A handy topic for a rainy day

18 Responses to A handy topic for a rainy day

1. ricardipus says:

   November 10, 2011 at 2:37 am

   Oh Cath – your hand will be cramped up for weeks now!

   Well, mine would be, anyway.
2. Cath@VWXYNot? says:

   November 10, 2011 at 3:03 am

   Not with a fountain pen – less pressure required!

   It’s very true though that my handwriting stamina has declined along with my skill. I used to be able to handwrite – quickly, and relatively neatly – for hours on end, during lectures and exams.

   Mind you, I also used to have a humongous “writer’s bump” callus on my middle finger. It’s still somewhat evident, but much less so than when I was doing a lot more writing. I don’t miss that at all.
3. Nina says:

   November 10, 2011 at 6:29 am

   Yeah, oh, how hard it is nowadays to write a handwritten journal entry … I keep trying to keep it up though, despite the cramps.
   • Cath@VWXYNot? says:

     November 10, 2011 at 11:10 pm

     I’m impressed! I used to write a journal when I was travelling, but haven’t done it for years. How often to you update it?
     • Nina says:

       November 12, 2011 at 1:47 am

       I TRY a few sentences a day ( I know, very optimistic), but in reality it is more like a few sentences once a week or once a month when I’m really busy and only 1 incredibly stupid, sad or crazy thing happens to me that I can’t blog about. When I’m travelling I write much more (especially on long flights), and also when people die or I’m otherwise emotionally completely losing it more than average.
       • Cath@VWXYNot? says:

         November 14, 2011 at 6:18 pm

         Yeah, that sounds familiar – I was re-reading one of my old travel journals recently (fun!) and found a couple of pages of teenaged relationship angst I’d forgotten I’d written (not so fun, unless it’s in an “I’m so glad I’m not 19 any more” kind of way…)
4. cromercrox says:

   November 10, 2011 at 12:15 pm

   It’s not raining here.
   • Cath@VWXYNot? says:

     November 10, 2011 at 11:11 pm

     This reminds me of phone calls with my parents… for years after I moved here, every time we talked my Dad would ask what the weather was like, and then act surprised if it was different to his own local weather 🙂
5. Laurence Cox says:

   November 10, 2011 at 1:03 pm

   You have my sympathy, because I had to take a remedial writing homework course one summer, after the school I attended decided that my handwriting (at the age of 11) wasn’t good enough. It didn’t make that much difference because they style they tried to make me write in was quite different from what I liked. I am also left-handed, which makes writing in what is a comfortable style for a right-hander more difficult.

   In the end, I bought myself a typewriter during my first term at Uni, taught myself to type and transcribed my hand-written lecture notes during the vacations.

   By the way, even your normal writing is easy to read – and that’s the only thing that matters (unless you are practising calligraphy).
   • ricardipus says:

     November 10, 2011 at 4:15 pm

     Laurence – your comment reminds me that I once had a high school English teacher who had in her recent memory taught “penmanship”. No such thing existed when I was in school, but it’s a little frightening that I knew someone who remembered it.
     • Cath@VWXYNot? says:

       November 10, 2011 at 11:13 pm

       Laurence, my left-handed friends at school all had the same problem. I remember thinking how unfair it was when the teachers would tell them off for messy and/or smeary handwriting.

       Hooray for technology!

       Ricardipus, I do remember doing “penmanship” exercises in primary school (see the bottom line of my photo), but it was never explicitly called penmanship. This was in the late 80s
       • Grant says:

         November 11, 2011 at 2:21 am

         It’s an unexpected form of prejudice isn’t it. Writing that ‘looks like’ lefties work is generally considered poor writing.

         I can remember something like penmanship stuff as a kid – with fountain pens, too – a blotters at the ready! I hated it – as a leftie I often wound up with ink on the side of my hand. A sort of human blotter of sorts.

         (I suppose I ought to confess that I’ve segued off from your post into some Friday rumination/procrastination about the future of handwriting on my blog. Hope you don’t mind me following your excellent lead!)
         • Cath@VWXYNot? says:

           November 14, 2011 at 6:19 pm

           Thanks for the mention!

           I wonder if lefties who write in Hebrew, Arabic, or other right-to-left scripts are thought to have better handwriting than righties?
         • Grant says:

           November 15, 2011 at 7:03 am

           I wonder if lefties who write in Hebrew, Arabic, or other right-to-left scripts are thought to have better handwriting than righties?

           I haven’t a clue, it’s a good question.

           (I did teach myself mirror-writing as a kid and got fairly good at it, although the accents on some letters (e.g. in French) would have me stopping and thinking about it; trying not to put a grave for an acute and vice versa.)
6. chall says:

   November 10, 2011 at 4:52 pm

   🙂 you know, your handwriting is like a million better than mine! Or at least if I am writing somewhat semi-decent speed. For my “congratulations on your marriage/baby/happy times” I always have to practice what I want to write so it not only looks nice, but so it’s legible….

   I still like writing by hand though. It’s just that it’s looking very “flowy” (i.e. not really properly formed letters there) ^^
   • Cath@VWXYNot? says:

     November 10, 2011 at 11:13 pm

     Combining speed with legibility is definitely the tricky part!

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