Can you write in cursive/script?

[Battra92]

So I wondered aloud on my Facebook page the other day that I was hoping to get a new fountain pen for Christmas this year as my Pilot Varsity disposable has been refilled but is rather clunky.

 

Anyway, a few people on there got noticeably upset and fuming that I suggested that it's a shame how grown adults go around with handwriting that looks like it was done by an eight year old.

 

I was never great at writing in cursive until I got to college when I decided that my handwriting was abysmal and that I wanted to change it. I have worked at it for the last few years and I have fairly good penmanship, although it could certainly be much better. I still need more practice but at least I don't write

[MagicMagicPony]

I can? But that might be due to my profession/gender

[Battra92]

I know your gender but I don't know your profession.

 

I'm a male IT worker so I'm supposed to write like a Neanderthal but I buck the trend, I suppose.

[Cyber Rat]

I can write Serbian in cursive, but am ashamed to say that I have absolutely never bothered learning to do it in English (or German for that matter). And my writing is legible, but not really pretty. Not that I care.

[slithy toves]

i can. also possibly due to gender and previous chosen profession.

[Showmeyomoves!]

We had to learn script in school. And I've had people tell me I have "pretty" handwriting.

 

I must be some kind of fairy. fmgl

[Strangelove]

are there people who can't write in cursive? I assumed everyone was taught how.

 

My writing blows though. I just cant write neatly to save my life. It really does look like an 8 year old wrote it. It sucks.

[MagicMagicPony]

I have "pretty" handwriting.

pics or it didn't happen

[Shadowstep]

I can write in cursive, but I've never needed to. When I was in high school, very few papers were written by hand and had to be done in print. Everything else was typed and came out of a printer. When I got to college, everything came out of a printer. When I had to go around and fill out paper work, everything had to be written in print.

[Battra92]

are there people who can't write in cursive? I assumed everyone was taught how.

 

This guy was homeschooled so that might have something to do with it. My dad went to Catholic school where they'd slap his hand with a ruler if his handwriting was bad so you came out with good handwriting or a deformed hand.

[Showmeyomoves!]

I have "pretty" handwriting.

pics or it didn't happen

 

I don't have a scanner... I'll see what I can do with my camera.

 

Also, don't get your hopes up.

[TheForgetfulBrain]

Ha. I remember in grade school our teachers promised us that people only wrote in cursive in 'the real world.'

 

Pretty sure that was just how they got us to stop complaining and learn the stuff.

 

I don't remember if I still can - I'd have to try, but I'm assuming so.

 

That said, I don't really like writing by hand, typing just works with my brain far more.

[Battra92]

Ha. I remember in grade school our teachers promised us that people only wrote in cursive in 'the real world.'

 

Though remember they were probably old then and a lot has changed in the almost 20 years since a teacher told me that. I don't think I ever saw my grandmother print. I'll give the woman credit, though. When she died at the ripe old age of 95 her handwriting was still wonderful.

[TheForgetfulBrain]

Mine is still basically an illegible scrawl. Don't suppose I'll ever grow out of those poor penmanship marks.

[Yantelope]

Yeah, I thought everyone was taught cursive in school. I never found it faster than printing.

[diedan]

I write in a combination of print and cursive that somehow transforms into some messy scrawl that only I can read. But I prefer my f's, l's, and r's in cursive, especially lowercase f's. They just look cooler!

[TheMightyEthan]

I've only ever written in cursive once since 5th grade (other than signing my name). In grade school all my teachers were like "you have to learn this because when you get to middle school and high school they'll make you write everything in cursive." Then in middle school and high school the teachers were like "never write anything in cursive, either type it or write it in print. If you write in cursive I won't grade it."

 

The 1 time I've had to do it since then was on the LSAT, we had to copy down a sworn statement in our own handwriting, and apparently the rules were drafted 300 years ago because "print" is not "handwriting" (even though you're writing it by hand...). So it took us fucking 10 minutes to copy down this paragraph because none of us and written in cursive for so long.

 

I picked "I can, but it's not legible" but in retrospect that was the wrong choice. I can do it, it just takes me forever.

[Showmeyomoves!]

[deanb]

are there people who can't write in cursive? I assumed everyone was taught how.

 

You're taught it in primary then get it hammered out of you in Secondary so your writing is actually legible.

[TheMightyEthan]

[Yantelope]

I thought handwriting = cursive.

 

Not cursive = printing.

[TheMightyEthan]

That's the archaic usage. Now handwriting = "writing by hand", with cursive and printing both being subsets of handwriting. I just called the printing my handwriting on the card because that's the one I always use.

[Pheermee]

I have the penmanship of a doctor writing a prescription

 

And yes i can write in cursive

[Yantelope]

My printing is actually pretty terrible too now mostly due to college. When you're in some of the more complicated math classes all the symbols tend to look alike so you have to start doing the no-no's like drawing a line through your seven and so on.

 

The only thing I use cursive for is writing on birthday cards.

[TheMightyEthan]

I had to start drawing a line through my z's because in higher-level calc classes I started having trouble telling the difference between 2's and z's, which can cause problems.