How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive • Hacker News Board

Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

#131

Post by NoGravitas » Mon, Aug 31, 2015, 12:46 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #71

jacobolus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Palmer method descends from Spencerian script, an excessively flowery and not-all-that-legible form of writing from the days when people wanted to make their writing look difficult and fancy. Writing in a fancy style is fine for calligraphers making wedding invitations or whatever, but is a poor model for teaching children or for everyday use for most people. Italic (aka chancery cursive), a script of renaissance…

Briem is great, but can tend to very similar zig-zags when written at speed. Modern systems aim for legibility, at speed. Anyone wanting to see different systems used during 20th century might be interested in this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handwriting-Twentieth-Century-Rosema...

What are you thinking of as modern systems? In my experience, Palmer or Zaner-Bloser fails much worse at speed than chancery italic -- tending towards very similar loops :)

After college, my handwriting (Zaner-Bloser, as taught in elementary school) had deteriorated into a completely illegible scrawl. I taught myself to write again, using Arrighi's Operina and Briem's commentary. If I were homeschooling my children, I'd probably use either Getty-Dubay or Barchowsky.

Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

#132

Post by Glide » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 7:34 PM UTC

ryanmac wrote: post #108

Glide wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a copy of Write Now! and it improved my handwriting considerably. After going through it (it's essentially a workbook) I was kind of pissed at the absurdity that was the cursive that I learned in grade school.

Which "Write Now!"? There appears to be several by different authors on Amazon.

I ordered http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0876781180?psc=1&redirect=t... a long time ago.

This: http://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Complete-Self-teaching-Handw... seems to be updated.

Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

#133

Post by witty_username » Wed, Sep 02, 2015, 2:56 PM UTC

vizeroth wrote: post #86

witty_username wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, my typing speed is ~80 WPM and my writing speed is probably way less and not even as easy to read.

My typing speed is more than 80 WPM when I'm 12 hours into a bad day and my handwriting is horrid, but I still often use paper to clarify my thoughts, take notes, and draw diagrams. More often than not, I never actually read what I've written, the act of writing just makes it easier for me to retain the information. Similarly, I've found that I can retain the content of electronic documents more easily if I type them…

I was taught to use my brain through a keyboard :p. Writing on paper seems clunky to me.

And since I'm homeschooled I've been typing most of my answers to books on a computer (for 4-5 years).