Re: OT - Have you ever changed your handwriting style?

On Mar 8, 4:29 pm, "CyberCypher" <dontbot...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
adam_swansb...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Those this is OT, I suspect it may be of interest here. Between the
ages of 5 to 11, I was taught to write in what was called "italic" at
my English primary school. At the age of 11, I moved to a grammar
school, where the pupils came from a variety of schools that taught
different styles of handwriting.

I was intrigued and impressed with some of these styles, to the extent
that I ended up copying elements of them. Between the ages of 12 and
13 I experimented with my handwriting style, incorporating elements of
other styles that I liked. By the age of 14 I had ended up with my own
version of what is known as "looped cursive". (Apparently cursive
handwriting is now falling out of fashion in the UK).

My reasons for changing were twofold: firstly, as a teenager, I
considered looped cursive to be more adult in appearance than my own
italic handwriting; secondly, I found that I could write faster with
cursive, as the greater number of joins seemed to me to make it flow
faster. I do remember my English teacher deploring the change in my
style, though. "I don't know what's happened to your handwriting
lately, Adam. You used to have such beautiful handwriting!"

Italic writing required a broad-nibbed fountain pen, so that you could
reproduce the thick and thin strokes of the italic style. As a left-
hander, I found it difficult to reproduce these strokes. When I
ditched italic and switched to a thin-nibbed pen, I found my writing
flowed more easily, and I no longer felt clumsy when using my pen.

After my chosen handwriting style matured, I was occasionally told
that it was "very well-formed" or "had a lot of character". All in the
eye of the beholder, of course.

Has anyone else, I wonder, ever permanently changed their handwriting
style, for whatever reason? And what name did your school give to the
style of handwriting that you were taught?

I was taught the Palmer Method of cursive handwriting back in New
Jersey in the early 1950s. My handwriting was so poor, however, that I
was told in high school that if I didn't start typing or printing, my
teachers would not even attempt to read my chicken scratch. I switched
to printing then. About a decade later, though, I taught myself italic
handwriting using a calligraphic pen. I wanted to learn to write
beautiful script, but I couldn't teach the old paws new tricks even
though I made some money lettering signs when I was in graduate school.
Now my handwriting is much better than it used to be, but I never write
except on the blackboard in the classes I teach: I'm a dedicated
computer keyboarder. Everything I write is in some modified form of
italic script. I love it even though I'm not skilled enough to produce
script that people would call beautiful or filled with character. I'm
thrilled that students can read what I've written.

--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.
Cynical by nature, by habit, and by choice.
Native speaker of American; posting from Taiwan.
"It has come to my attention that my opinions are not universally
shared; ergo, they are not in the public domain." Anymouse.

["*Though* this is OT", I meant to write, not "Those"].
Interesting that you regard beauty as the quality you most desire in
your handwriting. My own bugbear is the appearance of my printed
handwriting, which looks primitive compared to my cursive, so I
suppose I'd like my printing to be more beautiful.

I also like clarity in handwriting, so I always sign my name in
legible fashion. I dislike so-called "power writing", whereby
individuals reduce their signature to some illegible kind of personal
hieroglyph.

Adam.
.

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