“Handwriting is civilization’s casual encephalogram.”
Yesterday, at 103°, Boston was the hottest it’s been since 1926. We were close, in the 90’s, which is unusual for us, but the ocean breeze had totally disappeared. Gracie and I stayed inside almost the entire day. The few times I went on the deck the heat and humidity sucked my breath away. Today I have to go to a bridal shower, and I am not the bridal shower type. To make it even worse, if that’s at all possible, it will be hot. It’s only 10 and already the temperature is 83°. I’m going to practice my oohing and ahing before I go. I’m a bit rusty.
I remember learning the Palmer Method. First we had to learn to hold our pencils a certain way and then we did exercises. We were taught to use our hands and arms in making circles then lines. My circles were never very neat, but I was great at lines. I remember my hand moving up and down on the paper as I made my lines, and I remember the sound of hand against paper and the scribbling sound of the pencil. The nun would walk around and reposition pencils or make comments about the circles and lines.
Across the front of the room, over the blackboard, was a set of the alphabet in Palmer Method cursive writing. It was ornate with all sorts of loops. The R in my last name was one circle. It was the same R my grandmother always used. The K in my first name had a loop. I think my favorite letters were X, Q and Z. They were strange looking, and if you hadn’t learned Palmer method, you would never recognize the Q. We practiced all the time on lined sheets of paper. The capital letters went from the bottom of the line to the top. The small letters were about half the size and were easy to recognize, even the q, which looked a lot like the one my keyboard has except it’s missing the loop.
I read in the paper that schools are phasing out the teaching of cursive writing. The keyboard is replacing it. It reminded me of all that is fading away. My newspapers are ceasing to exist, bookstores are closing at a rapid rate and now cursive writing is disappearing. I’m afraid to venture a guess as to what’s next.
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July 23, 2011 at 11:14 am
Awful memories. Not satisfied with joined up writing we were required to learn the italic style using an ink pen with a specialized nib. Now being left handed it was almost impossible as any motion across the paper smudged the work. As a result left handers learned to write over the top of the letters in an upside down method.
You can always tell the age of a left hander by watching their writing style.
July 23, 2011 at 11:56 am
Rather nice over here after the rain stopped. Now the sun is shining and we have a nice breeze making it just enough warm.
I learned the same technique it seems 🙂 I actually like to sit there and write those letters for hours but I have to admit that I was rather bad at it 🙂 🙂 🙂
I found my old writing book and my teacher must have laughed insanely inside her mind 🙂 🙂 🙂 That book is the only thing I still have for my early school days so it is a treasure to me.
The killings in Norway was even worse than anyone could imagine! and I was right, it was a right wing extremist that did this. But did he do this on his own? that´s the question!
Take care!
Christer.
July 23, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Christer
My thoughts are with the families and the people on Norway. An unbelievable crime
July 23, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Christer,
Like Hedley, my prayers and thoughts go out to the victims and their families.
I tend to print more than write-I go faster that way.
July 23, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Hi Kat,
I didn’t learn the Palmer Method but our classroom had the Palmer letters up on the wall. The Q looked like a loopy 2. I remember wondering when we were going to get to practice that one because I was fairly sure I could do it well. I do believe I got marked off for using the upper case loopy Q on a paper for one of my ancient high school teachers who should have known better. But she brooked no argument on the point and I had to take 1. 😦
In the early 90’s a woman I worked with was telling me about her oldest grandchild’s application for college. She was astonished that there was a question on it that directed the applicant to write the answer in cursive. She was more astonished that her grandson didn’t know what that was. Schools have been requiring papers to be typed, done on a word processor or computer for so long now, it’s not surprising that cursive is disappearing. We’ll be left with block printing and graffiti fonts. 😀
Rocky and I went for our walk very, very early this morning. 6:30 AM. In the lovely cooling rain. I am leaving the windows open and the AC off as long as possible today because I am tired of the noise. So far, so good.
Have a great day.
July 23, 2011 at 4:21 pm
Hi Caryn,
That’s exactly the q, and if you saw it out of context, you’d never guess what it was. The Z is a close second.
