So...just How Old Are You?

[kashmir64]

I remember practicing cursive writing every day in primary school. They had this special paper that had a dotted line between the solid lines, the small letters were supposed to be between the dotted line and the solid bottom line. The capital letters were supposed to be between the two solid lines.

And it was that awful brown paper.

 

[Willowy]

I hate cursive with a burning fiery passion. I'm glad it's just about extinct. It's all well and fine as an art form, so if someone wants to do calligraphy that's super, but for daily writing it's far too messy. As a postal worker I see a lot of different kinds of writing and, well, if legibility ever was the intention of cursive teachers, they sure didn't do a good job of it, lol.

 

[angels mommy]

I remember practicing cursive writing every day in primary school. They had this special paper that had a dotted line between the solid lines, the small letters were supposed to be between the dotted line and the solid bottom line. The capital letters were supposed to be between the two solid lines.

I remember that paper too!

 

[flamesabers]

All through my public schooling and my associate degree program the standard was two spaces after each sentence. It was sometime during my bachelor degree group work that I noticed some of my peers only used one space after each sentence. I can't remember whether I adjusted my spacing to one space or not so that the entire paper would be consistent. In regards to proper spacing, I think my professors were much more focused on the title page and bibliography. It would probably be a bit of a mind-numbing task to go through 2 dozen papers and check the proper amount of spacing after each sentence!

Do they still use and enforce strict MLA standards for laying out college papers? That used to be strictly enforced.

I used the APA format doing my college years.

 

[neely]

neely , I also write in cursive. I don't know if they even teach it anymore. A shame..

No, the Common Core Standards felt computers/technology was more important. Sad but true! Here's a link if you're interested with more info. and details: Why Don't the Common-Core Standards Include Cursive Writing?

 

[arouetta]

I learned to type on an electric typewriter, pre-electronic, pre-word processor, pre-computer with built-in word processor. Two spaces. On my phone I use one, out of sheer laziness.

I know how to write in cursive. My hand no longer knows how to. Even when I try to force it, within three words I'm back to printing. One question though, does anyone else have a permanent bump on the bone of the middle finger from years of pen and pencil pressure?

Anyone remember erasable pens because our reports had to be written in pen with no mistakes?

 

[denice]

I still have the permanent bump.

 

[DreamerRose]

I think I can shed some light on the two spaces discussion. When we all used typewriters, the font was almost always Courier. A few had Elite, but not many. Each letter of Courier took up the same space so the carriage would move in an orderly way. So two spaces were needed after a period to provide a break and keep the letters from running together. This is what we were taught in typing class. When computers stopped using Courier (the first computers also used Courier) and added other fonts, spaces were different for all the letters. The computer automatically figured out the space needed. So only one space after a period was needed; in fact, two spaces often leaves a large space between the period and the first letter of the next word, especially if the alignment is set to justified. It took some time for me to adjust and type only one space, but I do it without thinking now.

I always use the Oxford comma - the comma before "and" in a series, such as one, two, and three. It avoids a lot of confusion in longer, compound sentences. Newspapers stopped using the Oxford comma decades ago to save space in their narrow columns. Space is important to a newspaper because they want to cram in as many advertisements as possible. Now people have gotten used to seeing it that way and repeat it.

I also always use cursive writing because it's so much faster than printing. My son, his wife, and their son all print, and as my grandson hasn't been taught cursive, I am supposed to print for him. But so help me, within a few words I've relapsed into cursive. Some old dogs can't be taught new tricks.

 

[Willowy]

No, the Common Core Standards felt computers/technology was more important. Sad but true! Here's a link if you're interested with more info. and details: Why Don't the Common-Core Standards Include Cursive Writing?

Well that's silly. The article says that learning cursive is important so kids can read things written in cursive. Learning to read cursive and learning to write cursive are two very very different things. Who could take that argument seriously?

Anyway I'm pretty sure they stopped teaching cursive in some places before Common Core. My cousins never learned cursive in school but I did and we're the same age.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
Learning - and practising - cursive handwriting, teaches fine motor skills in an unparaleled fashion (though I suspect far less so with a ballpoint than with a proper nib where finer control is required). Beyond this, it's essential to note-taking in lecture halls, where - increasingly - electronic devices are once more being banned, but even beyond this, it was once treated as a societal "coming of age" ritual, in the same manner as once were styles of dress.
.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I used to do some handwriting analysis. Usually those who write in both cursive and printing in one word are very creative people. They're also free spirits in some ways.

