A Handwritten Letter?

Discussion in 'Education & Learning' started by Thomas Stearn, Apr 20, 2019.

  1. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    How annoying! I wrote this post without checking first if a similar thread already exists. (I thought mine would be unique.:p) It does exist but it is three years old now and is rather about the quality of handwriting as I found out. Mine is basically about trends in communication, i.e., how things may have changed since the other thread was posted.

    How do you communicate theses days? Do you still send handwritten letters or receive some? Would you appreciate getting them? Do you still write postcards when you are away? Or do you communicate via Whatsapp, other messengers and email exclusively. I do.

    Up until the early nineties I had written letters in longhand and enjoyed it. I liked good pens, fountain pens, occasionally even used hand-made paper with my address printed on it. I didn't like the clatter of type-writers nor that of early laptops, though, which, especially in public libraries, was nerve-racking. Yet as soon as notebooks with more silent keyboards came along I stopped writing letters in longhand. First I printed them out and later I turned to email and did everything electronically.

    Who would have thought then that type-written love letters or messages which young people receive today can also be regarded as romantic? I read somewhere that pupils in Norway don't learn to write in longhand any more but learn ten-finger typing from their first day at school. Will hand-writing cease to be an essential cultural technique? Will we be seeing similar developments in other countries including the US?

    I don't seem to be the type of person who can produce ready to print sentences while writing. My pen was always faster than my brain. Thus, the biggest advantage for me was that on a PC mistakes could be corrected easily and sentences could be rephrased at any time. Do you recall the hassle when, while writing longer texts, you wanted to change something or even wanted to produce a completely modified version in the old days? It meant cutting those parts out which needed replacing and typing, cutting, and pasting the new sentences just to get a legible draft which still looked so ugly. And then you'd have to type everything again from scratch only to find out that there were typos again which you then had to tippex out. How conveniently this can be done today on a notebook or PC.
    Yes, I'm a digital man, have always been one at heart. What about you?
     
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    Last edited: Apr 20, 2019
  2. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    I've always loved stationary in all it's form , pens, fancy writing paper, even fancy printing paper...and although I still write longhand on occasion ( in fact I've just written something not even 5 minutes ago)... I never send letters any more whether longhand or even printed... always electronically..

    I too have a fingers that work faster than my brain, so of course I'd find having written a missive in longhand, I'd have to go back and mess the whole thing up by scribbling out words or adding some... , now we have spell check etc, and it can all be done in an instant.

    I miss the handwriting of course.. I miss using my fancy stationary, I don't even use the fancy printing paper now either, because I don't send letter, and anything that ever needs to be printed is usually for official purposes...

    I'm sorry to hear that children are not being taught handwriting alongside typing, whatever will they do if for any reason electronic methods of communicating disappear even if only temporarily ...how will they communicate?
     
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  3. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Nice thread but what should have been a small venture into one’s transition from handwriting to today’s electronic printing has me seeing myself behind glass at some museum with the description of: “Ancient man with tool used for writing”.

    At first, a thought appeared about the penmanship contests I once wanted to enter (but didn’t) so I decided to look it up and see if there were any left. I wrote my query using Bing and after I hit the enter key, the computer grunted and groaned and even turned the sound off presumably to acquire more power whilst attempting to find any references, The answer finally came and surprisingly, there are some contests and even more surprisingly, they are generally for kids from K thru 8th grade.
    I write “surprisingly” because with many reports that cursive writing is no longer being taught in many schools throughout the U.S. I thought the technique had simply disappeared with the computer “font” key taking it’s place. Of course, since cursive writing is disappearing, even the font itself will undoubtedly take the same avenue.

    Then of course, my brain starting backtracking and I started to remember my old classroom desk complete with the inkwell. I even remembered keeping the chems in my locker so I could readily make another supply of ink for my fountain pen when I was in Jr. High. Yeah, I was a nerd.
    Somewhere in my long term memory there appeared the pictures of girls sitting through class paying no attention to the instructor but instead writing and re-writing their names complete with Mrs. in front of their first name and then the last name of whoever their new infatuation was.
    Yes, love brought out the very best in penmanship or perhaps I should say, Pengirlship just to stay politically correct, another nuance and nuisance.

