Never mind cursive, that ship has sailed.

But FFS, why can't people PRINT legibly? How fucking hard can it be?

Working on an ATV for the neighbor kid, I was reading a part number off to him to write down so I could go look up a replacement on line.

He handed it to me and said "Sorry, my handwriting isn't very good."

No shit, really? I've seen better examples from a spastic chicken.

Of course, I've got that whole old-school, learned the Palmer Method thing going on, plus I learned The Navy Way thanks to 3M forms. Slashed zeros and sevens, double circle eights, closed top fours, all that stuff.

I used to have pretty good handwriting, especially for a guy. I also sketch quite well, if I may say so myself...
I really think my proclivity for doodling and drawing improved my hand writing.
These days, I print more often than not, when I’m not typing. My handwriting is not Dr. level bad, but I have to really slow down and try for it to be legible.

Cursive was not taught to any of my children in school. They did, however, each go through a handbook on cursive one summer.
It “took” in varying degrees on each of the three.

BTW, I also do the slash zero thing because, yes, it makes a difference in my world. People roll their eyes at me when I say “zero” instead of “oh” when relaying things like phone numbers.
“Everyone KNOWS its a zero”
My answer? “Sure, but what about when it’s not?”

Of course, I’m also the guy who, when dealing with Eastern tech support, and trying to get across “P” instead of “B” or “T” or “V” or “G”, will use “no, “P”, as in Pneumonia.”

Interesting side note: in a biography I read on George Washington, it was noted that he believed good handwriting was one of the qualities of a gentleman and he practiced and strove to have “a good hand.”

Both my handwriting and my Girlfriend's have deteriorated badly these last few years, mine more than hers. We recently talked about undertaking self-taught remedial handwriting courses, and I seriously may do so.

Ironically, my college room mate, still a close friend, writes the same now as he did back then, some 50 years ago. A retired dentist, I suspect that constantly using his hands in his work kept his handwriting constant.

There is no excuse for a young person, other than not being brought up right, by his parents as well as his teachers. This may be a good Christmas present for your young friend:
https://www.amazon.com/Palmer-...hod+cursive+workbook

quote:

Originally posted by hudr:
Interesting side note: in a biography I read on George Washington, it was noted that he believed good handwriting was one of the qualities of a gentleman and he practiced and strove to have “a good hand.”

One of the contrasts between the young America and the old England, I believe. Literacy was considered beneath the dignity of European nobility at that time, a skill of the merchant class. That attitude was just turning around in Europe, and Washington was, as usual for him, ahead of his times.

I was hit by Guillain Barré Syndrome two years ago. My finger tips are still numb, no feeling in them, gross motion is OK but fine motion is problematic.

I can still write sort of OK, printing is legible, but it takes me twice as long to write something and I really have to focus on it. Looking at what I'm writing has become more important, whereas I used to be able to write legibly without staring at what I was doing.

There are a few hand-written forms that I use for on-site customer billing. My wife fills out as much as can be done in advance of the customer visit, so in most cases all I have to do is fill in some numbers (which requires me to use maff, a skill that MOST of us don't need, according to one of our resident experts).

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
There are a few hand-written forms that I use for on-site customer billing. My wife fills out as much as can be done in advance of the customer visit, so in most cases all I have to do is fill in some numbers (which requires me to use maff, a skill that MOST of us don't need, according to one of our resident experts).

You're not going to let that go, are you.

Mine is shit. I know this. Why I print most everything. My signature is a squiggle with a couple loops and I actually have to think about forming the letters as I go. And, yes, we were taught cursive in school.

I had a great aunt whose handwriting was the most atrocious I've ever seen. She was a highly intelligent, well educated woman. The education was her problem. She was left handed at a time where that was simply unacceptable for writing. In grammar school she was forced to use her right hand only. Of course the end result was she never learned to write left handed, and right handed never worked very well for her. Straight A student all through school, except for handwriting.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
There are a few hand-written forms that I use for on-site customer billing. My wife fills out as much as can be done in advance of the customer visit, so in most cases all I have to do is fill in some numbers (which requires me to use maff, a skill that MOST of us don't need, according to one of our resident experts).

You're not going to let that go, are you.

Hell, no!

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
You're not going to let that go, are you.

Hell, no!

My man!

Gazintas!

I have the penmanship of a serial killer.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Gazintas!

Or, if you're into digital electronics (there's another kind these days?) troubleshooting consists of checking yer gozintas and yer gozouttas.

If you have the right gozinta and don't get the expected gozoutta, you done found the problem.

quote:

Illegible Handwriting

Some of the worst offenders, people whose handwriting, I would think, must be clear and legible, are doctors. Ever see a doctor's handwriting on a prescription? Pharmacists must have a fun time.

Illegible handwriting in Parochial School was called chicken scratch and was good for a couple of cracks on the knuckles with a hardwood ruler or pointer.

I'm one of those that just never could get it right. I missed some recesses practicing writing as punishment for the inability to write legibility. I tried and tried and it just never got any better. I could read before I went to kindergarten but the writing skill never came. It's inexplicable.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

Illegible Handwriting

Some of the worst offenders, people whose handwriting, I would think, must be clear and legible, are doctors. Ever see a doctor's handwriting on a prescription? Pharmacists must have a fun time.

Doctors are the classic example. I know cause I are one. My theory has always been it's because they are often in a hurry. I like to think mine was the exception. There were some guys that I hated to have consult on my hospital patients because I could not come close to reading what recommendations they had written in the chart. At least , that's one good thing about electronic medical records but that's about the only good thing.

My writing (block letters in all caps) isn't pretty, but is functional and legible. This is how I have written for over 40 years. My cursive is the proverbial "chicken scratch." It is also slow, so forget about taking notes.

I know my handwriting has deteriorated considerably. The same can be said for the investigators in my office. I thought my handwriting was bad but I was reading the reports of the other investigators and it was like hieroglyphics.

Since last week, the Charlotte City and County systems have been hacked and all of our systems are down. The investigators have to hand jam all of our reports, and summations of the investigations. It has been a long, long time since I had to hand write reports and it shows.

I remember back when I worked for a County Dept in VA, we had a roll call briefing about how the Attorneys and judges were complaining about how illegible the Officers/Deputies writing was on the traffic tickets.

It's by design.

I encode my notes in a highly sophisticated cypher known colloquially as chicken scratch.