It drives my husband crazy that I don't dot my "I"s and "J"s. I do cross my "T"s though.

 

[neely]

.Beyond this, it's essential to note-taking in lecture halls, where - increasingly - electronic devices are once more being banned

Funny you should mention note-taking in lecture halls - when I was in college many moons ago I took notes in shorthand. Believe it or not I still use it to this day! It was fabulous - not only was it fast but when someone asked to borrow my notes they couldn't decipher them.

 

[Willowy]

it's essential to note-taking in lecture halls

Studies have shown that cursive is no faster than printing . Well, for people who are used to printing, lol. And cursive is generally messier and harder to read. Haha, I'm seriously not a fan.

It sure didn't do anything for my fine motor skills .

it was once treated as a societal "coming of age" ritual

Huh. I've met older people who said they were never taught how to print so I figured they just started the little kids out on cursive. I suppose it depended on their school/teacher.

 

[Alejandra Rico]

I suppose that I am old, as I write in cursive, almost italics (my writing slants slightly to the right) and that is the way se were taught in school (and children still are taught this way). People started writing in "print" style many years later, thinking It was more mature. I tried it, saw how ugly It looked and came back to cursive, a year later.
I don't know why some say cursive is "messier". All my teachers have allways commented how much easier was reading my cursive writing in comparison to my classmates' print style texts, especially in exams, when one has to write long texts in a very short time. I was also far faster with my cursive writing than students with print writing. In fact, the only faster girl than me has so cursive writing, pretty neat, clean and beautiful, by the way.

 

[betsygee]

I used to do some handwriting analysis. Usually those who write in both cursive and printing in one word are very creative people. They're also free spirits in some ways.

Well, how cool is that. @Winchester kashmir64

 

[margd]

I never heard of two spaces after a period until I read this thread. It wasn't taught in the schools I went to. And a one line space between paragraphs? No, they only need to be indented.

Whatever did happen to the indented paragraph? I've not done that in years.

 

[Willowy]

I don't know why some say cursive is "messier"

Haha, since I think I'm the only one who said that, I'll answer----because it IS usually messier . As I said, I work at the Post Office so I see a lot of samples of handwriting. First of all, I'll say that I think everybody should address things in all-caps block printing, even if they like writing in cursive, because addresses have to be easily readable from a distance. But most people don't. And most cursive handwriting looks like a squiggly line, or a bunch of loops with no defined letters, or just a bunch of scribbles. Most print handwriting is at least legible, though there have been a couple people who wrote something and I asked them to print and they said "that is my printing!" so I guess some people just have bad handwriting, lol. But yeah, as a person who sees a lot of handwriting, I think print is more often legible than cursive. I have seen some lovely cursive handwriting but it's definitely a very small minority.

My brother can't read cursive at all. I'm not sure what happened there because he's only 2 1/2 years younger than I am and presumably got the same education. But he just can't. Good thing he doesn't work at the Post Office .

 

[margd]

Cursive handwriting itself has really changed over the years, too. I'm working on a project transcribing labels on herbarium sheets (dried plant samples) that date from 1880 to 2014. Some of the cursive back in the late 1880s is so fancy that I have a difficult time reading it. It has extra little loops, whirls and circles that to my eyes obscure the letter hiding within. I've found that cursive is no easier to read than print or vice versa - it just depends on how clearly the writer makes the letters.

 

[kashmir64]

Well, how cool is that. @Winchester kashmir64

I used to be a free spirit....And then I had a child

 

[debbila]

Whatever did happen to the indented paragraph? I've not done that in years.[/QUOT

Paragraphes are still indented. All reading material has indented paragraphs. Take note

when you read a book or magazine. We are just not used to doing it when we write on

the computer. When we used typewriters we did indent. I read something cute on line

about it. " Indenting and double line spacing between paragraphs is like suspenders and

belts, you don't need both. "

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