My handwriting is not too bad because I'm so slow at it that I have time to make it neat. But it's an excruciating process so I eschew it. To print neatly or at speed, I use block letters, because I learned them in a mechanical drawing class in high school, and have been using them ever since. I can print very quickly but sloppily, but I can also print very precisely, in straight lines that don't go up or down, also very very small (3 point, if the pencil is sharp enough). So the only thing I write longhand is my signature.
My ex-husband had problems writing up context sheets for the archaeological dig we worked on. He started off printing/joined up writing, until that became illegible. Then he switched to capitals, until they became illegible too!
My father had the most wonderful handwriting. Sadly, although he was very good at bookkeeping, he had grave difficulty in writing a cogent letter.
He, and certain teachers, used to give me grief about my appalling handwriting. One factor was that I could not get down my thoughts as quickly as I could think them. My handwriting was, objectively, poor back then and has grown a great deal worse. Now I rarely pen anything but the occasional cheque. Occasionally I have been honoured when someone has asked me to sign one of my books, but it's a skill I have all but forgotten. I started using a typewriter when I was about 17 and progressed to word processors and computers.
Handwriting, sadly or not, will go the way of the distaff and spindle. That is to say, some will still do it as an art/craft but the majority simply won't.
To be fair, the cursive used in old documents always needed to be taught. I know I find it very hard to read anything Victorian or older and I write in cursive.
My handwriting has been described as Victorian. I think it's more late Victorian/Edwardian.
It was an odd feeling seeing a reproduction in a book of a handwritten letter in a style that looked quite close to my own, but had been written over a century ago.
To be fair, the cursive used in old documents always needed to be taught. I know I find it very hard to read anything Victorian or older and I write in cursive.
My handwriting has been described as Victorian. I think it's more late Victorian/Edwardian.
It was an odd feeling seeing a reproduction in a book of a handwritten letter in a style that looked quite close to my own, but had been written over a century ago.
Yes, I had a funny moment when I came across the postcards my grandfather sent from WW1 France, and realised he must have learnt from the same book I was taught from 65-odd years later. For no good reason, as I can't recall any of the others, I've never forgotten that "E was an Esquire, with pride on his brow".
Now I rarely pen anything but the occasional cheque.
Quote snipped.
Do people write cheques these days? I can't remember when I last wrote one and when I changed bank accounts last year they didn't send me a chequebook which I didn't complain about. I'm pretty sure the Roguelings have never written one although aged relatives sometimes send them for birthdays.
I receive one regularly from a pensioner as advance payment for his online shopping. He doesn't have the internet and I do.
I last wrote a cheque about 3-4 years ago for someone who pruned a tree for me. He lost it so I cancelled it and went to the bank to arrange an electronic transfer instead.
I taught in a Primary School (1970s) where I was reqired to teach Copperplate script. My attempts were barely adequate (according to the Headmaster) but some of the 10 and 11 year old children had beautiful handwriting. It would be interesting to know how many of them can still recall that muscle memory. My style was last described as 'artistic' which is probably a synonym for ' messy with flourishes'!
I got a cheque from insurance company, and bank branch closed years ago. I can do it via PO, but suspect I will still have it next year.
I received a cheque recently - first time for years. I was delighted to find that I could scan it using the banking app on my phone and it credited to my account. Once it had cleared, I tore it up.
I've done that at the machines in the bank. They snatch it, scan it and print out a receipt with a miniaturized picture of the cheque on it. Which is good for a giggle, it looks so tiny and toy-like.
Now I rarely pen anything but the occasional cheque.
Quote snipped.
Do people write cheques these days? I can't remember when I last wrote one and when I changed bank accounts last year they didn't send me a chequebook which I didn't complain about. I'm pretty sure the Roguelings have never written one although aged relatives sometimes send them for birthdays.
The DVLA. I got a car tax refund not so long ago and had to go to the bank to pay it in as it wasn’t the right shape for the app to work. The bank didn’t bat an eyelid as I suspect they account for a high proportion of the cheques they have to process.
