Cursive: Going The Way Of The Dodo?

[MrPenguin]

In first grade in school we had to learn cursive. Then my family moved, and I had to change schools to one where cursive wasn't taught. For the first couple of years I kept up my cursive, but my hand would always cramp up when writing, so over time I gradually morphed my handwriting into a cursive/print mix (leaning heavily towards print, which my classmates used) that was easier on my hand, and which I still use today. So I would have to answer "No, I do not." but with a caveat: I know how, though.

[tractor]

An old thread, but an interesting topic.

I write in cursive. Printing is much slower for me and therefore just too frustrating.

A question for all those using the cursive: Do you learn the different national variants of it, when learning other languages? Sure, learning the Cyrillics cursive is different. But I mean, whether you learn the different German/French/British/Czech/etc. variants?

No, I don't, and I don't think it would be worth the effort for me. Despite spending a lot of time practising cursive at school (back in the 1980s before computers were ubiquitous), my handwriting is mediocre. If I tried to write in a slightly different script for every one of my foreign languages, I would probably spend a lot of time and effort and at best become mediocre in several slightly different ways… Besides, I spent a year in Spain when I was 13, and neither any of my fellow students nor any of my teachers at the local school ever commented on my handwriting, so I guess my Norwegian cursive wasn't too alien.

The main adaptations I've had to make to my handwriting were figuring out how to write a cursive ß in German and cursive Œ/œ in French.

Yes, the jokes about doctors writing horribly are correct

Those jokes about doctors and their handwriting seem to be universally true.

[Iversen]

I write Cyrillic and Greek in block letters and everything else in an unholy cursive that combines extreme ligatures and unexpected separations with absolutely no regard for the standard I was taught sixty years ago - and I'm not even a doctor. I can write in pure Latin block letters, but it doesn't feel 'natural' to me.

The alphabets are of course not totally similar from language to language, and I have had to make a few language dictated changes. For instance I have stopped putting the small line across the lower line of Albanian q's because they use that letter absolutely everywhere (and never with an u after). In Polish I have the problem that there is a letter ł with an almost invisible crossing line, and therefore I have changed the shape of my t's so that the ł's have an oblong loop with a big line across, whereas the t's have one line only - no loop - and this habit is now spreading to other latin alphabets. So my writing does change a little bit from language to language, but the most important differences are dictated by the alphabets themselves rather than my personal choices.

And by the way, I think that the cursive should be killed off - except maybe among calligraphic nerds who can write it so that it looks pretty. My version doesn't look like the eighth wonder of the world ...

Writing in different alphabets.jpg

[Le Baron]

I'll just point out that when I was at primary school, what is called 'cursive' in this thread was referred to as "real writing", which was strange. Or more formally as 'copperplate'.

It was marvellous learning how to write it and my father who left school at 15 and has beautiful handwriting, taught me how to write like him. Mine is a little different nowadays, but I take great pleasure in writing well and I still write very neatly. When I send a card to someone they remark on the writing.

I find a lot of people have given up writing and find it a chore. Someone told me that it makes their hand hurt when they write for more than half a page. So I think perhaps people are no longer used to holding pens and training the hand. I also love using a nice pen, even though I get the best writing from either the excellent, but cheap bic M10 ball pen or a pencil.

[zgriptsuroica]

I write in cursive despite being left-handed. That said, I also primarily use fountain pens as my writing instrument of choice, so I'm hardly typical in my handwriting choices. If I write in block letters, I'm told that it's illegible to pretty much anyone else. Writing in cursive, I often hear "I can't read it, but it sure looks pretty," so I stick with that.

[thevagrant88]

So I do, but it’s not my default. If I have to write spontaneous for whatever reason it is in print. When I write intentionally, ie in a notebook for my own interests, I’ll write in cursive.

[Iversen]

I can't remember when I last wrote a letter on paper, but I can definitely write for more than an hour without getting tired - otherwise my preferred study methods would be in serious jeopardy!

The question of writing utensils has been raised since my last message in this thread, so let me add that I nowadays nearly always use ballpoint pens - thick as well as thin ones (the thin ones are indispensable for sudokus) and in as many colours as I can get. The colours are necessary for my word lists because I try to squeeze the writing together and I couldn't do that if everything had the same colour.

I don't do calligraphy (which spares me a lot of trouble), but there is one of my activities for which ballpoint pens simply aren't good enough: music writing. To make all those tiny black note heads you need an oldfashioned fountain pen - or enter the 21. century and use a computer program, but when I wrote most of my music software like Sibelius etc.. hadn't been invented yet so I have never learnt to use it, and I have no intention of switching now. Actually I don't compose music any longer (with a few exceptions), but the demands are the same when it comes to writing items for my theme collection. So a couple of days each month I still have fingers stained by pitch black ink...

[Cainntear]

I still find the cursive vs print/block a little baffling.

In Scotland, they ditched cursive before I started school, but didn't go to print. What I learned to write was called "joined up writing" and it's hugely more readable than copperplate and far faster than print. To me it just feels like the most natural way to write with a pencil or a ball-point, and I don't understand why so many parts of the world haven't cottoned on to that...

[Le Baron]

Crikey... I used to write music with a pen and ruler. I found those inkflow Staedler drawing pens ideal for this, or one of those Rotring drawing pens. It was enough trouble drawing out the staves and getting good clefs. All that time I spent learning to draw/write beautiful music script and then like Iversen says the computer engraving arrived. I couldn't believe how good Lilypond was.

I miss 'engraving' music by hand though. I was (still am) a great admirer of the calligraphic manuscripts of Erik Satie with the black and red inks, delicate notation and slightly art nouveau calligraphic writing:

[tractor]

I still find the cursive vs print/block a little baffling.

In Scotland, they ditched cursive before I started school, but didn't go to print. What I learned to write was called "joined up writing" and it's hugely more readable than copperplate and far faster than print. To me it just feels like the most natural way to write with a pencil or a ball-point, and I don't understand why so many parts of the world haven't cottoned on to that...

In Norway there are three standardized scripts taught in schools: trykkskrift, løkkeskrift and stavskrift.

Trykkskrift is print. Løkkeskrift is a cursive handwriting with loops and stavskrift is a joined up handwriting without loops. The loops are the main difference between løkkeskrift and stavskrift. In stavskrift you have to lift the pencil more often because fewer letters connect.

I was taught løkkeskrift while my brother and sister were taught stavskrift. We went to the same school but had different teachers.