While practicing cursive yesterday I had a horrible time with "multi-part". Getting the l t and i shaft lengths right all in a row was killing me.

It made me wonder what other words are good pen-teasers. So let me ask, while using your most fluid cursive hand, which words or letter sequences do you find particularly tricky? And do you have any sentences you use to practice writing these trouble-makers?

Practice sentences - none for my troubling words. Just keep on writing them, I guess.

I do not know why, but it is quite difficult for me to write the words "Galileo" and "again." I have messed up the word "again" so many times. I have no clue why it should be so difficult for me to write. "Galileo" just has so many loopy upstrokes, I guess.

"minimum." If I'm in a hurry, I sometimes lose my place among those 15 minims and start approximating. Then I throw in a couple of dots for the i's.

Doug

Here's another one. If you are trying to keep your hand skimming down the paper rather than planting every now and then, the word "telecommunication" is a good test word. An FPNer mentioned this but I forget who it was...

Doug

Missississississippi. I just keep writing 'iss' until I think I have enough.
Woolloomoolloo. (I think)

Kind of missed the party here, but I'll add my two cents.

I write cursive almost exclusively (the only exception is when I write a letter to my little sister. Public education has totally failed her and she's not very familiar with script, so I print for her), but I consistently have trouble adding the letter "z" into words. "Zoo" and other words that start with "z" are no problem, but if I need to write "analyze" or something of that nature it all goes to hell. I find this most irritating, as you might imagine.

But it's like my bagpipe teacher always says: "practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect." I think we'd better just keep practicing.

Also...

I'm a ninja.

it is not certain words, it is certain letter combos. I have an issue with the humps on my small 'm's and 'n's. Sometimes I do too many and sometimes I do not do enough...

"transcription" for me.

When writing cursive hand I find that I often trip on the third "r", I make it too wide.

For me, it's not words but a few letters that just throw me off. H's are the big ones, followed by p's. I have to practice my script more. :|

Yeah, I can't make it to the third "r" either...

Egypt.

Yup , "minimum" is tough ....!

Yes, Egypt is difficult for me as well. The capital letter D is a challenge for me as well, but with practice it has become much easier.

Again and again the Egyptian astrophysicist analyzed the multi-part transcription of telecommunications from the Galileo probe for the minimum of errors.

I tried to accommodate all the mentioned difficult words. I'm sure you'll be able to improve on it.

And why not post a scan or photo of your best effort with this sentence in your most fluid cursive?

Ooops. I missed Mississippi. Hafta rework it. Help me out here.

Again and again the Egyptian astrophysicist visiting the observatory in Mississippi analyzed the multi-part transcription of telecommunications from the Galileo probe for the minimum of errors and a maximum of syzygy.

Fiendish!

Doug

Cruel and unusual punishment!

I like it. I'm going to give it a try. But I'm going to add for the capital D:


Disturbed by his colleagues' lack of enthusiasm, again and again the Egyptian astrophysicist visiting the observatory in Mississippi analyzed the multi-part transcription of telecommunications from the Galileo probe for the minimum of errors and maximum of syzygy.


ok, I only edited that 3 times.

edit: BAH! 4 times...

Mississippi is too low to have observatories. Except this one ...

http://www.millsaps.edu/get_to_know/tour_observ.shtml

... and it's not very big.

That's one new word I've learned today

Oh, and, Kiavonne, just one more edit required ......"..colleagues' " and "...visiting"


I'm not sure I have the courage to scan & post my efforts!

fixed.

My writing tends to be "pointy" - I have a hard time making the upper curves of letters into hills rather than peaks. Thus, any word with "n", "m", "u", or "r" in frequency or succession.

A number of mummers rumbled unerringly to the nunnery, murmuring unnervingly.

That would be bad.

(could also have been minimum, in a minivan...)

Ok, here is a scan of this practice sentence:

Click to view attachment


The sentence from hades has been conceived here on this forum.

It took me forever to write this thing. Ok, not forever, but more than a few minutes. I had to really slow down on more than one of these words. While writing Mississippi, the chant my dad taught me when I was little played through my mind - there was time enough while I slowed down to write the word. And who on earth decided we must have a word like "syzygy" to say "alignment of the stars?" Ugh!! That word was the toughest, I admit.

Excellent practice sentence.

(Galileo Manuscript Brown in a hand-turned pen, medium nib; and Legal Lapis in a VP, fine nib. Apica notebook.)

Heheh, if we keep this up, we will have the world's longest difficult-word practice sentence. It will rival any long-winded author's opening-page speel. No more, "it was a dark and stormy night." Anyone have the number for the Guinness Book of World Records? Maybe FPN should hold a contest for this one day.

To tell the truth, I had forgotten what syzygy meant when I stuck it on the end. How serendipitous that it should fit so well in with the aim and the meaning of the sentence.

I think that it is the only three-syllable word that has no vowels...

Wow that's pretty intense Well done this is truly a good practice!

I would take exception to the no vowels part of the statement... Y is clearly a vowel, and the only one, in this word.

But love the sentence... Took a copy so I can use it for practice myself.

Possibly with the addition of a modified version of limesally's contribution? (I also have problems with multiple "hilly" letters)

Disturbed by his colleagues' lack of enthusiasm, again and again the Egyptian astrophysicist visiting the observatory in Mississippi analyzed the multi-part transcription of telecommunications from the Galileo probe for the minimum of errors and maximum of syzygy, murmuring nervously over the unnerring interference from the rumble of the mummers' minivan in the unnerving nunnery next door.

Regards, Myles.

Uh huh. We will have the longest, difficult-word, practice sentence, yet. I'd put the word "unnerving" before "rumble," though. What do you think?