I do have a chequebook somewhere but haven’t used in in ages as I tend to use card payments or bank transfer. I do also get cheques sometimes from elderly relatives on special occasions.
Do people write cheques these days? I can't remember when I last wrote one and when I changed bank accounts last year they didn't send me a chequebook which I didn't complain about. I'm pretty sure the Roguelings have never written one although aged relatives sometimes send them for birthdays.
I get through about 3 chequebooks per year. Birthday money for Godchildren, deliveries of logs, account at the local farm shop, piano tuner, etc.
About the only reason I've written a check in the last decade is dealing with the sort of government organization that likes to charge you a "convenience fee" if you pay any other way. So my annual car registration fee was always a check.
Until, of course, COVID prompted them to make so many extra hurdles to jump through to actually visit the office (you have to have an appointment, but you can't book one online or by phone: you can only get an appointment by showing up at 7am, when they will give you a ticket telling you what time later that day to return. Clearly nobody but a government monopoly would be able to get away with such an absurd, anti-human scheme, so I now find it easier to pay their "convenience fee" than endure their inconvenience in person.
Which means I think it might be three years since I've written a check. Arranging outings with schoolfriends for the kids is all Venmo or Zelle to the parent organizing it.
I've probably not signed a cheque for over 20 years with transfers and card payments so common here. I think I kept a chequebook from my now defunct bank just for historical amusement. I learnt Modern Cursive at primary school and we had slope cards. I could never get the slope thing and continued to write upright as per printing.
It was exciting to start High School and be able to write however you liked and use whatever coloured pen you liked, I loved those multicolour pens, so cool in the 1970's. Before starting High School I remember asking Mum to show me how to write using the style she would have learnt at school in the 1940s. It wasn't copperplate, but a bit loopier than cursive.
My Dad's handwriting was so dreadful he wrote in capitals for everything. Even Mum couldn't decipher his handwriting. Both my kids learned a similar style to that I was taught, but son has huge writing, it looks like kindergartener and daughter has very scratchy chicken feet writing. The only thing that I handwrite these days are birthday and Christmas cards, but that's about it, everything else is typed
My window cleaner doesn’t accept bank transfers or cheques. It has to be cash. A real nuisance. I might have to hand write an IOU if I am without the necessary.
I was taught copperplate in primary school in the 1950s. I particularly remember that, having one teacher who insisted that all turns of the pen be rounded, the next year we had one who made us do them all angular. All of this was carried out with dip pens of course.
When I got to secondary school (and allowed fountain pens!) I firstly devised a script of my own, then brother and I bought a Teach Yourself Italic, which became my default handwriting. Later on, I took up calligraphy and practiced a Carolingian and Gothic hand.
I can still, if I think about it, write a fair Italic.
I've done that at the machines in the bank. They snatch it, scan it and print out a receipt with a miniaturized picture of the cheque on it. Which is good for a giggle, it looks so tiny and toy-like.
My late father liked a regular punt in the horses. Lots of bookmakers have a similar concept. You write out your bets on a small form. It goes into the machine which registers your bet and gives you a print out of your form, smaller than the original and it also includes a bar code to claim any winnings with.
My window cleaner doesn’t accept bank transfers or cheques. It has to be cash. A real nuisance. I might have to hand write an IOU if I am without the necessary.
When we lived in the UK, we had a window cleaner who would come around and clean the windows while we were both at work. The arrangement was that we would leave him cash on an upstairs windowsill.
My window cleaner doesn’t accept bank transfers or cheques. It has to be cash. A real nuisance. I might have to hand write an IOU if I am without the necessary.
When we lived in the UK, we had a window cleaner who would come around and clean the windows while we were both at work. The arrangement was that we would leave him cash on an upstairs windowsill.
I was taught copperplate in primary school in the 1950s. I particularly remember that, having one teacher who insisted that all turns of the pen be rounded, the next year we had one who made us do them all angular. All of this was carried out with dip pens of course.
When I got to secondary school (and allowed fountain pens!) I firstly devised a script of my own, then brother and I bought a Teach Yourself Italic, which became my default handwriting. Later on, I took up calligraphy and practiced a Carolingian and Gothic hand.
