MSN featured a piece on cursive handwriting today. Oh boy! How long has it been? 10, 15 years since I last wrote them?? Nowadays 90% of the time I spend writing is on computer; what they call 'keyboard'ing. Could not quite call myself sms fiend, but I could do that pretty okay I suppose. Writing on actual paper using actual pen? 10%. Oh wait, make that 5%. Maybe that's also a little on the high side?
When did you last receive a real long handwritten letter that ran pages in printing, let alone in cursive? Or to lesser extent, a handwritten card (this is probably more likely)? Recent articles on the media touched on the evolution of English, how we write, form our sentences, how text-ing has creeped into our communication culture, et cetera. Yet this piece inspired me to write in longhand again, in cursive handwriting no less. It's painstakingly slow, but beautiful. Remember that neat English document (think The Declaration of Independence)?
Theory of evolution dictates that only the strong, the useful will survive. Cursive handwriting may not serve any useful purpose now, but I just hope this tradition will be passed on to our children and not become extinct like a lot of other traditions.
3 comments:
I think our actual handwriting carries messages beyond what your actual words say. That information is lost via a keyboard. I have long abandoned all sorts of gadgets and went back to a big old filofax. I have also gone back to writing all sort of stuff (mind maps, no less) in little notebooks. Your handwriting says so much about you - it will be a pity to lose it.
Start today, longhand's going to make a big comeback!
u remind me of the teachers in my primary school back then.. how they forced us to write cursive handwriting.. and how we cursed them because of that.. haha.. but think about it, it's nice to have them in this world.. =P
Kiran, good for you! They even created a job for professional handwriting-reader.. haha, I need to start writing now
Diah, yes! Those are good memories. The technique, use pressure when you're drawing a line down, ease it when you're drawing a curve up..etc. Can't believe how long it has been!
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