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Post by Catida on Jun 24, 2020 6:32:34 GMT
This was an interesting discussion to read through Here in Finland cursive is no longer taught in schools, and even the print letters are plainer than earlier. But back when I was at school I learned to write cursive and also took a typing course at the age of 14. It was a time when computers were just about to take over, but in my school there weren't enough of them for everyone in the class. So I learned touch typing with an electric typewriter, but haven't used one ever since I also had a little mechanical typewriter I liked to play with, but unfortunately I gave it away after a while. Didn't see it's value then. I love to write cursive and I think it's a shame if it's a disappearing art. But hey, I too have problems connecting v/w with r in cursive! Does anyone know a nice way to do this?Also, my capitals are a terrible mix of block letters and different fonts, I really should work on those
When you write cursive, do you use lined paper, or a paper with guiding lines under the paper you write? I usually do, because otherwise my writing stubbornly starts to drop towards the end of the line no matter how much I try to focus on keeping it straight.
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Post by michelleg on Jun 24, 2020 17:26:31 GMT
When you write cursive, do you use lined paper, or a paper with guiding lines under the paper you write? I usually do, because otherwise my writing stubbornly starts to drop towards the end of the line no matter how much I try to focus on keeping it straight.
Lined for me - my handwriting also drops towards the end of the line.
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Post by ginny on Jun 25, 2020 17:13:39 GMT
When you write cursive, do you use lined paper, or a paper with guiding lines under the paper you write? I usually do, because otherwise my writing stubbornly starts to drop towards the end of the line no matter how much I try to focus on keeping it straight.
I always write cursive. It would take me forever to write a letter if I used block letters. Most of my stationery is unlined, and I don't use a guide sheet as the paper usually isn't transparent enough for that. I manage to keep my lines pretty straight, and if there's the occasional lapse - so be it
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Post by radellaf on Dec 22, 2022 19:47:11 GMT
Saw a new article about cursive in the NY Times. This should be a no-paywall link to read it: What's the Point of Teaching Cursive?Kinda surprised that the comments are so heavily pro-cursive. Wonder if the same would be the case if it were in the Wall Street Journal - depends if age or political orientation were more of a factor. Also surprised that so many people insist that: cursive is faster to write (don't think that's true, as a rule), and that it is needed for signatures (it isn't). What's sort of amusing is the vocabulary for referring to non-cursive writing. I just call it ... writing, or handwriting. I understand "print", as that's used on official forms. I don't get what "BLOCK print" is. Do those people really think you're supposed to write non-cursively in carefully rigid lines and circles like on letter blocks? You might start that way, but I don't think anyone goes for years without relaxing into a more semi-joined or at least slanted form of print. Except maybe people who write in large and small capital letters. That, I would only use for something like lettering on a schematic or diagram where it must be completely legible.
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Post by ginny on Dec 26, 2022 13:04:15 GMT
Saw a new article about cursive in the NY Times. This should be a no-paywall link to read it: What's the Point of Teaching Cursive?Kinda surprised that the comments are so heavily pro-cursive. Wonder if the same would be the case if it were in the Wall Street Journal - depends if age or political orientation were more of a factor. Also surprised that so many people insist that: cursive is faster to write (don't think that's true, as a rule), and that it is needed for signatures (it isn't). What's sort of amusing is the vocabulary for referring to non-cursive writing. I just call it ... writing, or handwriting. I understand "print", as that's used on official forms. I don't get what "BLOCK print" is. Do those people really think you're supposed to write non-cursively in carefully rigid lines and circles like on letter blocks? You might start that way, but I don't think anyone goes for years without relaxing into a more semi-joined or at least slanted form of print. Except maybe people who write in large and small capital letters. That, I would only use for something like lettering on a schematic or diagram where it must be completely legible. Interesting article, radellaf, thanks for sharing. Personally, I think typing is a valuable skill, but so is writing by hand. Keyboards are all around nowadays, obviously, and they make life easier, but they don't require the same motoric skills like writing by hand. Can't we just go on using both? Why does there have to be an 'either/or'? Can't it be just both? I find that writing by hand is a form of expressing myself, and I like that aspect about it. Others might not care so much.