I can still, if I think about it, write a fair Italic.
I took a self-education path as well after my Grade IX geography teacher, Mr Metcalfe, told me that my handwriting (fast, therefore illegible, Ontario cursive) could not be read by civilized people. He was right.
I found myself a handbook on italic writing and with further research soon could turn out a Carolingian hand-- I did not like Gothic much, but could do a decent one if pushed to it. Italic came to be my default and still is. I was one of the two boys in my Grade IX typing class, while I had a good speed (65wpm at my best), I always preferred getting out a decent pen and carefully choosing an ink to suit me. When I hit university, I developed a good Greek hand, if influenced with a round Coptic flavour, and my Hebrew was deemed to be excellent-- it's a difficult alphabet to read and a good hand helped me study.
Then I had years of attending meetings and taking notes, and without access to a computer or typewriter in those primitive days, often had to turn out a fair copy of documents-for-the-record-- a Mountie told me that no-one would dare to imitate my writing. Even now, most of my letters are by hand and my nigh-daily visits to my local espresso joint are occupied with writing letters by hand. I have two friends with perception challenges, so I write to them with printed script as that is what they can read. Every now and then I go bananas with an initial letter and perhaps once or twice a month, it will be illuminated. Congratulated on this by a friend, I replied that while one might not always have content, one could always provide style.
A literary friend who had twenty years of my correspondence asked me for permission to include it in her literary papers which were going to a western university to produce a nice tax receipt. She warned me that scholars of the future (should society not collapse entirely) would have their perception of our period totally warped by my letters and, given that writers and critics use electronic journals and ephemeral blogs, my literary opinions could be a rare surviving source in the 23d century. I told her that I was fine with that.
I am another of those who can write cursive but doesn't. The reason is that one of my teachers described it as hieroglyphics, and that was the more complinetary type of comment I had on it.
The advent of computers - in particular ones that I could use at home - made such a difference to me, so I write pretty much nothing these days, to everyones delight.
The books I write would never have happened if I had to do them by hand. In truth, even I cannot read my own writing often.
I was taught the copperplate style in primary school, before the system converted to NSW modified cursive when I was in 5th Class. I maintained my copperplate style throughout high school. My father even purchased me a quality fountain pen to ensure that my work was neater. In teachers' college I had to demonstrate competency in NSW modified italic, and I worked in a school which briefly adopted this as a writing style. I also taught myself calligraphy, which led to much demand for the creation of awards and certificates at my various schools.
Now retired, my handwriting is limited to notetaking and signing the occasional card or other document. Even my minute-taking is now direct to laptop. I've also developed a slight tremor which hasn't helped the quality and readability of my writing, so I also rely on technology now for posters and certificates which would have been hand-crafted in the past.
Heh. They bought me a better pen to try to improve my handwriting. It didn't work. Fountain pens were mandated at school and they're an absolute nightmare to those of us who are - shall we say - dexterity challenged. They just result in writing that's equally illegible as that produced by any other means, but is additionally smudged and covered in inky finger prints.
I was doing some genealogical research in online archives last year and noticed how legible and impressive the copperplate used in register entries used to be. A lost art.
And there's a vast material culture around handwritten texts that disappeared in recent decades, artefacts I took for granted as a child, as my mother and grandmother had done before me. Small bottles of Quink (a portmanteau word from quick ink) dark blue or black ink for fountain pens; Parker pens with disposable nibs and ink cartridges; blotting paper or felt blotters; ballpoint or biro pens; nibs sturdy enough to push hard on the carbon paper underneath for copies; light-blue airmail paper for letters, Croxley letter paper with watermarks; ruled notebooks and yellow exam pads; notebooks with graph paper for maths lessons, sketch pads for art classes. Every bookshop had a stationery department and that was where I spent my birthday money.
I still favour fountain pens or roller-ball pens and scribble in moleskines or cheap A4 ledger books, but my cursive handwriting has deteriorated in the last decade. My mother used Pitman's shorthand for recipes and shopping lists; most of those were unreadable to anyone else.
