Can you read/write in cursive?

[Zanix]

One reason I started the thread is that my wife encountered a twenty something who was practicing her signature because her new job required her to write checks. The woman had a friend write out her name in cursive so she could learn to copy it. The woman had almost no experience at all in signing her own name.

As for me, I learned several years ago to be just as sloppy about signing the back of my credit cards as I was most of the time. I would get the hairy eyeball from cashiers when my signature din't match the neat writing on the card. Of course, with chip cards, no one cares anymore.

a coworker signs his name with just a up/down squiggle like an extended 'W' I suppose it might be an easy forgery detector if someone tries to actually put letters in there

 

[Zanix]

I did D'Nealian before getting to cursive, I think the two are distinct

 

[Pohemi]

I did D'Nealian before getting to cursive, I think the two are distinct

I thought cursive was the style (vs manuscript print) and D'Nealian was the font or print type? For example, compared to Zaner Bloser...

I searched for info on this, and found some conflicting statements in regards to D'Nealian vs cursive and D'Nealian vs Zaner Bloser, so I'm not sure. I can't recall any of this from grade school now.

edit to add this explanation link

 

[BudAshes]

Sure, but I prefer to play stupid.

Sorry I didn't do that item on your list honey, can't read that shit. Had to watch football and drink beer instead.

 

[Muse]

Back in my college days. I used to write notes half asleep. I would look at my notes at home later and say. WTF!!!

I still have some of my notebooks from my college days. I also took notes at the monthly meetings of my professional users' group back in the late 1990's, and have that notebook.

I think there's still value in a handwritten note, a thank you note in particular. It's more personal than an email or type written, printer generated note.

 

[Zanix]

I thought cursive was the style (vs manuscript print) and D'Nealian was the font or print type? For example, compared to Zaner Bloser...

I searched for info on this, and found some conflicting statements in regards to D'Nealian vs cursive and D'Nealian vs Zaner Bloser, so I'm not sure. I can't recall any of this from grade school now.

edit to add this explanation link

Interesting. I remember the step in linking the letters together being a hurdle and like getting the enchantment. Weird to reflect on some assertion made as a 3rd grader as an adult.

 

[local]

My handwriting is horrendous. I developed a half print/half cursive way of writing in high school that no one seemed to complain about. I can write in full cursive but is becomes basically unreadable after a sentence or two.

My 8 year olds are learning cursive in school, after several years of not teaching it they are bringing it back for some incomprehensible reason.

 

[IronWing]

I never did master capital Qs. They don't look anything like a Q when written correctly. Same with capital Z.

 

[nakedfrog]

I never did master capital Qs. They don't look anything like a Q when written correctly. Same with capital Z.

View attachment 56901

I remember seeing that Q, but this is the one we were taught.

 

[Muse]

Interesting. I remember the step in linking the letters together being a hurdle and like getting the enchantment. Weird to reflect on some assertion made as a 3rd grader as an adult.

As I understand it, cursive is faster than printing. Printing can be more legible, I think it generally is. On average... but cursive is quite a bit faster among those with facility for both. I think if you're well coordinated you can develop great facility with both. It can require some concentration and will to do so, plus the willingness to be self-critical.

 

[Muse]

I remember seeing that Q, but this is the one we were taught.

I've never seen that other Q before, if I'd encountered it I'd have thought it to be a 2.

 

[Leymenaide]

We were graded on our cursive in the early 60's. Even top ranked public-school districts seemed to have stopped teaching it.

 

[Muse]

We were graded on our cursive in the early 60's. Even top ranked public-school districts seemed to have stopped teaching it.

I think it's useful if

You can read your own (at least you can read your own handwriting)
Others can read yours (best)

 

[Scarpozzi]

 

[Micrornd]

My oldest grandchild is 23 and my youngest is 13, neither of them can write cursive as it was not taught in school here.

 

[Muse]

My oldest grandchild is 23 and my youngest is 13, neither of them can write cursive as it was not taught in school here.

I was taught cursive in grammar school and to this day use it all the time. It's a lot faster than printing. I don't do everything on a computer.

I don't consciously try to make it beautiful. I think others could read the cursive I write solely for myself, but if I'm writing for others I'm more careful. My father had much more beautiful handwriting. My mother's brother's autobiography is beside me and is the most beautiful cursive I've ever seen. Two inch thick bound self published books (my copy was no doubt produced in a copy shop). Page after page of the most perfect handwriting without fail. Even more impressive, he was at one time the chess champion of New York. He lived where I was born, in Washington Heights, Manhattan.

