Extreme paper angle.

[ugrankar]

Hi,

I tend to write with the long side of paper almost parallel to the table. Is it wrong? I've tried a lesser extreme angle but it hurts. Please see the attached picture. Do pardon my handwriting. Is this an OK angle?

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, ugrankar said:

Hi,

I tend to write with the long side of paper almost parallel to the table. Is it wrong? I've tried a lesser extreme angle but it hurts. Please see the attached picture. Do pardon my handwriting. Is this an OK angle?

I will suggest that IF it's comfortable to use and works for the writer, and he or she likes the writing produced, then there is no wrong position. 

[mizgeorge]

Completely agree with Paul. I have my paper at different angles depending on what I'm writing, and in what style - and for everyday cursive, it's not far off a full 90 degree rotation. 

[D B Holtz]

That is how I write. It works for me, too.

 

DB

[arcfide]

If you are interested in historical or professional precedent, then whether or not the above is "correct" or "typical" depends entirely on your body position. If you are positioning your body such that it faces off to the left, then this would be traditionally termed the "left oblique" writing angle in many traditional writing manuals of the early 20th century United States. 

 

Books of that era generally advised the classroom teacher to choose one of either the straight, left, or right oblique positions depending on the age of the class (that is, their size), the size of the desks, and the amount of room in the classroom. Provided that the appropriately prescribed biomechanical forces were used during practice, then any of the positions would have been considered "canonical." 

 

Latter books simplified the process and in so doing, generally started to remove refinements on the different styles of writing positions, often assuming that the teacher wouldn't pay as much attention to that anyways, or under the assumption, I suppose, that it wasn't necessary anymore. That meant that things became, at the same time, both more and less rigid, and probably potentially more confusing.

 

Provided that you are ergonomically positioned relative to the paper and your body type, then it is probably fine. The older manuals actually advised writing in this manner (left oblique) for small desks that lacked sufficient horizontal and vertical space on the desk. The right oblique was advised for writing in large ledgers that were bound in such a way that made it awkward to angle the page. 

[ugrankar]

54 minutes ago, arcfide said:

If you are positioning your body such that it faces off to the left, then this would be traditionally termed the "left oblique" writing angle in many traditional writing manuals of the early 20th century United States. 

Thanks for the detailed answer. I sit facing the table such that my body is almost parallel to the long side of paper, may be slightly titling to my left. But I'm glad to know there's a term for that. Any other position makes me uncomfortable or affects my handwriting severly. 

It's such a joy to write after switching to fountain pens. Writing with a typical Ball pen (except Pilot V7), my hand feels like a drunkard trying to walk properly 😂 (no offense to ball pen users here).

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

I have a couple of friends who are calligraphers, and one of them told me that the two of them once tried to figure out the posture of the scribe on some medieval manuscript they saw (not sure if in a book or at some museum exhibit).  And apparently they determined that the scribe must have been sitting at about a 45°-ish angle to the writing desk or slope, with the non-writing arm slung over the back of the chair (thus twisting the scribe's back and spine even MORE...). 

So I suspect that if it's comfortable for you to write that way, you're probably okay (of course I'd be standing behind you cringing almost as much as my mom and I did, the time my brother first got contact lenses; he got home from the eye doctor, went into the bathroom, stuck them in his eyes and wore them for three hours... while we stood in the hallway making "Ewww!  Ick!" noises at each other....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth