Poll: Do You Write In Cursive?

[busterkeatonrules]

I only write in cursive when I sign something. My personal version of cursive is completely illegible.

Throughout most of school and for a few years after graduation, I used cursive for everything because I had been conditioned to believe it was the 'norm'. At first, I took pains to make sure people could read it, but the teachers insisted that I write faster. (THEN they started complaining that they couldn't read my writing. F**k them, I thought. They were the wise-asses who'd gotten me to write that way in the FIRST place!)

Eventually, I simply realized that block letters are just plain better. (I'm not trying to impress the person I'm writing to, I'm trying to COMMUNICATE.) So now, I write my non-digital communications in nothing but capital block letters. For actual capitals, I use bigger block letters.

What can I say? It works!

Oh, and I'm confident that nothing would be lost if we quit teaching cursive in school. Even if cursive may not be completely obsolete just YET, it's a safe bet at this point that it WILL be history by the time the present generation of third-graders[small]*[/small] have graduated!

[small]*Yeah, most of us start learning the stuff around third grade, right?[/small]

 

[gritch]

I would say my normal handwriting is a sloppy hybrid of the two. I'll often combine several letter fragments (or entire smaller words) into one stroke as you'd do in cursive. My handwriting is absolutely terrible. I've gotten into some really bad habits from taking notes in class. I don't think I've written the word "and" for years instead doing a "+" instead. I've had people look at my writing and then ask me if I'm planning on being a doctor.

 

[Funyahns]

I almost never write anything at all. When I do its for other people to read so I tend to write in manuscript which is much easier for other people to read than my cursive.

 

[Astoria]

I write in some sort of weird print/cursive hybrid that just looks like scribble. It's a good thing to be taught because for some people it makes it easier to write but if a kids not doing so well at it, it shouldn't be any sort of concern.

 

[AT God]

I sign my name in cursive, that is it. I have almost entirely forgot cursive writing.

Fun/Sad Fact: arguable the hardest part of taking the SAT for me was some stupid agreement we had to copy onto the back. It had to be written in cursive and it took me forever. While not the hardest part, I put more thought in to trying to remember what certain letters were than I did in the actual test.

 

[Dyan]

Haven't stopped writing in cursive yet, pretty much everyone here writes in cursive starting elementary school.

 

[zumbledum]

although i cant claim i write much of anything these days but having been raised and using "joined up adult" writing, its kind of shocking its become the norm to stop at kiddy writing not saying its bad i mean who hand writes much of anything these days? its just shocking to see things change that fast.

 

[geK0]

I only ever used cursive in third grade when I was supposed to. I can see it being useful back in the day when most correspondence was hand written, but we use computers now so its fallen out of popular use. The only time I ever have to read cursive is when I receive a birthday card from my grandmother; she makes her own cards with lovely poetry.

 

[somonels]

Pretty sure I've finished the third grade, so yes.

 

[Summerstorm]

Ooookay... the poll totally confuses. me. I would have guessed about 95% of people would have checked cursive.

Had to look up "Cursive" in wikipedia, because i thought maybe i have the wrong script/technique in mind... but nope. Cursive is the "normal" writing.

Block Letters is the "other kind". As far as i know only use for block is filling out forms (Where it had to be very clear and legible) or... if you have a writing/reading disorder. Or leaving VERY clear signs/notes for people.

My neffew for example has a bit of trouble writing and prefers to use the clearer, slower block letters, thinking about the letters one-by-one.

Hm, could be that this is another national/regional thing?

Wikipedia:

"On the 2006 SAT, a United States post-secondary education entrance exam, only 15 percent of the students wrote their essay answers in cursive.[8]"

Ok, this is just strange...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sometimes. I use block letters mostly though.

 

[viscomica]

I use it all the time! Why wouldn't I? It looks fancy!

 

[Fifty-One]

While I enjoy writing in cursive, there is rarely the case for it anymore. I'm an engineer and I mark-up drawings for drafters to input into CAD. If I were to mark up drawings using cursive I'd be sitting next to them the entire time telling them what I've written.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I first learned it in third grade and used it sporadically afterwards until middle school. Pretty much completely stopped and I only use it to write my signature now.

I don't really have any problem with it being taught, but it is kind of weird to see all that dedication in 3rd grade go to waste.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Yup. Was taught it in school, never had a reason to switch back.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Mostly. I used to write exclusively in cursive, but I started switching between the two a lot a couple years ago, primarily to differentiate between different things in my notebooks. I still primarily write in cursive, though my handwriting has started getting a mix of cursive and regular writing. This is mostly due to a few letters being written regularly if they are first in a sentence (e.g. t, z, c), but I still occasionally switch between the two.

In the end, despite moving more towards a mixed writing style, I still mostly prefer cursive. It is faster, and my handwriting is good enough that I haven't had anyone complain that they can't read it unless they just can't read cursive at all. However, if I'm writing really short stuff (e.g. labeling something or writing a quick note), then I generally just use regular writing rather than cursive.

 

[xdiesp]

Looking forward to americans un-learning how to write in ANY style whatsoever since pens are so last century.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yes?
I didn't know people didn't have to write it without it other than like on application form (have to write in BLOCK CAPITAL) or for something short (initals) but in saying so, who handwrite these days other than being in education or part of the job.

 

[jurnag12]

Yes. Though besides personal notes and my signature, I don't think there's anything I actually 'write' rather than simply type these days.

I've tried switching to normal writing several times, and it always both manages to cramp my hand up and slow my writing down to an absolute crawl. At this point, I just don't think it's worth the investment of time to teach myself normal writing when I can already read my current handwriting and barely use it beyond personal things to begin with.

And with the coming generations being even more digitized than we are, I really don't care about them teaching it in class. In a few decades everyone is gonna be typing everything anyway, so what people use in their own time hardly matters.