 

[Muse]

One reason I started the thread is that my wife encountered a twenty something who was practicing her signature because her new job required her to write checks.

When I see people's signature I generally take a good look at it, see what it says about them. Nowadays, the great majority of signatures are thoroughly illegible. Mine varies considerably. If I am pretty sure that nobody is even going to glance at it, I just scribble my name in a second or two. If it's something I care about and am not sure of the outcome and am concerned, I am careful to make my signature legible.

I had a temporary job for a while working with 3 women (they were not temps). Our job was to pull out all the bad checks from the thousands of checks that came into local banks every day. We did this all day long. It was something like 30 years ago. I think it wasn't a private bank but a federal bank that got all the checks from local banks delivered to them in boxes.

I had another temp job in which we investigated welfare fraud for the county.

 

[Muse]

Cursives, foiled again!

 

[thebestMAX]

Until 7th grade I was taught by Nuns with rulers. I write cursive very well, just not very often.

My daughter who has her Masters sometimes writes me short notes or greeting cards that I have yet to decipher.

I get a lot of positive comments on my signature even today, remember practicing and trying many different ways to present it.

 

[IronWing]

Cursives, foiled again!

I've been file diving at the county recorder's office for the past few weeks, searching mining claim records going back to the late 1800s. Prior to 1915, everything is handwritten in cursive. Curse the folks with loopy handwriting where every letter looks the same. One recorder managed to make the word westerly indecipherable from easterly. In this case, it was kind of important information. I could only read for a couple hours a day as the eyestrain of reading cursive on a cheap monitor is horrible. The records were scanned from microfiche.

Also, the job of county recorder used to suck, hard. They hand wrote everything back then. People would dictate what they wanted recorded and the recorder had to write it all down. Scribbling all day long, day after day. I ran across mining claim records where the claimant had recorded 39 claims at one time. The recorder wrote thirty pages. The claimant f'ed it up twice so the recorder ended up writing out ninety pages for this one guy. With the mining claims, the recorders didn't use a new sheet of paper for each claim. They would finish one claim, draw a line, and start writing out the next claim. It makes searching a pain in the ass as the recorder's office hasn't indexed the historical claims. I don't blame them as the utility of doing so is pretty low but it would make my life better if they did.

 

[Spacehead]

The only cursive i do anymore is my signature. I can't remember the last time i wrote out anything in cursive. If i have to write out any thing, for me or someone else, i use print.

OT

...cuneiform.

...wayside ...

2 of my favorite places to shop

 

[brianmanahan]

I could only read for a couple hours a day as the eyestrain of reading cursive on a cheap monitor is horrible. The records were scanned from microfiche.

even on a nice monitor i haven't found it to be much easier. i read through so many documents to do genealogy research (1600s-1900s, but mostly 1800s) and the cursive could be brutal.

there was one recorder in a town i was interested in who wrote his letters at like a 30 degree angle instead of a 90 degree angle. all his letters were squished flat. and i had to skim through years worth of his stuff to find the will i cared about.

 

[lxskllr]

Reading old deeds is tedious. It takes concentration to get in the groove, and is fatiguing. It's like reading books in Scots. I can do it, but it's work.

Funny how 19th century people seemed to have the same hand. The writing all kind of looks the same to me, and doesn't seem to have the variety of 20th century writing.

 

[kt]

I was taught writing cursive in Swedish and adapted it for English. Almost same alphabet, so not difficult to adapt at all. I only noticed a few minor differences with some capital letters like G and Z.

 

[IronWing]

I've been file diving at the county recorder's office for the past few weeks, searching mining claim records going back to the late 1800s. Prior to 1915, everything is handwritten in cursive. Curse the folks with loopy handwriting where every letter looks the same. One recorder managed to make the word westerly indecipherable from easterly. In this case, it was kind of important information. I could only read for a couple hours a day as the eyestrain of reading cursive on a cheap monitor is horrible. The records were scanned from microfiche.

Also, the job of county recorder used to suck, hard. They hand wrote everything back then. People would dictate what they wanted recorded and the recorder had to write it all down. Scribbling all day long, day after day. I ran across mining claim records where the claimant had recorded 39 claims at one time. The recorder wrote thirty pages. The claimant f'ed it up twice so the recorder ended up writing out ninety pages for this one guy. With the mining claims, the recorders didn't use a new sheet of paper for each claim. They would finish one claim, draw a line, and start writing out the next claim. It makes searching a pain in the ass as the recorder's office hasn't indexed the historical claims. I don't blame them as the utility of doing so is pretty low but it would make my life better if they did.

After reviewing over 20,000 records, I found the page I wanted .