Cursive Users!

[PurpleHello98]

Here's a sample of my cursive writing! I wrote this with a fountain pen my best friend bought me from Japan for Christmas.

I think I was one of the last cohorts to learn cursive (D'Nealian style) back in the 2010s, in elementary school. Actually, since I went to an international school for a while during my childhood before moving, I learned cursive first and then print, although calling my preschool handwriting "cursive" instead of "illegible scribbling" is very generous. Anyways, in my new school we learned it around third or fourth grade and I used it for a while, until I believe sixth grade when I switched back to print.

I used print exclusively for a long time until sometime during eleventh grade, when I decided to switch back for a few reasons. One, I think cursive is just so much prettier and nicer in general compared to print, which comes off to me as boring and uglier compared to cursive, and secondly, my print writing seems to have frozen in time around third grade, so it's really atrocious. Meanwhile, somehow, even though I didn't write in cursive for ages, my cursive writing magically got better over the years, and it not only looks legible, but I've actually gotten a surprising amount of compliments on my cursive writing! Finally, handwriting will never be obsolete, so no matter what people say, cursive will never be obsolete.

I really love cursive and think it looks much nicer, plus I feel like it's less generic---people's cursive can say things about them, in a way. My only worry is that, since I'm going to be a teacher and sadly very few kids are taught cursive today, I might have to make a concession to the modern world and write in print in the classroom---although I'd debate my cursive is still much more legible even if you don't know how to read cursive, LOL. I wrote my cousin a letter last summer and my aunt had to help him "decode" what it meant! Though to be fair, he is home-schooled with quite a non-traditional curriculum.

[sashasparrow]

i am a dedicated cursive writer, i almost never print. i had a dream of getting a bunch of pen pals that didn't pan out for me, so i started working on my handwriting and collected a bunch of calligraphy supplies.



the first is with my fave nib on my dip pen, and the second is with a standard felt tip. not the greatest handwriting, but i wasn't going for neatness so much as "looks really cool like an old journal when i write fast" so... goal met? lol

[_ghost_]

I learned cursive in second grade, was required to use it through fifth, and then immediately dropped it as soon as I was allowed. I had awful handwriting and hated that I was supposed to learn a new way of doing it when I was already used to print. I don't know what style specifically I learned; I feel like I'm missing the actual difference between D'nealian and Zaner-Bloser when I look at them online, but it was definitely one of those.

I didn't use cursive again apart from my signature until a month and a half ago. I picked it back up for a few reasons. I've been using fountain pens a lot for the past few years and they lend themselves really well to cursive because you can get really long, smooth lines without needing to apply any pressure, and a few of my friends all use cursive. I've also just been kind of embarrassed by my awful handwriting and wanting to work on improving it, and cursive has an elegance to it that I really like. I do as much of my writing as I possibly can by hand rather than typed, so I've been writing in cursive a lot recently, usually several pages a day (notes for my uni classes, journal entries, and rough drafts for several of my various projects). I do think my handwriting has improved a lot, although I still think it looks a bit childish.

My fiance recently told me that he thinks cursive is obsolete, because we all have portable computers now and typing is much faster.

This seems to be the reason they don't teach it anymore in a lot of US schools, but I don't agree with it.

I learned to write in "Latin Type-Out":

Oh, I'll definitely be incorporating some of these letters into my handwriting... they're way clearer.

[Dan Q]

Everybody's samples are so much prettier than mine!

I learned to handwrite ("cursive") in primary school, here in the UK: back at my school it was a condition of being permitted to upgrade from pencils to pens in the classroom, and was therefore seen as a right-of-passage! My teacher always told me that my handwriting "looked like a spider had run across the page". It hasn't really improved since, not least because I don't handwrite much, very often, and when I do it usually only needs to be legible to me, but here's a sample:

[John]

Wow, that's a beautiful handwriting!

In school I was taught the Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift, a 'simplified' cursive that I never got the hang of. This resulted in me being a very slow and clumsy writer my whole life, despite my interest in Kalligraphy and old scripts. I always dreamed of having a handwriting that "looks really cool like an old journal", as sashasparrow put it. : D

Then, at University I started practising the Deutsche Kurrent, a (truly) obsolete German cursive that was used during the 19th century, mostly to become fluent at reading it. That was the first time a cursive seemed to work for me and led to me practising a more legible 19th century Latin cursive.



I'm kind of happy with it now, but it still lacks the ... effortlessness(?) and fluidity I'd like to one day achieve.

[sashasparrow]

I'm kind of happy with it now, but it still lacks the ... effortlessness(?) and fluidity I'd like to one day achieve.

this is GORGEOUS, i love your G's! i've always wanted a more old-fashioned script, closer to the palmer method, but i can't make myself sit down and practice when what i do now is serviceable (and fast). i might just need to steal some of your flourishes here, though, haha!

[AY38910]

I don't... my handwriting usually looks like a printed typeface unless I write fast that it becomes sloppy and cursive-ish. But my handwriting is like that mainly because I can't read most cursive like at all due to a slight dyslexia I have lol

Trust me, I've tried. A lot.

[candycanearter07]

I personally don't know very much cursive, since I was never really taught it in school. I wasn't even really taught normal writing, so my handwriting is a complete mess most of the time :P. The only thing I can consistently write in cursive is my own name, since once one of my sister's boyfriends taught me how.

[jembles]

this thread made me learn there are specific names for cursive styles! i was also someone who learned in school, and i've retained it for quick note-taking and for writing cards to put on presents. i'm pretty sure i also learned d'nealian because i'm irrationally angry at how the capital Q looks, but over time the way i write in cursive evolved into how i like writing/seeing it.


i think i'm a bit rusty but i do enjoy keeping the knowledge of cursive in my system.

[pyrrhic7]

@jembles Your cursive and the frog doodle are so cute! What kind of paper is that?


Based on my current handwriting, I suspect I was taught D'Nealian (vs. the other variation apparently most commonly taught in the US). However, I've never been fond of the capital forms for A, G, I, and T. Too gaping or anchor-like, maybe?

After indulging in a stationery hobby for a couple of years, I've determined it's time to start fancying up my penmanship. I've been salivating over Spencerian script and much prefer its capital A. The flourishes on this one!


Sample says: Hi Melonland! This is Pilot Custom 74 on LIFE paper. ~pyrrhic7

[jembles]

@jembles Your cursive and the frog doodle are so cute! What kind of paper is that?

thank you! <3 i wrote on a kraft paper envelope i found lying around in my room. your handwriting is lovely too! the green(?) ink of your pen is also very cool!!