Disturbed by his colleagues' lack of enthusiasm, again and again the Egyptian astrophysicist visiting the observatory in Mississippi analyzed the multi-part transcription of telecommunications from the Galileo probe for the minimum of errors and maximum of syzygy, murmuring nervously over the unerring interference from the unnerving rumble of the mummers' minivan in the nunnery next door.


And, just out of curiosity, how many have actually tried to write this besides me?


edit: I think "unerring" would only have one "n." And, I got rid of the blasted second "u" which doesn't belong in "curiosity."

I have, will post piccy soon.


My spell checker agrees with you, but it doesn't like your version of 'curiousity"...

You are correct. "Curiosity" is a word I manage to misspell often, just because my mind thinks it should be like the word "curious."

Whose law was it that said any online criticism of a spelling error will itself have at least one spelling error?

I should have picked up "unnerring" myself - after all, it's only "un" in front of "erring".

I rather liked the image of an unnerving nunnery (glowering gazes, bats in the belfry) but I see your point - "unnerving rumble" it is.

I've been trying the sentence and I agree on the slowdown comment. Hope to post a scan after this weekend.

Regards, Myles.

I don't know why but I find that amusing even though the correct spelling is "Mississippi". And as for cursive I've never written in it with a fountain pen, only my shinies. And those are my numerous gel pens ( all brands ).

But I'll go for it sometime this week if not today.

Where have I been? I had no idea such pernicious penmanship practice was going on! Maybe I'll devote the afternoon to writing that wicked sentence y'all have put together.

I agree with whoever said "z" is a challenge when it's in the middle of a word. I just can't seem to write an attractive lower case "z." I also find the "gh" combination to be difficult - as in "through." It's a long trip from the bottom of g's descender to the top of h's ascender. Then too, I have to watch out for lower case "n." If I'm not careful, it will look like a lower case "u."

Judybug

Then, maybe we should add:

... as a neighboring Afghani analyst coughed lightly while weighing his thoughts over straightening a spaghetti-code-laden program designed for intergalactic exploration blighted by oversight before getting his prized midnight snack of yoghurt and doughnuts.

I had to throw another something with an "x" in there, as those don't like me. Threw in another mid-word "z" for the fun of it all, too.

Ok, maybe I'm over the top and out of hand, now.

Well in my everyday cursive handwriting I just write the printed form and connect what ever other letters proceed it. If it starts a word it's no problem. Other then that everything else is just blah.

It doesn't turn out pretty. All the other letter piece of cake. I love this bunny! ^.^

For my own part, I have trouble with multiple ascending letters in a row, or with a "b" in the word. Sometimes I lose track of what letter I'm on, or I get the right # of ascenders but the wrong letter. So, I end up with h's or b's that are missing their second half, or "health" ends up as "healh" and I have to scribble in the "t."

And the letter "v" in general, when I am in a hurry. I end up with a peak on the front, turning it into a "u."

Oh, my! This sentence was so much fun!

Now that made me smile. (memories)

I had a major problem with z's as a child and that
was a problem because I had one in my last name,
almost smack dab in the middle.

My Dad was the one that taught me how to make one properly
and that was truly ironic because he was illiterate; the only thing
the man could write was his signature.

Sometime after retirement, I can't remember exactly when, he
decided to attend adult literacy classes. He's come very far.

I'm so proud of him.

It's wonderful to be able to make him a card (birthday, Father's Day) and know he
can finally read it.



I have issues with my m's and n's - they look like u's and w's to others, I guess.

I'll try one of the practice sentences in a bit and scan my poor attempt.

Edit to change to:

I'll try one of the practice sentences in a few days and scan it.
My original attempt was really poor - probably due to all of the
hours of raking I did yesterday - even I could barely read it.

Because right now my cursive writing sucks! I can see that for myself. But, I'll keep practicing. Good practice sentence above!

I recently received some fountain pens from a friend of my on Flickr. I wrote something in them but they were in a fancy version of printing I have yet to try them in cursive.

I shall get around to doing that. And a Happy Belated Memorial Day to all!

Oh my. Fiendish, indeed!

I will practice this a few more times before I make my efforts public.

Same with me so there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

Gah mine is terrible xD First try, dip pen. Had fun writing it, but oh that's rather painful.

I've never tried writing in cursive with a dip pen before but I shall do it now that you mentioned it. Now the only challenging thing left to do is to get the damn cap off the ink well!

Seriously though it's stuck and I don't know why. And it's my favorite shade of blue.
Oh and the ink is Aladine incase you were wondering.

I got it at B&N in the stationary/OMG! I've died and gone to heaven section. XD

I take it that it is a screw on cap? Get a spoon and bash the lid all the way round 360°, then try turning. If it does not turn wrap an elastic band round it and try again

I'm going to have to try these nib-twisters... maybe with a few different nib sizes. I find that if I have an adjoining problem with two letters, I make a break. But that's probably a cursive faux pas.

Aggg... just tested it out a little. Syzygy looks like a fumbled Suzy.

Syzygy is the P I T S! I can't write it and connect all the letters. I complained about the word to my doctorate-receiving science friend and he said, "huh??" He hadn't heard the word - he claims - and he was teaching a small bit of astronomy that semester. I had to look it up, too, of course, but still...
/snicker

I've been practicing syzygy randomly all day and I'm finally good at it! The first few times I'd come up with syzay, syzyguy, and other stuff, but now I'm fairly competent in writing syzygy. What an accomplishment!

Yes it's a screw cap. Thanks alot for the tips. *Hopes she doesn't get covered in ink*