Do You Have Nice Handwriting?

No. Mine is nearly illegible, except to me.

My handwriting is really good with a nice slant to it but the most actual writing I do now is for Christmas cards. I’m afraid I’m going to lose my ability one day.

I honed my handwriting skills in junior high school and later, as a graphic artist, learned to write in many different styles, both printing and cursive. I have been complimented many times on my penmanship. As an author, I try to write much of my work by hand before typing to keep my skills sharp.

I have large and legible handwriting. It's inconsistent, though. Even my signature is inconsistent.

Plus, when I lived in Japan, I started writing my Ts different. In Japan, they start from the top and work their way down. Hence, the horizontal line comes first, then the vertical.

I went to Catholic school and we did have penmanship class. I took it for granted, but I really appreciate it, now.

I do, and I'm a lefty. I write like my mother did. I also went to Catholic school and we were graded on penmanship, though mine was really bad back then. Now I'm 60 and have noticed that it's not as nice as it once was. It could be because I rarely write in longhand anymore.

I was a master at copying other's handwritings in school. I have done it over 8 times as far as I can remember. My handwriting style has now settled and I write in a semi-cursive style.

I went to Catholic school where penmanship was emphasized. Plus, my mother had beautiful penmanship — for which she won awards in school — and she was helpful in encouraging me. If I am very careful, I can write in cursive extremely well. But now I often just want to scribble down something, and it is barely decipherable (even by me).

Fuck no. I can barely read it. Looks like hieroglyphics

Two teachers were standing over me while the class practiced penmanship in school. One of them pointed towards me and said, “That one will have nice handwriting.” And I do. I’ve

always wondered if I was just inspired to keep trying by the comment, or if I actually showed some natural inclination. Like others on this thread, my mother won a penmanship award when she was in school. As I’ve gotten older it’s gotten more unique and stylized— which I’m not always sure is a good thing. I’ve never done formal calligraphy, but was just thinking earlier today that maybe it was something I should try to pick up. I think it wouldn’t be that hard for me with lots of practice. I feel nice handwriting is becoming a lost art.

I did, but Satan comes through so often now it tends to burn through the paper.

I used to, but that sociopathic bitch Rhoda Penmark beat it out of me.

I never write, except for my signatures. I print everything in caps, and have since college when taking notes in lectures.

WTF is penmanship?

^ WTF is a pen?

I have beautiful penmanship for exactly 1.5 paragraphs.

No, my handwriting looks like I’m writing with my right foot. And I’m left handed.

At work, I had to go around the office and ask people to print addresses on envelopes for me when the printer wouldn’t make labels.

R4 That is literally how everyone writes a T.

I have beautiful handwriting. We used to take penmanship in elementary school. I think that’s why.

[quote][R4] That is literally how everyone writes a T.

I've never seen anyone write a T in that manner, R17

No, never have, and the nuns were constantly on my ass about it.

I’ve written a letter to Daddy, in my very best ‘calligraphy’.

Yes, I have very good penmanship.

It's so bizarre when you see a grown adult's signature, and it looks like he/she is still in the third grade. What the hell went wrong?

Soon to be ex ‘Countess of Montecito’

Oh god, here's the third grade signature R22 was talking about: Hell on Wheels - Repug Madison Cawthorne's signature:

ElderG here. Except for shopping lists and random notes when working, i rarely write by hand. No wonder when I do have to fill out a form my wrist starts getting sore .

R9--I wonder if they could tell you were gay and it was a gay trait to have good handwriting

Learned Palmer in school. Got my first job in high school at Abercrombie and Fitch's Madison Avenue store thanks to my handwriting. In my teens learned calligraphy, now use felt tip instead of fountain pen.

Penmanship Porn is one of my favorite subreddits.

Lindsay Lohan has nice handwriting.

Ahhh, I've always wanted nice handwriting but I don't :-(

What's weird is that when I write sloppily, my handwriting looks like my mother's who *in my opinion* has ugly handwriting, which makes me think that it's probably genetic.

I have terrible handwriting which I cannot even read myself, but I have alway wanted to do it. I found a night course in calligraphy and took it. It really is an art form which takes training and lots of patience. However, two years after that course I landed a job for a high government official who gave lots of formal parties. I got nabbed to do all the invitations. That was years ago, and still can't read my normal writing.

Mine has gotten worse over the years.

As a practical matter, even my signature is no longer the same as it once was.

A friend had beautiful penmanship. Received his Christmas card. It was written in very small letters. When we spoke he volunteered that since he developed Parkinson's his penmanship has changed.

I don't know. I'm blind.

^^^ Did DL burn your eyes out?

I have nice handwriting and an obsession with buying nice pens. I bought a pencil sharpener recently even though I rarely write with a pencil but if I do, it *must* be sharp. Seeing poorly written signs in shops , especially in trendy shops, sets my teeth on edge.

