Is handwriting a lost art?

[Rose65]

My husband says he cannot read mine. That's nonsense, I write clearly as far as I am concerned. So I must type any shopping list for him or do block capitals.
I suppose we write far less now. Back in time I used to do handwritten letters regularly and I enjoyed it. Using ink fountain pens and good letter paper.

 

[oscash]

I used to love writing letters to overseas friends and relatives. My cousin in Zimbabwe said once, "Let's keep the lines of communication open". "There is nothing nicer than receiving a letter from you, I make myself a lovely pot of tea and settle down and read all of your interesting news". She has now passed on and she was the last member of my Father's family.

 

[timoc]

Is handwriting a lost art?​

 

[chic]

It probably is but I consider my ability to read cursive a skill.

 

[Pepper]

It is hard to hold a pen for more than one written page and in re:reading I notice I sometimes can't see or decipher what I wrote. Always had a natural nice handwriting in past

 

[Rose65]

Our handwriting is so much US, in a way typed words cannot be. Beautiful handwriting is a skill.
I tend to scribble quickly but I am very careful of spelling and correct grammar. I love good smooth pens.

 

[Rose65]

It is hard to hold a pen for more than one written page and in re:reading I notice I sometimes can't see or decipher what I wrote. Always had a natural nice handwriting in past

Me too, at school I was taught to write neatly and clearly.

 

[Rose65]

I used to love writing letters to overseas friends and relatives. My cousin in Zimbabwe said once, "Let's keep the lines of communication open". "There is nothing nicer than receiving a letter from you, I make myself a lovely pot of tea and settle down and read all of your interesting news". She has now passed on and she was the last member of my Father's family.

How charming she must have been.

 

[MarkD]

My handwriting led my elementary school teachers to opine to my mother at back to school night that I would have to become a doctor as no one else could get away with writing like mine. When I want to be sure I can be read I incorporate a lot of basic printing. For me it never was an ‘art’ and is not at all missed. Good riddance.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Not for me it’s not. I write to my relatives. Last week I only just sent a blank card to my niece filled with handwritten messages.

 

[Bella]

In school, we had penmanship and used ink cartridge fountain pens. We were graded on it. We also used mechanical lead pencils. I always had lovely handwriting, but it's not quite as nice as it once was.

The pens were cheap, but worked well enough when they didn't leak. Changing the cartridges was a PITA. If you weren't careful you'd get ink on your hands or all over the place.

 

[horseless carriage]

The nib of the pen is known as: "Broad Italic," using it creates a broad and narrow line, a style called script,or Italic Script.

It's a style of handwriting that I learned at school and have used all my life. It gets many a compliment, yet it's not difficult to master. Back at school, all those years ago, I was taught to write 'V' shapes along the page. The transition from V shapes to letters is a simple progression.

 

[Fyrefox]

I remember those Sheaffer fountain pens…and all of the shirts that I ruined with them! Sadly, I never got a grade of above “B” in penmanship…curse you, Palmer Method!

 

[Alligatorob]

Is handwriting a lost art?

For me it is. Mine was never great, but as an engineer I could do printing pretty well. Then I got arthritis in my hands, had surgery that helped with the arthritis, but kind of killed my handwriting. Now I type, when I have to hand write something, like at the doctor's office the best I can do is pretty bad...

However my typing is pretty legible

The pens were cheap, but worked well enough when they didn't leak. Changing the cartridges was a PITA. If you weren't careful you'd get ink on your hands or all over the place.

Thanks for the pictures, I had both of those! And plenty of shirts like @Fyrefox 's.

.

 

[Rose65]

Wonder why doctors often have such indecipherable writing?

 

[moviequeen1]

I still write notes,thankyou notes depending on the situation. I write as clearly as I can but I do notice being a lefty what I've written does slant a bit LOL!

 

[Tommy]

My wife is a prolific letter writer and her cursive penmanship is excellent. Always done with a good fountain pen, attractive stationery, and a nice pot of tea in a bone china cup.

I can, and occasionally do, write in cursive, but as my career was in a technical field I generally print. (There are reasons why technical people tend to print rather than use cursive but describing them here would be boring.)

 

[jujube]

We started using ink pens in the 4th grade and cartridge pens weren't there yet.

We used the ink pens with the lever on the side that had to be refilled from ink bottles, the ones with the little "well" inside. Messy, messy, messy. My fingertips were always blue.

Remember "disappearing ink"?

 

[jimintoronto]

My handwriting led my elementary school teachers to opine to my mother at back to school night that I would have to become a doctor as no one else could get away with writing like mine. When I want to be sure I can be read I incorporate a lot of basic printing. For me it never was an ‘art’ and is not at all missed. Good riddance.

Most Canadian Doctors no longer write prescriptions by hand, they use a computer key board, then fax the script directly to your pharmacy. That reduces the likely hood of errors. JimB.

 

[stretch5881]

If I can remember right, I don't believe my kids were graded on penmanship. It would seem that the younger generations can't spell or figure out what punctuation is for either.

 

[VaughanJB]

This thread is great. I had to write something by hand recently and found my writing had deteriorated considerably. Having spent a lifetime at a keyboard, I guess it's a skill you can forget!

 

[jimintoronto]

If I can remember right, I don't believe my kids were graded on penmanship. It would seem that the younger generations can't spell or figure out what punctuation is for either.

The "youngers " think that spelling does not matter..........Except when their employer misspells their name on their pay cheque, and the bank refuses to accept it. When I was in a position that required employees to hand write short reports, I had a firm rule..........If I can't read it, you do it over until I CAN read it. Same thing applied to employment applications ( we were a small company) that used preprinted forms that had spaces for inserting the applicant's information.

The usual argument was " I have a printed resume, why do I have to write out this form as well " ? Because I want to see how bad ( or good ) your hand writing really is ". Again, if I couldn't read the person's hand writing, they were probably not going to get the job. JimB.

 

[Nathan]

Is handwriting a lost art?

For me being a Lefty handwriting has been a lost cause. Life became good to me when I was able to start using a keyboard for my written communication.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Women tend to write cursive in big loops. As a guy, I could never figure out if this loop was an "m", "l" , or "p". If your purpose is to convey an idea, using the most identifiable method is printing. Cursive is such personal scratching, it's difficult for others to fathom what you wrote. Plus, to write well in cursive takes time and concentration, much more than we usually give it. I don't view cursive as some great art lost.

 

[Jules]

Handwriting analysis is interesting. Used to do a little amateur bit many years ago. Nowadays there’d be fewer samples to study. Most correspondence is typed.