Cursive Handwriting - Disappearing?

[jyl]

Do you use cursive or printing, when you handwrite?

How often do you handwrite anything? 1x week? 10x week?

Do your kids use cursive or printing? How often do they handwrite anything? How old are they?

Is there any reason to teach cursive? To learn cursive?

Do you have a nice pen? Do you give a hoot about a nice pen?

In 10 years, do you think cursive will still be used?

In 20 years, do you think handwriting will still be used?

Just curious. I'm reading that the current crop of high school and college kids hardly use, or know, cursive anymore.

Personally, I seldom handwrite anything - maybe 3x week I'll write a grocery list (but increasingly I type it into the iPhone). I have a nice Waterman fountain pen, but use it maybe 3x year. I do write cursive instead of printing. My kids learned/are learning cursive, part of being educated in the French system. None of us have the beautiful cursive script that my parents and even more my grandparents have/had. They learned Western handwriting from an old-school Chinese background, after spending years practicing traditional brush calligraphy. Which is no longer a standard school subject, even in China.

EDIT

Okay, guys. Let's see it. Post a photo of your handwriting - printed or cursive, whatever you do.

the quick brown fox jumped over the very lazy dog

[Zeke]

I print and always have. You can't read my cursive; you will have a hard enough time with my printing. Yes, I hand write every day. Mostly lists. Some logs.

[trekkor]

I hand print my proposals in a notebook before I prepare a formal.

I'm sure it would be hard for anyone but me to read.


KT

[UconnTim97]

My penmanship has always left something to be desired. I droped cursive writing in college, I couldn't read my own notes sometimes. I switched to all printing shortly into my first sememster and found writing in all caps was the neatest form of penmanship for me. It is odd, but it works for me. It took a while for my coworkers to accept it as my "normal" writing. Lol

[slodave]

I hand write my clients invoices and I don't use cursive. Like Tim, my penmanship is lacking too.

[Hugh R]

I use a computer so much that when I write I print and do cursive, sometimes in the same sentence.

[Gogar]

When I write by hand, it's all Calligraphy. I cheat though and use the Calligraphy pen.

[scottmandue]

I have gone as far as buying a fountain pen and tried to retrain myself cursive.

Hard to imagine that which was easy as a pre-teen is now almost imposable.

[imcarthur]

Since I worked an order desk decades ago, I have always used a cursive version of printing - fast but accurate.

Ian

[island911]

Quite a few years ago I relearned cursive so that I could more quickly enter text into a computer.

Yes, that's right, (write?) . . .anyway, tablet computers have had quite good handwriting recognition software for quite some time. I found that they make better work out of sloppy cursive than out of an engineers block letters (which are slow, btw). Anyway, they must have designed that software with doctors in mind. I'm always amazed at how well it nails the slop.

Even my mobile phones have had the feature for years. I write all sorts of notes and such with it. I'm a bit conflicted about the newer phones which have speech to text. That sounds good, but I can imagine times where I don't want to speak out loud, what notes I'm putting down. ...and the newer gen of phones have cap-sense screens, which usually are not fine enough resolution for the hand-writing app. ...giving a one or the other choice. :-/

[Burnin' oil]

In college I had to change from chicken scratch to ALL CAPS. BUT ALL CAPS IS NOT FAST AND POST-COLLEGE ACADEMIA REQUIRED THAT I WRITE FASTER so I got a book on writing and learned a writing style that is part cursive and part printing - very legible and fast.

[jyl]

I found that using my Newtons and then my Windows tablets improved my cursive quite a bit. I wonder if there is a HWR input option or app for the iPad. I know there are conductive styli for the iPhone that should work on the iPad. I think modern HWR is pretty decent. Maybe they'll perfect it just in time for handwriting to disappear. We'll all just think at our computers, then hit print. Sorty, think print.

[Seahawk]

I print. I only use Pilot black felt tip pens.

I take notes on everything...phone calls, meetings, etc.

I blame the Nuns.

[ddbach]

I write much of my data collection using cursive which then gets scanned into records. I'm still hoping for a "smart" template that can be shaped to my needs but we are changing software providers so it's going to be some years away again.
I get teased about how very legible my handwriting is as I'm in a profession not known for legilbility.

[on2wheels52]

Pawn tickets and gun log is all hand written. Like others have said, I switched to printing during my (regretably short) stay in college. Cursive only for my signature and an occasional forgery.
Jim

[daepp]

Wasn't cursive born out of the need for speed because the old world required such vast amounts of writing. Now, enter the typewriter, the copy machine, the fax, and the PC - is there really still a need for speed?

[JavaBrewer]

I have not written cursive in 30+ years. The only time I actually write anything down on paper is when I fill out a hallmark card.

[widgeon13]

Printed since HS, that was forty-six years ago. They don't even teach cursive anymore.

I do sign my name in cursive.

[scottmandue]

Course when I'm out taggin gots to use the cursive wit da spray can... yo!

[syncroid]

I print every day. I hand write all invoices in the shop. I'm an all block letter printer too. I can still writes in cursive but choose not to.
My 12 year old daughter writes in cursive. Her hand writing is very nice.
I am very picky and possessive of my pen. I have had the same one for 10+ years. I prefer a medium point, blue ink, not too skinny, and not too fat pen.
Try to steal my pen from me and you might lose the limb you took it with.