Kids in high school have had to type their papers for a long time so the typing rooms were open after school for any kid who didn’t have access to one at home. On tests, essays were always written so the kids knew cursive back then. I wonder what that grandchild will do when he has to take an essay test in high school.
Today it rained for a while, but the rain left it more humid than it was before the storm. I had to go out, but I was so happy to get back home to the cool air!
July 23, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Kath:
I too, am left-handed. I’m just glad I went to public school and never had the pleasure of the nuns trying to change my style… :0
I collect celebrity and sports autographs as a hobby. Some of the people out there have HORRIBLE penmanship. A good example that I’ve seen is Bruce Springsteen. Its all loopy and runs all overe the joint.You can’t tell who’s signature it is sometimes…
Harmon Killibrew, the great baseball Hall of Famer who passed recently, made it a point of having flawless penmanship. A story circulated after his death about how he taught other ballplayers to sign things legibly so the fans could read it with no problems. And in my storage is a ball signed by him. Lovely to look at.
Enough out of me. I’m waving again (and trying to create a breeze) –
Coleen
July 23, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Coleen,
It’s true-the nuns made lefties into righties. I have no idea why.
My nephew also collects sports autographs as a hobby. He has shelves of signed balls, and he brings his book of baseball cards to every game in case he can get one signed. I bought my brother-in-law one for Christmas early in the year and couldn’t decipher the signature. Luckily my nephew saw it and identified the signed.
Good for Harmon Killibrew!
I’m waving back. That’s me in the car in the middle of a traffic jam.
July 23, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Kat, your memory is amazing. YES! The Palmer Method. And it hurt the fingers to be exact. I recall a lefty who was caught drawing out the letters with the paper upside down. Wasn’t allowed back then and the nun slapped him across his knuckles with the board pointer. Ouch. He was weeping and of course turned in a sad looking paper trying to write with his right hand. That I will never forget although your post DID jog my memory. I will say that I got pretty good grades on cursive writing. I practiced at home because even though I couldn’t draw like my Mother, the artist in the family, I liked to write. My son is left handed. I told that story to my wife when we found out. We joined lefthanders international and ordered all the school supplies he needed from the catalog. Even scissors. He went to school prepared!
July 23, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Z&M
Leftees were doomed…doomed I tell you.
July 23, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Z&Me,
I can still see the horrible circles I made and how the pencil marks ran when my hand went over them. I was a good writer but I was horrible at practicing.
My roommate was a lefty, and I was forever looking for gifts meant for the left-handed when it came to birthdays and Christmas. Your son was lucky!
July 23, 2011 at 7:04 pm
George Carlin did a skit about this. It begins, “I used to be Irish Catholic, now I’m an American. You know, you grow.”
He describes the school he went to like this: “It wasn’t one of those old fashioned parish kinda prison schools with a lot of corporal punishment and Sister Mary Discipline with the steel ruler, right? (SMACK!) OOOWWWWW! MY HAND! AAAAUGGH! And you’d fall two years behind in penmanship, right? ‘Well, he’s behind in penmanship, Mrs. Carlin. I don’t know why.’ He’s crippled. He’s trying to learn to write with his left hand.”
July 23, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Ted,
I don’t remember the whacks, but I do remember the nuns making kids switch hands. They would write with their hand in the oddest position to compensate for the unnatural.
I love George Carlin!
July 23, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Kat said, “I’m afraid to venture a guess as to what’s next.”
Hmmm. How about abysmal ignorance and a failure to learn from the past? I don’t really mean to be a curmudgeon (well, maybe a little), but utter rejection of
geography
cursive script
literature
science (beyond that to be found on standardized tests)
math (ditto)
critical thinking
civics
will inevitably lead to the civilization, society, and governance that we are seeing.
July 23, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Rick,
That list appalls me because it is true, at least for the average kid. The better students can still take upper level maths and sciences but the rest study for the MCAS, the Massachusetts standardized test every kid has to pass in order to graduate. Geography went by the wayside a long time ago. You forgot to add grammar to the list. It is taught only in context. At least the kids at my school were required to take two years of US history which gave them a working knowledge of the government and how it is supposed to work.
