How's your handwriting?

[Mel O'Drama]

I'm a left-hander and in large part because of this I've always had notoriously terrible handwriting (unless I'm painstakingly careful, which is almost never).

Until a few years ago, I always wrote greetings cards in capital letters so it was legible.

But recently I've decided I really like my scrawl. It's part of what makes me me. And I like that almost nobody can decipher it but me. It's old style GP's handwriting and I love how it looks when I write pages and pages (which I do quite regularly).

Mark me down, then, as a left-hander who now likes their handwriting.


Incidentally, I'm technically ambidextrous. Whenever I've played sports (again, rarely), I've done it the right-handed way, and unless you saw me wield a pen or scissors you'd probably assume I wasn't a lefty.

I suppose the poll is focussing on handwriting, but feel free to share your left-hand/right-hand experiences.

 

[Crimson]

I went to Catholic school and perhaps the biggest source of contention with some of the nuns who taught me was my handwriting: early on I adopted a hybrid cursive-print method that the nuns hated, insisting that I use text book cursive. (I won the battle through sheer stubbornness, but that this was past the age when nuns could strike their students was in my favor!) For years after high school, my handwriting was a source of frequent compliments; at how it was both stylish and legible.

But, after twenty years of virtually nothing but typing, my handwriting is a mess. I can't write more than 5 words without my hand cramping and then probably wouldn't be able to interpret what I wrote. I'm right-handed.

 

[Michelle Stevens]

Right-handed and my handwriting is an embarrassment. I should really but much better focus in improving this skill.

 

[Emelee]

Right-handed and I've always had a good handwriting. I don't think it's gorgeous or flawless by any means, but good. People often tell me I have a great handwriting and asks me to write for them when it needs to look nice. However, I draw like a 5 year old.

I found an old story I wrote when I was 7 or 8. I was stunned by how nice I wrote already then.

 

[Ome]

Right handed and it’s absolutely terrible. I’m that conscious of how bad it is that I struggle spelling correctly. It’s like my brain works faster than my hand because it misses out letters.

Just be thankful I haven't scanned it to show you how bad it is.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

My hand, too, now cramps if I write anything. But I'm very, very old, so it's probably arthritis.

 

[Crimson]

But I'm very, very old, so it's probably arthritis.

I set up the perfect opportunity for you to blame that on too much typing rather than decrepitude.

 

[the-lost-son]

I'm left-handed and I like my handwriting. I remember that it was always very important for my mother that I never turned the paper in a weird angle when writing. I know some people in their 60s today who weren't allowed to use their left hand.

I once read that 10% of all people were left-handed. Judging from my experience as teacher I estimate that to be below 5%.
In sports it's an advantage. I play badminton on an amateur level. If I play against much stronger opponents, the 1st set is my best one (till they adapt their game )

As fans of primetime soaps we are in an age group whose handwriting skills are probabably very decent in general. Teenagers today with an increasing usage of digital devices in school too, are increasingly having a hard time using a set square or writing legibly for +1 hour.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I'm a left-hander and in large part because of this I've always had notoriously terrible handwriting (unless I'm painstakingly careful, which is almost never).

Until a few years ago, I always wrote greetings cards in capital letters so it was legible.

But recently I've decided I really like my scrawl. It's part of what makes me me. And I like that almost nobody can decipher it but me. It's old style GP's handwriting and I love how it looks when I write pages and pages (which I do quite regularly).

Mark me down, then, as a left-hander who now likes their handwriting.


Incidentally, I'm technically ambidextrous. Whenever I've played sports (again, rarely), I've done it the right-handed way, and unless you saw me wield a pen or scissors you'd probably assume I wasn't a lefty.

I suppose the poll is focussing on handwriting, but feel free to share your left-hand/right-hand experiences.

You left out "Left-handed / I don't like my handwriting"

 

[Daniel Avery]

My first-grade teacher made me stay in from recess once to work with me on my poor penmanship. I mentioned this to my mother, who turned it into a big deal. I only remember my mother being upset with the teacher, not with me....but whatever went on, something must have snapped into place in my brain because from that point on, I was low-key obsessed with having nice handwriting. I would experiment with fancier cursive writing techniques I saw in various media, and by junior high I was getting compliments on my handwriting. I was a bit reluctant to show it off, because at that age the worst thing you could tell a pre-teen boy was that he "wrote like a girl". But hey, you get over it eventually. Back then (as the dinosaurs roamed our playground...) computers or even word processors were not common enough for teachers to demand typed papers; trying to type a paper on a typewriter was an ordeal, and since we were a rural school there was no guarantee the students had access to a typewriter. So we had to write legibly enough to turn in important papers, and if you made the chore of reading/grading those papers a tiny bit easier by having good penmanship, the teacher is much more likely to grade you better. When I ended up on the other side of the teacher's desk (circa 1997), I saw some of the worst handwriting (honestly, I had one student whose papers looked as if she'd used her foot), and not much motivation to improve. If only they'd known how many brownie points they could earn just by writing legibly.

