… and the Keyboard Killed my Penmanship.
As I’ve been trying to show Ryder how to write his name, I can’t help but notice that my penmanship SUCKS. This morning, as I watched him struggle with loops and lines, I thought to myself – “I’ve written about my crappy writing before, haven’t I?”
And so I hunted up this post from over two years ago. Sadly, my writing has now progressed from kind-of-sucky to sucks eggs.
– July 2010 –
I used to have the most stylized, idyllic cursive handwriting. Even as a young one, adults marveled at my perfect 75° right tilt and fluid curves. Little girls passed notes to me and wanted to be my friend. Boys looked at me and thought… “what a nerd”. (Two out of three isn’t bad.)
But now, after countless years of MS Word, e-mailing, texting – even using apps to assemble my grocery list – my handwriting strongly resembles that of an eleventh grade quarterback. In fact, I sometimes wonder if it’s possible to lose a skill entirely from lack of use, because it’s PAINFUL to write. My hand forgets what to do with a pen. The first few lines are generally passable, with minimal flair. Yes, I can actually form legible words.
By the second paragraph it looks like I had a stroke. The letters all mesh together and run off the page in a sloping line. Painful. And so I’ve adjusted to the sloppiness by keeping all greeting cards to a two-line minimum; no soul-baring notes from moi. When asked to fill out forms, I counter with “do you have a writable PDF version?” And given the choice of hand writing in a journal, disclosing all my secret hopes and dreams – or blogging for the entire world to see… well, I guess we know how that turned out.
What about you? Has your penmanship suffered?
I didn't realize it until I read your post but the same exact thing has happened to me! I still break out my calligraphy pen from time to time, but it's more artistry than penmanship. To find the silver lining, my typing speed has definitely improved. :)
See? There’s always a silver lining!
YES!!!! I kid you not, Lena, some kids got the Math or Science awards in school…not I, I got the awards for Penmanship, I'm not even kidding…diploma type awards granted to me, for writing so neat!!! and then I got old-er…my writing looks hideous, and when I tell people I got awards for the neatest handwriting in school, I'm sure they thought I went to school with all boys! haha! :-PI blame it on, emailing and shortforms…and honestly lack of time or patience to write neatly, these days!
“diploma type awards granted to me, for writing so neat” – OMG rolling on the floor!
and spelling to. auto spell check maik brain lazie
Hahahah! With everyone migrating to computers and text messages, I've lamented the loss of paper messages, letters and snail mail (not bills). I too have nice penmanship and was lauded as a child and still am. I do keep up with my practice though. I try to make handmade cards and send handwritten notes. To entice myself to do this, I often buy beautiful stationary. There is nothing nicer than receiving a hand written note in the mail.
I love that you buy beautiful stationary to entice you to write handwritten notes. Must do this!
oh yes!!! At work, I find myself taking notes on the computer "notepad" – much neater and quicker than handwriting on post-its.
Hahaha I used the virtual sticky pad all the time!
This post seriously made me laugh out loud. I was saying the same thing to my husband (who also happened to be a quarterback in grade 11 – bahaha) a few months ago when I was writing out thank you cards for gifts we received for the baby. The first few were so neat, and then it just became atrocious. I was so disappointed.
It’s always like that, isn’t it? My hand physically hurts when I write out a card.
Oh yes. It’s quite normal although sad. Everything is being done electronically. No need to pick up a pen.
I am wondering though how long before children no longer use pens or paper….will it ever happen??
I dunno Tania… my 4 year old is learning how to print AND use an iPad… shakes head…
YES! My signature now looks like I’m writing with an injured hand! I actually practiced it for a while before renewing my driver’s license – LOL
Hahaha I can’t believe you practiced it – that is hilarious!!!
My penmenship always sucked. Was so happy when I finished school and didnt have to really ‘write’ anymore. My style is some weird write/print morph and I have had the same illegible scrawled signature for 20 years. It didnt even have to change when I married and changed names! lol!
I see where you’re coming from because I’ve always had the weird write/print morph too! And LOL that your siggy didn’t even change!
It definitely did. I can’t even sign my name properly!
Hahaha join the club!
Oh no, I hadn’t realized this until I read your post. I have some old binders from when I was in school and took notes by hand, and my penmanship is a far cry from what it was then. I feel so nostalgic!
I know. Sometimes I look at past binders with nostalgia because I adored my handwriting! Now.. not so much :(
I cant even read my own writing anymore , I used to have nice penmanship but now… terrible
I always print I can’t remember the last time I hand wrote
Stacey and Denise – more members for our lost penmanship club!
You make me laugh…you have a such a wonderful sense of humour. Sitting here thinking that my sisters have lovely handwritting. I always found mine to be on the messy side…my daughter’s writing looks better than mine too! Plus, I hold my pen weird!! When I used to work at the bank, I could feel clients looking at my hand while writing out forms (that they could have filled out for themselves). I thought they were admiring my nails ( filled every 4 weeks and painted tart red as my Mum would say)…until I heard these words, “You hold your pen funny!”.
Aw, thank you Teresa. Though there’s nothing funny about my awful writing!!! AND LMAO at your bank story! I can almost picture it!
I got extra marks for my penmanship and the overall organization of my notebooks in school! Now……..not so much!
This all sounds familiar!! LOL
Haha, it’s true for me as well. I had the a very unique, heavy metal-esque style of handwriting as a teenager, and now the best I can do is print all caps. Sure, it’s legible, but it’s BORING!! = )
Ooooh… “heavy metal-esque” – I do love the sound of that! Alas, I too have resorted to printing in caps now. It’s very uninspiring.
I was going to write a post about this very thing!
My handwriting is awful. And when I take notes for the courses I am doing (ones that require me to read a textbook and not a screen) my hand hurts just after half a page! So out of practice.
My hand hurts just thinking about you writing notes! Hang in there! :)
I totally know what you mean, though my handwriting is actually neat and curly but the printing is attrocious especially if I write too fast.
It’s like we’ve all lost our skills :(
Hahaha !! You hit this one right on the nose! Had a good little chuckle at your ‘second paragraph’ comment because it is so true LOL My handwriting is AWFUL! lol I use to write and be able to read it. Since I broke my hand last year, I think my 8 year old daughter write better than I can.
yeah, I can do better myself. I am going to practice up a bit. I will do this with my grand daughter
I never mastered nice penmanship. Now my grandson is learning and is very frustrated at 8. I remember the teaching telling me “shake the hand & touch the tail. This is the advise I am telling him, he likes it