Grade School Cursive

[vela]

Does anyone still write (almost) exactly in the cursive-style they were taught in grade school?

 

If so, why?

If not, why not?

[Mrsal]

yea, i learned cursive when i was 7 or 8, and have stuck with it since... im 14, so that 6 r 7 years, which i think is quite a while

[dmmcf]

After years of printing (engineering classes will do that to a person), I returned to writing cursive for many purposes after I (re)discovered FPs. I think I now write as my teachers wanted circa 1970--and having proved I can do it, I'm ready to stop again. More accurately, I've become intrigued by some of the hands I've heard about here, and I'm thinking of making a serious effort to learn something like HDoug's italic. The Peterson letterforms I was taught just don't hold my interest, and their associations with that phase of my life are on the whole negative.

 

Wait a minute...that cursive capital Q they wanted me to make, that looks like a 2 to everyone on the planet...I never quite got back to using that one.

[RayMan]

No, because I simply didn't like it. Unnecessarily round and loopy. I preferred something simpler and more straightforward.

Edited November 30, 2009 by RayMan

[gross]

Yes. I think it was called Blunt-Zanier or something near to that. That was back when a Coke was a nickel or a dime and Lucky Strikes (LSMFT) came in green packs. I've done it so long that it is just natural for me. I should add that if any of my teachers were still around and saw my handwriting, they would probably deny having taught me to write that way.

[JakobS]

Nope, Once I didn't have to, I never looked back. I write in a cursive print hybrid now, which is totally dependent on my mood as I write, some words showing more cursive in them, and others more print, with no real consistency. I also write my t's and capital i's a bit differently, neither encompassing print or cursive, or italic, or any hand that I know of! I need to post a sample of my handwriting at some point, but they are fun, and beautiful to write, very curvy.

Edited November 30, 2009 by JakobS

[WendyNC]

Mine has some strong similarities but also notable differences as I have individualized it over the years.

[Shangas]

I learned cursive when I was in school, and while I still write cursive, I don't really follow the style that I was taught in school, mostly because I think it looked damn ugly.

[Paddler]

Does anyone still write (almost) exactly in the cursive-style they were taught in grade school?

 

If so, why?

If not, why not?

 

I write in that style. I was taught it in the '50s. I gave it up for block printing when I took up the hard sciences and ham radio (lower case block printing is much faster).

 

After I took up fountain pens again and more serious journaling, I went back to the joined-up writing I learned in grade school. Why? It looks more appealing to my eye. It is easier to write for long periods of time. I can see no reason to learn a new style. Learning to write in italic, say, would entail hours of practice - time that would be better spent putting ideas on paper.

 

edited to add: Before being drafted into the Army in 1969, I learned Tolkien's runes from "Lord of the Rings". I kept personal notes in that hand so nobody else could read them. It convinced the other GIs that I was crazier and smarter than they were and so they left me alone. That made it well worth the effort of learning a new alphabet.

 

Paddler

Edited November 30, 2009 by Paddler

[FrankB]

Definitely not! This topic strikes a very emotional chord with me - but I will try to be objective. The people who frequent this forum have heard this story before. In primary school I learned Peterson Penmanship. It is nearly identical to Palmer, but with even more loops. I never mastered it. My handwriting was horrid and very embarrasing. I was constantly criticized for it.

 

In my mid-20's, I determined to stop the problem. I relearned how to write with cursive italic. I caught on to the italic very quickly and practiced it every day for many months. It became second nature and I use it still. The quality of my pen hand improved dramatically, and with that improvement my self esteem took a major leap.

 

Today when I consider how I was taught to write in primary school, I become a nasty little eight year old stomping my feet and screaming that I will never write that way again. Okay, it is not that bad - but nearly so. It does irk me, though, that all these years later the local school district still teaches that same writing style!

[Renzhe]

No. My cursive is better, IMO.

[wood]

I never went though a printing stage and I still write cursive however I was taught two different forms. To this day, I switch back and forth between the two, often in the same sentence. One had the Qs that look like 2s, the other was more angular and less loopy. Don't know what it was called. If anyone could tell me I'd appreciate it.

[ZeissIkon]

Not me. Strict Palmer method is a pain to write, and can't be written rapidly without quickly deteriorating (at least by me); by the time I hit high school I had my own style that threw in extra breaks in the middle of words, alternate letter forms (uncrossed final lower case T, descender loops that terminated instead of having connectors, etc.). In college, that form deteriorated, run down by the speed of note taking, and stayed that way for most of thirty years. This past few months, however, since returning to fountain pens, I've recovered the very legible and readable style I had in high school (which, perhaps not coincidentally, was written with fountain pens back then).

[HenryLouis]

I was never taught cursive (probably why my penmanship isn't good)...

 

I'm trying to get it better, though...

[vela]

I was never taught cursive (probably why my penmanship isn't good)...

 

...Then what do you call that writing in your signature? I think that is quite good.

[pyrguy]

I wasn't taught cursive either. They did an experiment in learning when was learning to write. Half the classes learned cursive the other half stayed with printing. The next year classes were mixed up and cursive was required. It really sucked for a while. I still have a sucky cursive hand.