|
Post by mailartist on Apr 23, 2020 19:40:50 GMT
I've started informal cursive practice with my nondominant hand, sitting down regularly and writing whatever word comes to mind (sometimes multiple times, like in elementary school: "the, the, the, the, . . .").
I have discovered that some words (like lentil, lime, eight, muffin, and flute) are loose, and swishy, and fun to write, while others (namely: oboe*) feel dreadful and look dreadful, and seem not to improve with practice.
What cursive words do you enjoy writing, which just flow for you? Similarly, which ones feel like they stub your toe, coming off the end of your pen?
*With "oboe," I think it's all the starts and stops in the letters, along with the line direction changes, that make it hard to write. At least, in my case, I don't have to write the word "oboe" on a daily basis -- thank heavens.
|
|
|
Post by MKB on Apr 24, 2020 13:14:13 GMT
I like to write words with ascenders and descenders. The occasional z is fun, if you like jazzy writing. I’ve gone a little crazy crossing my t’s with a flex dip pen, so that carries over to my regular cursive. I doubt I would have noticed or enjoyed these had I not delved into non-dominant hand writing.
|
|
|
Post by voiren on Apr 24, 2020 20:00:38 GMT
Not non-dominant, but oboe is nice and flowing to write in roundhand. Just lots of round curls going in the same direction! On the whole, I find bs and fs fun to write in that. In my normal writing, too many ms in the middle of a word tend to lose bumps, especially if I am in a hurry.
|
|
|
Post by distractedmom on Apr 24, 2020 21:56:26 GMT
Not non-dominant, but oboe is nice and flowing to write in roundhand. Just lots of round curls going in the same direction! On the whole, I find bs and fs fun to write in that. In my normal writing, too many ms in the middle of a word tend to lose bumps, especially if I am in a hurry. Sometimes I get out of control with my ms and ns. My name can be an issue. My favorite letter combination is "gh." There is some sort of symmetry there...maybe symmetry isn't the right word, but it flows nicely and looks pretty. Strange admission: I have recently learned to love lower case ks. Two favorite words: pumpkin and Oklahoma. I struggle mightily with wr and br.
|
|
|
Post by alcyone on Apr 27, 2020 3:12:01 GMT
Not non-dominant, but oboe is nice and flowing to write in roundhand. Just lots of round curls going in the same direction! On the whole, I find bs and fs fun to write in that. In my normal writing, too many ms in the middle of a word tend to lose bumps, especially if I am in a hurry. Sometimes I get out of control with my ms and ns. My name can be an issue. My favorite letter combination is "gh." There is some sort of symmetry there...maybe symmetry isn't the right word, but it flows nicely and looks pretty. Strange admission: I have recently learned to love lower case ks. Two favorite words: pumpkin and Oklahoma. I struggle mightily with wr and br. I do that too, my Ms and Ns go on forever sometimes. Sometimes I cross the whole word out and sometimes I just leave in my mmmms and nnnnns.
|
|
|
Post by Lupine on Apr 27, 2020 16:13:33 GMT
Sometimes I get out of control with my ms and ns. My name can be an issue. Me too! I like this discussion. I used to tell co-workers that I loved to type the word "point" and asked them what their favorite words were to type and they just rolled their eyes at me. I just took a typing test for a job and am 70 wpm, zero mistakes. I still got it! I make just about no distinction between lower case u and v in my writing (which I'm not proud of) and I don't have a way to write upper case T or upper case Q that I like. I've never tried writing with my non-dominant hand, but I definitely will.
|
|
|
Post by mailartist on Apr 27, 2020 20:27:29 GMT
Upper case Q is weird, period. Looks too much like "2." Then again, "5" and "S" always were indistinguishable for me. Now, with my left hand (which is more stable), I have enough control to get them to look different. Not sure about my u and v -- I think they're different, but I'll have to see if I distinguish between them.
An interesting question that came to mind (now that I've switched to my left hand for writing) is whether my "signature" reads different. Yes, there may be a slight difference in the letter slant, but I wonder if one's signature depends on things other than hand-dominance. Do my left-handed signatures look like I'm trying to "forge" my right-handed one, or does it still read as "official" and legitimate, because the signature originated in my brain? Don't know the answer to this . . .
I hate typing tests. Probably because keyboard (especially on the real-deal typewriters, manual or electric) can be TESTY. I remember taking a typing test in college, hoping to get an office job as a student, to help with the bills and such. On a familiar typewriter (no computers back then), I was in the upper 60s at least. But on this test, I kept getting extra spaces in the words. I wasn't typing them in just to be a wiseacre. Just a "touch" that I wasn't familiar with. My typing speed (with all the empty spaces counting as errors) was something like 32 wpm, which meant FAIL. So I was saved from an office work job, got a job as a student editor, and was much happier since it fed into a career.
