I learned this when I bought my first and only fountain pen last year. The difference in writing experience is amazing - I take so much more notes now, and actually carry a notebook with me.
How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
91–100 of 133 posts
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#92I'm surprised no one has mentioned felt tip pens as an alternative to fountain pens.
The Paper Mate medium point felt tip pen is my favorite writing tool. It provides a good-looking and effortless stroke and you can buy them pretty much anywhere.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#93In France everyone uses ballpoints, and yet everyone writes cursive, so I very much doubt there's any connection between the two.
The weird handwriting of Americans certainly has to do with how they're taught, not what they use.
I have three kids that are currently learning to write (aged 6, 7 and 10) and a great deal of time is spent forming nice, cursive letters (copying lines of frequent letter pairs to lean how to join them properly and nicely for example).
I'm not saying this is good or bad (I like cursive and am happy my kids are learning it, but would like they would also learn to touch type, which isn't taught in school), but I am saying that you write how you learned to write...
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#94Any lefties here? I'm a lefty and feel stuck with the basic ballpoint because any other pen I try ends up with everything smudged. Not sure if that's just poor form on my part.
I have always wondered if right-handed people who write with right-to-left scripts (Arabic or Hebrew spring to mind) face the same struggles that lefties who who write the Latin alphabet face. Arabic calligraphy in particular, has managed to reach a high degree of refinement despite the risk of smudging.
If so, there must be a lot of products and techniques to accommodate their needs, which could help you.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#95Discussions about cursive writing on the Internet confused me quite a bit until I noticed that there seems to be a pretty large difference between what I learned in Germany and what people in the US learned. What children learn in Germany for at least a few decades now looks like the following: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Vereinfachte_Ausgangssch... From what I understand, the cursive script that was taught i…
In Australia in the 80s I learnt something like this: http://www.startwrite.com/graphics/fonts-vic-link.jpg
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#96I've almost exclusively used fountain pens for about 5 years now, and it's been amazing. Modern fountain pens don't generally leak much, and they are SO much better to write with than a basic Bic/generic ballpoint. The primary difference is that you don't have to push down at all which saves your hand from a huge amount of stress after a long writing session. I really don't understand why more people don't use them t…
how would you compare them with Gel Rollerballs ? [1] I am partial to the Parker rollerball refills - I use a Parker Chinese Laque Ambre - but do not want the inconvenience of a fountain pen. I believe a rollerball is like the Nespresso to the fountain pen's espresso. Slightly worse - but much better than ball point pens. But the best part that I like about rollerballs is how you can get an expensive experience in a…
Japanese Gel Rollerballs are also excellent. The Uni-ball UM153S Impact Gel Rollerball 1.0mm Tip (made by the awesomely-named Mitsubishi Pencil Company) is my go-to pen for everyday writing.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#97I've almost exclusively used fountain pens for about 5 years now, and it's been amazing. Modern fountain pens don't generally leak much, and they are SO much better to write with than a basic Bic/generic ballpoint. The primary difference is that you don't have to push down at all which saves your hand from a huge amount of stress after a long writing session. I really don't understand why more people don't use them t…
I too love fountain pens and write very fast using one.
The only problem is that, in business meetings people tend to assume you're trying to make some kind of hipster statement.
Everywhere I go I'm usually the only one using a foutain pen; what a shame.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#98I've almost exclusively used fountain pens for about 5 years now, and it's been amazing. Modern fountain pens don't generally leak much, and they are SO much better to write with than a basic Bic/generic ballpoint. The primary difference is that you don't have to push down at all which saves your hand from a huge amount of stress after a long writing session. I really don't understand why more people don't use them t…
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Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#99In France everyone uses ballpoints, and yet everyone writes cursive, so I very much doubt there's any connection between the two. The weird handwriting of Americans certainly has to do with how they're taught, not what they use. I have three kids that are currently learning to write (aged 6, 7 and 10) and a great deal of time is spent forming nice, cursive letters (copying lines of frequent letter pairs to lean how t…
I wouldn't say that everyone uses ballpoints, I used fountain pens during most of my education in France and so did most of my classmates. Many (most?) teachers still require their students to use fountain pens (one of the reasons is probably the fact that you can use an eraser, so it makes for cleaner papers...). Even after getting out of school, I don't use ballpoints if I can avoid them, because they're not as fast.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#100Any lefties here? I'm a lefty and feel stuck with the basic ballpoint because any other pen I try ends up with everything smudged. Not sure if that's just poor form on my part.
I'm a leftie and also a fountain pen user/lover. It's totally possible!