Heck, they're now making a concerted effort to stop teaching cursive writing in the schools entirely.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

You left out "Left-handed / I don't like my handwriting"

Oh darn. Thanks for the spot, Snarky.

It's because I accidentally wrote "Right-handed / I don't like my handwriting" a second time!! Sorry about that. I've amended the poll now, so if anyone needs to change their vote, please feel free.

 

[Alexis]

Right handed and mines has gotten worse as we just rarely write anything by hand now, even notes at work are typed. I used to have very nice, very neat handwriting but now I'm so out of whack it looks very inconsistent and messy. It would probably get better if I did it more often.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I'm lost without my pen and paper and not a day goes by that I don't write down something.
When it's supposed to be both informative and representative (e.g. something with longevity) then I make an effort to write as beautifully as possible.
Being left-handed, it's impossible for me to let the pen glide over the paper; I practically carve the words into it with neurotic precision. I'm sure psychiatrists would have a field day with it.
There's got to be an extra paper underneath the paper, it feels better.
It goes without saying that the fountain pen - mandatory at elementary school - was an inexhaustible source for big drama and little blue hands.

Some letters and digits are consistently challenging because I can't predict what it's going to look like, and I just can't stand it.
The enemies are: capital G, L, S, U and Z (often looks like a "2"), and digits 5 and 8.
My friends are: capital A, D, E, F and P. Digits 2, 7 (always with a dash!) and 9. Oh, 9 is so playful, bit of a rascal but it always turns out right (from this left-handed point of view).

 

[Angela Channing]

I'm a left-hander and in large part because of this I've always had notoriously terrible handwriting (unless I'm painstakingly careful, which is almost never).

I hate to challenge your perception of yourself but there is no connection between left-handedness and bad handwriting. Society has long valued right-handedness more so features which are more common in the writing of left handed people are thought of as being inferior to those that are found in the writing of right handed people. It is this that has lead to the misconception that left handed people write untidily but it's not true.

Barack Obama, for example, is left handed and I think his handwriting is quite neat:

I'm right handed and I like my handwriting even though it has gotten worse over the years. I have to take handwritten notes when I work and I sometimes have to do this at speed and this has lead to a general deterioration in my writing style but I think it just adds to its character.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The President wrote a letter to Angela Channing!

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I hate to challenge your perception of yourself but there is no connection between left-handedness and bad handwriting. Society has long valued right-handedness more so features which are more common in the writing of left handed people are thought of as being inferior to those that are found in the writing of right handed people. It is this that has lead to the misconception that left handed people write untidily but it's not true.

I hear what you're saying, and I agree that being a left-hander doesn't mean the writing is worse per se. However there are several practical reasons why handwriting can be negatively affected by being left-handed.

One obvious drawback is the fact that the edge of your hand is on the left side of what I write and can easily drag over what's been written and smudge it badly. I spent much time during my schooldays washing Berol handwriting pen ink off the edge of my left hand from this happening.

This limits how the pen can be held and means adapting and learning to hold a pen differently from how a right-handed person might. I've been told so many times that the angle at which I hold a pen looks awkward or uncomfortable.

I dare say my writing could be nicer if I didn't have all these blithering practicalities to worry about.

There are also those lefties who've been forced to use their right hand to write (presumably rooted in superstition, since "sinister" and "left" are synonymous). Fortunately, I'm not of a generation where this was much of a concern, but my Mum was not allowed to hold a pen in her left hand even though it was natural. She was of a time when a child doing such a thing would get a rap over the knuckles with the side of a ruler.

The President wrote a letter to Angela Channing!

Well, Angela did used to be married to Ronald Reagan, after all.

 

[Emelee]

My first-grade teacher made me stay in from recess once to work with me on my poor penmanship. I mentioned this to my mother, who turned it into a big deal. I only remember my mother being upset with the teacher, not with me....but whatever went on, something must have snapped into place in my brain because from that point on, I was low-key obsessed with having nice handwriting.

I don't know your mom, but I've sure met parents who work against teachers and think they know best, or think teachers should never ever push a kid to do anything at all.

But it sounds like that teacher did you a huge favor. Challenged you and got a great result, for your sake.

 

[Emelee]

Right handed and mines has gotten worse as we just rarely write anything by hand now, even notes at work are typed. I used to have very nice, very neat handwriting but now I'm so out of whack it looks very inconsistent and messy. It would probably get better if I did it more often.

That's one of the reasons why I force my pupils to write with a pen instead of always using the computer. The second reason is that we have muscle memory and will easier remember spelling.

 

[tommie]

This is it

 

[tommie]

I should just communicate via my impeccable handwriting