Here's an article that appeared in my local paper today. Pen vs PC

Note that FPN appears in the list of resources.

Happy Hallowe'en

Did you also notice the name of the Yahoo group- Handryting.

Kurt H

Hi George,

Thanks for sharing that! Our own Kate Gladstone was cited quite extensively in the article.

Warm regards, Wim

wohoo... We're a ressource !

Thanks for the link George.

I think Penmanship is the tip of the Iceberg. My wife takes Art classes at our local community college. One class is "internet hybrid", and the students are asked to have online discussions on several themes. And to tell the truth, it's hilarious to read what is posted. I honestly wonder how some of these students entered highschool, even more how they graduated. Some obviously have never heard of punctuations. Others write half sentences without verbs or without subjects. It's really frightening.

I notice that PT wasn't cited. Oh yeah, they lose all their content after 3 days...

Even though we are fully "member produced" we have built up quite a repository of knowledge... Great article!

I am in several other online communities, and in at least one, I have come out as a Complete Crank regarding punctuation. I realize (or try to) that spelling is a form of pattern recognition, and try not to get cranky over some errors (though "alot" will always make my hackles rise), but people who punctuate solely with ellipses -- or, worse, those ellipses-like strings of commas, or six or seven periods in a row -- are people who are asking me not to read their text.

Rant, rant, rant.

I have to agree with Wu about writing faster on a PC, but that's not always a good thing. My quality of mind seems more subtantial with pen in hand.

Denis, you don't need a high school degree to enter a community college. I think the requirement is either to have a high school degree or be at least 18 years old. There aren't really any standards for admissions, and I think that is why something like 70% of them eventually drop out without even an AA degree, let alone a transfer to a 4-year college (need to double check the numbers). That's called your tax dollars at work

The forums over at Television Without Pity (that's www.televisionwithoutpity.com, of course) are famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) for enforcing proper grammar, spelling and punctuation; relevant and coherent postings; and thoughtful debates that go beyond "omigod, nip/tuck's christian is so wickedly hot, yo!!!!!!"

Denis,

My wife is a Teacher Assistant in one of the special schools in our area. She works with teachers who have Masters Degrees or higher. Yet, many of them seem unable to write a clear and concise paragraph. Spelling and punctuation seem to be lost arts.

If the teachers don't seem to have a grasp of the situation, well....

Oh well, I don't mean to go off on a rant.

I thought I would give an example that appeared yesterday in said discussion. I don't do that to make fun of the person, and I hope that she can improve herself and get something resembling an education (even though, from what my wife tells me of her attitude in the classroom, i think this is a very long shot...). This is just for illustration. This is a message in a discussion that is graded. English is the first language of that student (I would guess the only language). I promise I did not make it up.

Subject: Re: Sounds vs Music
Message no. 729 [Reply of: no. 706] Author: (snip...) Date: Monday, October 31, 2005 5:44pm
i LOVE the ocen to its the best but its whatever you think is music so to you its not to
others it is.

Do they even teach grammar in school anymore. I haven't seen my sone bring home anything that looks like grammar, yet. And he's 12!

Yeah...they bug me too...I wish some people would just learn to use proper punctuation,,,how sad,,,