    The last, most profound impact on me at the present time is when I looked up my initial query of penmanship contest and the definition of penmanship came up in Wikipedia. It started with something like: a technique used for writing on paper with a writing instrument etc, etc, etc. Normally, that might not have affected me but for whatever reason I started asking myself, “is penmanship so archaic that the present day children need a long and drawn out definition of it”? Am I that old? For that answer, even a search engine as large as Bing isn’t needed for indeed that answer is already on my tongue much faster than the engine could ever be. Yes, I am that old!!

    Behold, the writing desk. It too is old, it too is extinct. It too is stuck in a museum just as I believe I might be after my demise and holding....a pen.
    upload_2019-4-20_6-46-14.jpeg
     
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  4. Al Amoling

    Al Amoling Veteran Member
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    Theres a meme that's going around now. Teach cursive and build only cars with stick shifts and the younger generations will be lost.
     
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  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I taught myself to type early, and an elementary school teacher, in either the fourth or the fifth grade, refused to accept a report that I had turned in because I had typed it. She wouldn't believe that I had done it myself. I filed that with another teacher who once suggested (although not quite accusing) that I had cheated because I had a perfect score on a history test. How could she? I was an ethical person; I only cheated in math.

    Much of our history, in this country at least, from Colonial times, the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and so on, was gleaned, or at least fleshed out, from letters that people had written to one another. Today, our history is recorded on Facebook or in text messages.
     
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  6. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    In that case they will probably print what used to be done in longhand. Printing doesn't necessarily have to be taught but is something they can learn without a teacher just by copying. They may be familiar with block letters because those are also often used in comics and the like. Block letters may also help them fill in a form, should it not be available in electronic form.
     
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  7. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Yes. Exactly. I wrote the minimum possible when you had to do it longhand, even when typing, because of the difficulties with error corrections as you describe. A heavy burden was lifted when computer editing came about.

    However I'm a terrible composer of writing, maybe because of lack of practice for those very reasons. Also a slow reader. My mind goes faster than my eyes. That didn't help.
     
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  8. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I was once a prolific letter writer. I had pen pals in many countries and many domestic pen friends as well. I had custom-printed stationery and I had a letter file where I kept all my correspondence, with a special file for those letters I had not yet answered. All that is gone now, and what correspondence I conduct is electronic, but there is not nearly as much of it as I used to write. Along with the loss of cursive writing is the loss (reportedly) of fine motor skills. Electronic messages no matter how well they are backed up are not a durable as the written word...or the stone tablet.
     
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  9. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I last wrote a handwritten letter to my father-in-law because he valued handwritten letters, and because he was very ill and I didn't know whether he kept up on email and the like. My handwriting wasn't nearly as good as it was the last time I'd seen it.
     
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  10. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    As for being "old", don't worry. You are in good company.

    Germany is not Norway. So you would still find penmanship exercises at school. The question is for how long.

    Interesting what you said about having an inkwell on your desk. I started school in 1961 and, at that time, the days of having inkwells on our desks were over. We also had a fountain pen that, if properly filled, and it was expected to be, would take you through a school day. Later we also had those ink cartridges, of course, which allowed an easy refill. What chems did you store in your locker?

    Did you or do you still have that writing desk? That one looks ancient but more modern versions are being used today, aren't they? But if they are, they usually indicate that that person does not write very much apart from autographs or, indeed, the occasional letter.
     
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  11. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    LOL...I get your point Al... but only half of that would apply in the UK... the vast majority of drivers here have manual vehicles. ( my husband doesn't, but I do )..
     
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  12. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    Yeah, that would be another iconic turn.:D
     
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  13. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I played around with the ink because some chems were not readily available for kids but phenylthalene and tannic acid added to a decent powdered dye worked fairly well but I finally settled on a dye containing triphenylmethane and then added the tannic acid later (locker chemistry) when I needed it. Colloidal suspension thing akin to mixing balsamic vinegar and oil. It was just something I did and not something I really needed to do. Fountain pen ink was inexpensive and never separated or coagulated but I was always the curious sort and looking back, if it made life more difficult, I generally did it. Go figure.

    On the desk in the picture, it’s just a picture that I came across. One of these days I might build one like it or perhaps get involved in crafting a roll top desk but when that will be is way back on the back burner. Maybe God will let me have a wood shop in the hereafter just so I can do what I want to do instead of what I have to do.
     
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  14. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    As you say @Bobby Cole , you were a bit of a nerd then. :)
     
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  15. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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