You say that 'non-cursive writing' for you is 'handwriting' or 'writing'. Funny, that - to me 'handwriting' automatically means 'writing in cursive'.
Cultural differences, probably.
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Post by radellaf on Dec 26, 2022 18:08:41 GMT
You say that 'non-cursive writing' for you is 'handwriting' or 'writing'. Funny, that - to me 'handwriting' automatically means 'writing in cursive'.
Cultural differences, probably.
I think it's more generational differences? I posted this on FB and one of my friends also thinks handwriting = cursive. Just makes me wonder what they call writing by hand that isn't cursive? "printing" is a bit of an overloaded word, these days, with computer printing being such a common thing. There's also the word "longhand", which to me would mean cursive. And then there's all the variations of non-joined letters, or semi-joined, either taught or developed over time, that just don't seem like "printing" in the sense that I'd use on an official form where it says "print name here" (I'd do that slowly with very distinct, spaced out, letters). I definitely thing writing-by-hand AND keyboarding should be taught. I'd just be of the opinion that, these days, cursive writing belongs in a calligraphy elective. Interesting so many commenters (1000?+) felt strongly about it. Didn't know people cared so much about pens and pencils
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Post by distractedmom on Dec 27, 2022 4:17:09 GMT
My penmanship has evolved over the years, and continues to do so. I think of printing as non-joined letters and handwriting is something that looks a little more flowy (if that makes sense.)
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Post by ginny on Dec 27, 2022 14:04:59 GMT
radellaf, you may be right about generational differences. I grew up with what we call 'Lateinische Ausgangsschrift' (you might want to have a look at this site to see samples of different types of script: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching_script), and while we all had to write the same way during elementary school, we were allowed to develop our own style once we got older. I now write cursive based on that Ausgangsschrift, with a few extras here and there. I learnt reading Sütterlin because that was the way my grandmother wrote, and if I wanted to read her letters (she was in East Germany, and I only saw her once a year, so yes - letters were important!), I had to learn how to read her handwriting. I work at a university, and recently a teaching assistant mentioned to me that the students get into trouble these days when they have to sit exams because they are not used to writing by hand anymore, some only learnt 'block print', and when they have 4-5 hours for a complicated exam that requires to write pages and pages by hand, they end up not managing to cover all aspects anymore, simply because they cannot write quickly - due to lack of practice. I learnt how to touchtype when I was training for my job when I was 20. Back then, the modern thing were electric typewriters! Many people didn't have a typewriter at all, and writing by hand was a lot more common. Times have changed!
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Post by davidv on Dec 27, 2022 15:45:16 GMT
radellaf, I think I feel similarly to you on this topic. Writing with your hand and a writing tool is important to teach. I don’t care what script(s) are taught. If I got to choose how terms were defined: Printing: What you do with a computer printer, or a publisher does to make books. Handwriting: Writing with your hand Cursive: Faster, less formal writing, whether joined between letters or not. Some specific name could be given to the script many were taught in school in North America: maybe “20th century American Cursive”? To indicate that you want writing without joins, a form could say: “write in detached letters” or “use formal writing” or even “write neatly” which to me should be the better directive anyways.
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Post by hilary on Dec 29, 2022 4:33:50 GMT
I love writing in cursive and it definitely feels faster for me than printing. I also enjoy typing and am fairly good at it. I had to learn how to do it as part of my Computer class in 7th grade, although I was not great at it then. I got good at it when I was about 19 or 20 and spent hours typing in book titles for a specific project at the library where I worked. Now, typing feels like second nature. But when I write, which is still quite a lot, I write in cursive. However, like many others here, I do not mess around with those ridiculous (in my opinion) cursive capitals.
A few favorite words to write:
- district (I love the cross, dot, cross, dot) - any word with a y at the end - the names Amy and Abby - my own name - you - words that end in -tion - daughter
A few non-favorites: - paperback - library (sadly - I just don't like the way it looks in my cursive) - any word with a "br" combo - little (my ls aren't loopy enough to distinguish from the ts) - and I have to agree with "oboe"
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