They gave the seniors in Mass a test and a high percentage did not know there are 50 states, especially Hawaii which must have sounded foreign to them.
July 23, 2011 at 6:07 pm
A Lost Soul is gone.
July 23, 2011 at 6:35 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Long gone!
July 23, 2011 at 6:58 pm
1. What’s next? The “Boston Pink-Painted Toenails w/ Fancy Sandals”.
2. http://www.amazon.com/Italic-Way-Beautiful-Handwriting-Calligraphic/dp/002079990X/ref=sr_1_2
3. http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Copperplate-Calligraphy-Step-Manual/dp/0486409511/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Cheers
July 23, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Minicapt,
I’m liking the fancy sandals but I’m not into toe painting, but I do like the idea!
It’s good to know that fancy calligraphy is still being used. I remember how beautiful the Book of Kells was. I once tried to learn calligraphy, but mine just didn’t look like the one in the book.
July 23, 2011 at 7:11 pm
I love cursive writing & it disturbs me that its not being taught anymore. The thought of young adults printing their way through life is unthinkable. I remember how proud I was ( & my parents too)that I graduated from printing to cursive. Just old fashioned I guess.
We learned the Palmer Method also but with straight pens, nibs & ink wells. Gosh, when I say that it sounds like Little House on the Prairie! I’m not that old but I did have traditional teachers!
July 23, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Clare,
In a few hundred years or less human beings will be born with out-sized thumbs so they can text. The only times kids write is generally tests and notes in class. Everything else is done on the computer.
WOW! We used pencils then graduated to pens, but our were the clip to expose the point ones. The desks had holes for ink wells, but we never used ink.
July 23, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Goodbye and good riddance to handwriting because it is a total waste of time. If you can print, sign your name and type you are equipped for the modern world.
As a left handed child I was taught to turn my paper in the same direction as the right handed kids so I learned to write by curling my wrist over the top of the paper. My handwriting has always been messy and writing always gave me pains in my hand. My teachers in elementary school did not know nor did they care to learn how to teach lefties to write. They couldn’t figure out that when they forced my to write with a fountain pen I would smear the ink all over the paper and my hand. At least my teachers didn’t try to change me over to write with my right hand because of sum stupid superstition that left handedness had something to do with the devil.
Today, left handed kids are taught to turn the paper the other way and write normally. I have tried to retrain myself, but the law of primacy always interferes. Between a computer, and iPod and an iPhone/iPod Touch, who needs handwriting.
We should petition our public school systems to stop wasting our money and the kids time teaching handwriting and teach the kids to type.
July 23, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Bob,
Whenever I travel, I always write postcards, and I write in a journal just about every night. I wouldn’t carry anything as heavy as a laptop with everything else I have so I need to write. I suppose I could print, but somehow a journal needs to be written. I guess that is a throw back to Victorian times and the lovely script they used.
Most schools do teach keyboarding, but most kids are pretty proficient by the time they get to school. They have been using computers and all the other gadgets since they were little.
Left handed kids were done a total disservice when I was young, and I have no idea why.
July 24, 2011 at 8:54 am
An iPad 2 takes up very little room and also contains both a video and a still camera.
The only good thing I can say about a paper journal is that the battery will never run down. Although you could run out of ink or use up a pencil.
July 24, 2011 at 9:59 am
Bob,
I have just the original iPad, and I find typing on it to be difficult as the keyboard is so small. It is coming with me on my trip but because of the books I’ve bought. It is so much easier to carry than several books.
To me, the journal has a longevity which the iPad doesn’t.
July 24, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Handwriting was my worst subject. I don’t even remember why. I have some collections of letters that were written a long time ago and the handwriting is exquisite. My thoughts are also with the people of Norway.
July 25, 2011 at 12:12 am
Lori,
I got good grades in penmanship as they called it, but I think it silly we got graded for it.
November 13, 2011 at 5:20 pm
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