BTW, learning to write with the opposite hand doesn't seem anymore difficult than learning to play piano scales with both hands. It feels strange at first, but it's just practicing the loops and ascenders, etc. I've been at it about six weeks now, and find myself instinctively picking up the pen with my left hand when I need to write something.
|
|
|
Post by mailartist on Apr 27, 2020 20:30:24 GMT
Sometimes I get out of control with my ms and ns. I used to tell co-workers that I loved to type the word "point" and asked them what their favorite words were to type and they just rolled their eyes at me. Are we all nerds here, or what? (Mia: I think AWoSM needs an official "Nerd" badge! Nerdy, and proud of it!)
|
|
|
Post by radellaf on Apr 27, 2020 21:56:47 GMT
Upper case Q is weird, period. The Zaner-Bloser and D'Nealian cursive capitals are things I just will not write. Q is ridiculous. Who _says_ it should look like that? I don't buy it. Also not going to write a capital S that looks like a messed up ampersand. But then I also won't join out of a t that I would then have to go back and cross, so I might as well bow out of the discussion. I took a typing test once but it was scored in some antiquated way that counted backspaces as "errors", like you were using a mechanical typewriter. Just lemme type the whole thing out, on a real live computer, and score the finished result.
|
|
|
Post by jamberrychoux on Apr 27, 2020 22:52:24 GMT
I took a typing test once but it was scored in some antiquated way that counted backspaces as "errors", like you were using a mechanical typewriter. Just lemme type the whole thing out, on a real live computer, and score the finished result. I'm curious how we all learned to type? I first learned in high school through a formal typewriting class! We had manual typewriters - the type where you actually had a manual return lever after you were done with each sentence and wanted to start another row. Then, shortly afterwards, I guess the school got some money, and the manual typewriters were replaced by electric typewriters. That was a big technology change for us! My kids received some basic typewriting instruction in computer class during elementary school years, but it was nothing formal or extensive. I asked my son recently about this, and he said he doesn't think he is typing "correctly" on the keyboard. He says he just types in the way that feels natural to him which he said gets the job done.
|
|
|
Post by christyotwisty on Apr 27, 2020 23:55:27 GMT
My parents had a home-based dictaphone medical transcription service when I was very young. An IBM Selectric was my favourite playtoy. My first typing class was in Grade 9 where again we worked on IBM Selectrics. I had a manual Smith-Corona at home (Courier or Pica) during my teen years.
|
|
|
Post by jamberrychoux on Apr 28, 2020 0:13:50 GMT
My parents had a home-based dictaphone medical transcription service when I was very young. An IBM Selectric was my favourite playtoy. My first typing class was in Grade 9 where again we worked on IBM Selectrics. I had a manual Smith-Corona at home (Courier or Pica) during my teen years. For college, I had an electric Smith-Corona, and I got lots of use out of it. I have no idea where it is now. I don't recall giving it away either.
|
|
|
Post by christyotwisty on Apr 28, 2020 0:31:02 GMT
Pizzazz, susurrus, celestial, ouroborous, orang-outang, zyzzyva, concupiscence, jambalaya, Osoyoos, persnickety, picayune, balloon, va-va-VOOM, quinquennial, qu'est-ce que and its variations, any French words with a circumflex (circumflex is fun to write too!) or with a cedilla. Not my favourite band to listen to but my favourite band to write in cursive: Kajagoogoo
Any words I write with my Lamy EF nib pen feel like they stub my toe. Also: tittle, tinkle, tint, tit, tut, stutter, teeter-totter, attrition, attention.
|
|
|
Post by Lupine on Apr 28, 2020 1:04:05 GMT
Also: tittle, tinkle, tint, tit, tut, stutter, teeter-totter, attrition, attention. Oh my gosh. Stutter is an awful word to write. How do you know what lines to cross when it's all over? I learned to type in a semester long typing class in seventh grade (12 years old) by a woman named Mrs. Dodge. It was her last year teaching. She was nice, and I had fun. I sat next to Michelle Dakai. She was high-larious. She pretended she could speak Russian. She formed a Young Democrats club at our school (strictly for a laugh) and got her friend (Michelene Sakata?) to talk her grandmother into donating everyone's membership fees. We all actually went to a convention and VOTED (!) for a Young Democratic representative. Polititcs.
|
|
|
Post by jamberrychoux on Apr 28, 2020 1:19:06 GMT
Wow, you have a really good memory! I had 2 typing teachers, and I remember the second one I had, but not the first one. I do remember the names of all of my elementary school teachers from 1st through 6th grade. My 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Madison, was the one I credit for actually helping me to finally understand how to tell time on a clock face.
|
|