cursive unless you're doing bad practice:
ἀνδρα μοι ἐννεπε, μουσα, πολυτροπον, ὁς μαλα πολλα
πλαγχθη, ἐπει Τροιης ἱερον πτολιεθρον ἐπερσε

[Sing to me, muse, about the man of many whiles, who suffered a great many things after he sacked the holy city of Troy. (There should be accents as well, but I'm lazy about writing them.)]

Re: I liked ruuger's plan

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

It sounds to me, just based on what people have said in this thread, that they don't teach cursive as conscientiously in the UK as they do in other countries. Interesting.

And I didn't need your transcript, either!

Your Greek is SO COOL!

[streussal.livejournal.com]

Canadian, and I print. We learned handwriting (cursive) in third grade, but as soon as got to high school (grade eight), everyone switched back to printing. I think we had to write a lot more notes then? My grade nine/ten science teacher was irked that everyone handed in their labs in block letters (printing), so once he had everyone do their labs in cursive. And then had a bunch of people redo them in printing because he couldn't read them. Yes. (He actually wrote his notes, on the chalkboard, in cursive.)

It's a generational thing. I don't think it's entirely related to computers though, when we were still doing most of our assignments with a pen and paper. (I'm twenty-four, for the record - 1987 date of birth.)

[laeria.livejournal.com]

Everyone I know writes cursive, except in the case of filling out forms or leaving rude notes to roommates. Cultural differences woot!

(I... actually feel my print is prettier than my cursive? I mean, I can, if I really have to, make my cursive legible, though I usually don't bother. But there's something really nice about a nicely-shaped print R or H or L.)

... to clarify, when you say print, you mean allcaps, right? Or possibly smallcaps?

[diamondtook862.livejournal.com]

I'm in the unholy mixture camp. When writing fast I will be nearly all cursive except for a few key letters that I always use the print form (the ones that look funny in cursive, basically), but my neat and pretty handwriting is definitely print. Cursive is my messy get it done writing. My print is pretty and small. I once got a job because of my pretty handwriting! Not that it was a fun job...

It's funny you should bring this up. I started teaching this year at a private school that requires all children (Kindergarten-8th grade)to write in cursive. I get away with making them write in print by telling them we're doing Latin which wasn't written in script for the Romans! :P But really, I have a hard enough time making out all the different scrawls for grading when they write in print. Cursive feels way too daunting (even though I have no trouble reading it when it is written well!). Picking apart ancient handwriting is part of my graduate studies, but I really don't want to do it when I have over 50 papers to grade a week.

Oh, and this sharing thing is fun! All this written on a 2"x2" post-it:



"Quick and dirty. This is my unholy mixture. Sometimes I can't read it myself! It seems all I have on my right now are post its and my grading pen anyway.
Here is my pretty print. It often depends on the pen I'm using (I hate rollerballs), but I always write tiny. And to copy Quin, Some Philippians:
χαρις ὑμιν και εἰρηνη ἀπο θεου πατρος ἡμων καὶ κυριου Ἰσου Χριστου."

The Greek means "Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

[quinara]

Hee - your iota-rho in εἰρηνη is exactly how I write phi (I try to join up the top, but it doesn't always happen)! I was wondering what ἐφηνη meant...