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The End of Handwriting

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Re: The End of Handwriting

#311

Post by IAmBroom »

potato3732842 wrote: post #246
IAmBroom wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was sternly told by a nun that, with my handwriting, I would never get a job. The only thing in my entire career I've ever been asked to write something in cursive is my signature, which I reduced to a squiggle for efficiency reasons. (The history of signatures is fascinating, BTW. Illiterate Charlemagne "signed" documents with a single horizontal stroke of the pen, inside of a premade 99%-completed "signature".) I…

Charlemagne wasn't exactly please about that state of affairs though.

What state? His signature style? His illiteracy?

Re: The End of Handwriting

#312

Post by taeric »

jamiek88 wrote: post #300
hinkley wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disrespect from an authority figure is punishment unless you’re a sociopath.

You said it in a more challenging way than I would but yeah I thought as i read that comment ‘it sure felt like punishment to me’ as I had similar public ‘chiding’ over my inability to improve my handwriting like it was some moral failure.

I get what both of you are saying. But "bad marks" on an assignment is more what I had in mind. And it isn't punishment to get a bad grade.

It is disappointing, on many levels. But criticism is not punishment. Even if it can be punishing.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#313

Post by IAmBroom »

ACCount37 wrote: post #253
gyomu wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signatures seem to be completely useless. Like you, my signature has devolved into a squiggle that is never the same, and it has never mattered. I remember experimenting as a bored young adult with my first credit card, before tap to pay, when you often had to sign with a stylus on a terminal (in the US) - I would sign something different every time, sometimes nonsense, sometimes a little drawing, sometimes writing “…

I've seen a suggestion that a signature is now nothing but a signal. An agreed-upon way of communicating "this is serious and binding". Being able to point out that a signature was faked in some cases is a rare side benefit at best. If papers were signed, then something was agreed upon. A trade performed, a commitment made. If no papers were signed, then it's just idle talk.

That's all it ever has been; it was dressed up as a legible, personally-styled literal composition of one's name for a few centuries.

Many of the signatures throughout Europe's premodern era were crosses - anyone can make a "t" shape, everyone knew what it meant (and what it implied, morally), and it was as valid for this William as it was for that Henry because it was witnessed by state-recognized authorities (Notaries, if you will).

Egyptian signatures weren't written BY the person signing, but if you had your own cartouche, ain't nobody faking that... Wax seals only had names written in Latin print. Thumbprints were used in China, and handprints in paleolithic France.

Modern web interfaces give up on the "draw something like your signature with this janky software" bullshit, and fall to "just type your own name and we'll assume it's you."

All are societally-recognized authentic signatures.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#314

Post by IAmBroom »

asimpletune wrote: post #308
IAmBroom wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating! Can anyone from other countries chime in?

Writing in cursive is common in Italy, and signatures are important, must be legible, and will be scrutinized.

Wow. That last sentence.

But then again, Italy has something of a Catholic grade school mentality, but with more gelato and better shoes. /s (Sort of - do they still have a mandatory tax supporting the Vatican?)

Re: The End of Handwriting

#315

Post by IAmBroom »

UltraSane wrote: post #293
IAmBroom wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not predicting the computer revolution, and specifically the calculator revolution, is not their fault. It's like complaining that you were taught how to ride a horse, but it's 1921 now and NOBODY in New York City rides horses!!! I absolutely have done long division, when a calc wasn't handy - back when that was possible.

This was in the 1990s so calculators were common. I was born at the worst time for math education, when calculators and Computer Algebra Systems were becoming common but math education hadn't adapted yet.

OK, valid point then.

Teachers are reactive, and slowly so, to changes in societal needs.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#317

Post by 1718627440 »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #299
1718627440 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A typewriter wouldn't need power.

Okay great. One in 10.000 that has a typewriter will be able to write.

While they are definitely not in common use and probably have some defects, I don't think they are that seldom. Most are probably rotting in the cellar/attic.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#318

Post by estimator7292 »

nancyminusone wrote: post #182
cyocum wrote: post #111

I find these articles both baffling and frustrating at the same time. I find it frustrating because I spent recess after recess locked inside to practice cursive. After many months of this, my handwriting had not improved. The teachers finally relented and stopped punishing me because the punishment never actually improved my handwriting. My handwriting is now print only and is still horrible and has never improved.…

I'd argue that if cursive was useful, it wouldn't be dying. It did used to be useful, but there's plenty of other skills that were too, died long ago and rightly are not taught to everyone anymore.

Typing at speed on a fully mechanical typewriter was an incredibly valuable skill that required a lot of physical and mental training.

It disappeared in a single generation and nobody looked back except for old typists that refused to learn the new skill. They eventually died and now that skill is basically extinct.

Nothing of value was lost.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#319

Post by estimator7292 »

While good handwriting is a skill that can be taught and learned, not everyone can learn it. Like art, some people have an innate ability, and some have no ability and never will.

For me, I have poor motor control in my hands. I physically cannot make the kind of precise motions that good handwriting requires. The act of writing is painful and physically and mentally fatiguing. I can't even do basic geometric engineering drawings. My hands just can't make consistent lines.

On the other hand (heh), anything I write longhand may as well be encrypted to anyone but me. Good for keeping notes private, I guess.

I will say that memory retention through writing does still work for me. It seems to be a truly universal mechanism in the human brain.

This is also partly an autistic thing. Lots of us have poor fine motor control, and thus terrible handwriting. It's also one of those things that doesn't seem terribly important: good handwriting is mostly a performance for the exclusive benefit of others. There's nothing intrinsically good or valuable about it and our time would be better spent learning about trains. That's not an objective thing, just how the autistic mind sorts priorities.

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