R37 is an old school marm.

I can't even read my own hand writing

I have nice BIG penmanship(perhaps I was John Hancock in a previous existence?)

I miss all the penpals I've had over the years, with all of them gone there's not much call for me to do a lot of cursive writing. It truly is a use-it-or-lose-it situation.

Lost the source for my favorite writing paper, Three Candlesticks, made in England. Love that paper: pale blue, faintly lined and each pad had a sheet of blotting paper as the first page(all my "fun" correspondence has always been done with a fountain pen)

I too had a mom who had beautiful penmanship, she also had a lot of correspondence which was fairly common BITD.

I remember the annual penmanship contest sponsored by Palmer. There was mandatory writing exercises to be submitted and if your handwriting was good enough you received a certificate. The nuns used to be adamant about entering the contest.

Almost out of ink, and none of the brick and mortar office supply places sell ink in bottles anymore, just the cartridge-type, and not much of that.

Any Eldergays remember being mocked for/prevented from using unusual colored inks in elementary school? The good sisters used to HATE Peacock Blue ink.

I do have nice handwriting which is odd since both of my parents haD AWFUL handwriting.

Peacock blue ink! What a memory, we were banned from using that color in school.

I am frequently told so. It just comes naturally I think.

It's terrible and it's degraded so much over the years.

Cursive, absolutely not. Printing is pretty atrocious too. If I have to hand write something that others can read, I can do it, but I have to go so slowly and deliberately. Still doesn't look good, but it's legible.

My penmanship is one of the things I'm very proud of. In high school my teachers would comment on what beautiful handwriting I had and some of then would ask me to write documents and posters they wanted done by hand.

I have French handwriting which some non-French find very hard to read but is standard in France where everyone writes exactly the same.

I like these Tūl gel pens. I use blue, retractable, medium point. I have large handwriting, so medium is good. If you have smaller handwriting, go with a finer tip.

[quote] Two teachers were standing over me while the class practiced penmanship in school. One of them pointed towards me and said, “That one will have nice handwriting.”

Translated: "That one is gayer than a treeful of parrots!"

And R10 demonstrates his Satan summoning handwriting in this video. 😂

I can forge anyone's signature but my own.

Fairly nice. My father had incredibly beautiful handwritting though, very frilly and pretty and neat, which was pretty odd considering he was pretty no nonsense alpha. We have his notebooks from college, engineering school to be exact and I could spend a week trying to emulate the perfectness of even his class notes. Probably the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen, tbh.

Yes and I always receive compliments on my handwriting, "where did you learn to write like that? In high school some of the football players copied by homework and they always said "I wish I could write like you." Memories.

Really small hand writing reveals that you are secretive.

The other day my 40-something husband’s 20-something co-worker handed him a sheet of paper and said, “Do you know how to translate this?” It was in cursive.

I find that hard to believe. If the guy knows how to sign his name in cursive, which he would have to know how to and do in this day and time, he surely would be able to read what was on that paper.

R55 Gen Z have probably grown up mostly using computers and other electronic devices so I don't find it that crazy to believe.

He's still got to know how to sign his name in cursive. If he has a bank account he would have had to provide a signature in cursive for the bank. No way they would have let him print it. Sorry, I can't believe anybody in this day and time could graduate from high school and/or college and not know how to read and write in cursive. Sorry, ain't buyin' it.

My father has gorgeous penmanship. My mother had Palmer method, round writing which I can m8mic but never thought it looked good.

My was legible, but due to computers it is now more chickenscratch than letters.

I’m working on it. Handwritten notes on nice stationary are classy.

ElderG here, I work at a computer all day, but I am constantly jotting things down on paper. I wonder if a 20 something right now even does that.

"He's still got to know how to sign his name in cursive. If he has a bank account he would have had to provide a signature in cursive for the bank. "

I don't think cursive is mandated. It's your signature, so whatever your common is signature is. Admittedly that's usually cursive, but some people print.

Sorry but being able to pen a signature is no guarantee that you can read other people's handwriting? This is obvious? Surely? But not..

Mine is beautiful, but you have to practice it. I was taught D'Nealian in school, with some exposure to Palmer. My current handwriting is somewhere between Palmer and D'Nealian. My issue with Palmer is that I think you should be able to make a letter without having to lift your hand from the paper, and the Palmer Fs and Ts require you to lift your hand and go back to make some frilly cap.

I went to art school, and was a published cartoonist. My friends love my block lettering. Always legible, deliberately precise. No margin for error. So, yes.

Voila

Actually, when I was a kid I won a big prize in the Palmer Method. Pix in local paper. Teacher must have submitted a sample. I have always been an artist and I think that has something to do with my "talent".I think computers have usurped too many niceties from our lives

Yes, mine is very neat. My dad’s handwriting was beautiful and my mom’s is chicken scratch, so maybe I inherent it from him.

All modesty aside, yes, I have very nice handwriting. I think I inherited it from my mom's side of the family (I'm a guy). A lot of them (mom, her mom, her great-aunts) had beautiful handwriting.

In Japan, everybody pretty much has the same handwriting, when writing in English (like the photo, below). I don't know about now, but they used to use a hanko or stamp for their signature (kanji / Chinese characters). They don't really get that people sign their signatures different than how they'd print it out.

However, extremely legible (Japanese people writing in English).

I got an honorary membership in the Good Handwriting Club in the 4th grade. I still have the certificate.

I have adopted a more "Architectural" style over the years. So yes, I have nice handwriting & enjoy practicing writing. I love a good pen & hand sharpened pencil as well..... Im old.....

I love writing, but over the years I’ve tended to write only in caps. My mother always told me ‘people can’t read Caps that easily’. My cursive writing is very flowery.

I used to have pretty good penmanship. But it has really gone downhill in the last few years. I've been working on computers pretty much my whole career and I think that's why it has declined.

R55/57 has not actually encountered a person under 25 for more than a decade.

The nicest compliment I ever received was "you write like a girl."

I've always had atrocious handwriting. A lot say I should have been a doctor. Hell if you remember how old prescriptions were written you'd understand. But at least now medicine has embraced electronic transmission of prescriptions.

Put it this way my first computer, a TRS-80 Model 1 Level II machine is how I learned to type and I prefer the keyboard vs. the pen and pad.

Yes. Thanks to the nuns in elementary school.

Write with the elbow, not the wrist.

Small writing does not mean you are secretive. Small writing generally means less gregarious, more ability to concentrate. Secretive is seen in A’s and O’s. If they are tightly closed it indicates secretiveness.

As someone mentioned above I was always told I wrote like a girl since I learned to write. I have very nice handwriting in both cursive and print and was always great at copying other people's handwriting. Still take notes by hand for everything. I learned calligraphy on my own by just buying the pens and different tips. I've just always had very strong hand coordination with my penmanship.

Is handwriting even taught in schools anymore? I've heard of teenagers who are unable to write their own names.

I lived in Europe as a child in the 1960s and went to a French school where they still used inkwells and blotting paper and steel-nibbed pens. I have beautiful handwriting, but no one else ever gets to see it.

R80, I’ve heard that some schools are starting to teach it again, but I think it was largely dropped years ago.

Never had! never had and never cared to have, worst I'm 30 and I still pretty much have the same handwriting from when I was nine. It seemed TOO MUCH of an effort to try to have nice handwriting simply to get a compliment every now and then.

I only use cursive though.

It's sad that handwriting has gone out of style. My third grade teacher, may she burn in hell, made my life miserable over poor penmanship but it gave me the ability to change the look of my writing to suit the occasion. That crazy bitch had no idea she launched me on a career of writing fake excusal notes throughout my grade school years (even to that crazy bitch excusing a classmate for being tardy "signed" by the school's principal). I can recognize handwriting if I've ever seen it before, a trick that has come in handy more than a few times. I thought that was normal.

Nevertheless, I was hired for a job (that had nothing to do with writing or penmanship) on the basis of the look of the thank you note I sent the interviewer. I've been offered money, albeit a laughably small amount, to turn one of my styles into a typeface. Hubby says he can discern my mood by my handwriting (as if I can hide how I'm feeling from him).

Terrible. Used to be pretty good, but it's just fucking terrible now.

I work for a state high court and review petitions to be heard in front of the court. We get a fair number of pro se petitions from prisoners that are handwritten. It's always interesting to see the vast differences - from absolute scribble, to double murderers who print like a typewriter or rapists who have very clear writing with dramatic flair.

I've threatened to write in cursive.

I write like a doctor unfortunately.

R1- Then you must be a doctor 👨‍⚕️.

I can print and write neatly, but I don’t consider it my handwriting because it seems like too much of an effort - it doesn’t feel natural. When I am putting something down on paper, I just scrawl it. In the very rare instance that I have to write a note for someone else I’ll print somewhere between my personal handwriting and my try-hard printing. I don’t send holiday cards.

The only time in my adult life that I have seen handwriting be of value was moms addressing envelopes for some school function. Not worth it.

(R76) How true, they would hit my brother with a ruler because he was left-handed which was a sign supposedly of the Devil. My mother interceded and told that nun where she would end up if she ever hit him again. She stopped.

Both my dad & aunt (his sister) had the same Sister as their handwriting teacher in the 40's in Australia. They both hated her..... You couldn't really tell their writing apart 60 years later...... Beautiful penmanship......