That comment about shorthand reminds me that I zealously learned it at uni, took tons of notes with it, and you've guessed it, a year later, couldn't make head nor tail of it. But I did enjoy doing it.
I am currently struggling with what to do with just the very paraphernalia described above by MaryLouise. I even found a box of carbon paper. I expect it will have to be binned, but I cannot bring myself to bin ( in the recycling bin) piles of beautiful paper or hardbacked notebooks, especially moleskin ones. Then there are paper clips, staplers, hole punches, ring binders and their dividers, filing cards and their boxes.
Then I have been going through a veritable archive of family memorabilia. The hand written sermons, study notes, letters for every occasion, delivered the next day, revealed so much of the trivia of every day as well as the big events. I can’t imagine future generations being able to discover much about our lives from our communications today.
Almost all of the handwriting was legible, often very attractive.
Do you have Freecycle in your area ? I have it very useful for passing on things that are very niche. With the added advantage that people come and collect from you.
Schools will often take the unused paper products and desk paraphernalia for children whose families can’t afford supplies. My office building ended up donating a ton of such stuff when our cube farm got replaced.
The discussion on pens has reminded me that I still have my dipping ink pen, with multiple nibs, that I used in art classes as a teen. I can’t draw with a pencil now, let alone pen and ink, but in those days I could draw a portrait in ink.
I have nice neat printing if I take my time, but never got very good at cursive, and if I have to write by hand, I'll pretty much always print. But I am such a fast typist that it's very slow and time-consuming to write anything of any length by hand so I'd always rather use a computer. I do write by hand (and doodle, and sketch a very little bit) in a paper planner, as I find it easier to track events and activities on paper than in a digital calendar, for some reason.
For work, I often have to request that people ages 18-30 sign their names on forms, and occasionally when I see them stumped by the request I tell them the can just print their name if they don't have a signature in cursive. But I find most younger people, including my own two who are in their 20s, have developed some sort of artistic scribble that roughly equates to their name, to use as a signature on documents.
As a former teacher I'm always amazed by people who make "Cursive Must Be Taught In Schools!" the hill they want to die on. If we made time in the curriculum for all the things that people think are absolutely essential to teach in school, kids would be there 24/7 -- and if we're going to bring back "outdated" skills, I'd vote for gardening or darning socks over cursive writing.
I have nice neat printing if I take my time, but never got very good at cursive, and if I have to write by hand, I'll pretty much always print. But I am such a fast typist that it's very slow and time-consuming to write anything of any length by hand so I'd always rather use a computer. I do write by hand (and doodle, and sketch a very little bit) in a paper planner, as I find it easier to track events and activities on paper than in a digital calendar, for some reason.
For work, I often have to request that people ages 18-30 sign their names on forms, and occasionally when I see them stumped by the request I tell them the can just print their name if they don't have a signature in cursive. But I find most younger people, including my own two who are in their 20s, have developed some sort of artistic scribble that roughly equates to their name, to use as a signature on documents.
As a former teacher I'm always amazed by people who make "Cursive Must Be Taught In Schools!" the hill they want to die on. If we made time in the curriculum for all the things that people think are absolutely essential to teach in school, kids would be there 24/7 -- and if we're going to bring back "outdated" skills, I'd vote for gardening or darning socks over cursive writing.
I constantly shout at clouds I mean rant at social media whenever I see one of those "what do you think should be taught in schools?" threads.
Half the stuff people come up with already is.
The other half, no-one ever says what should be taken out to make room for it.
My favourite is "how to do your taxes". For the vast majority of Brits that's "bugger all - your payroll people have already done them for you".
I have fountain pens that belonged to my grandparents, a century old. The rubber sac perished years ago, and they can't be used, but they're beautiful pens with a green inlaid marble effect. Something like this, only not that brand.
I've always felt that if you have a pen, it should be something that you enjoy writing with. From time to time I think about reviving some of mine: I still have cartridges and bottles of ink, though what I'd write with the pens now I don't know.
It’s surprising what you can get for old pens. Just a few months ago I bought online a new nib for an Osmiroid fountain pen that is about 50 years old, and I know parts for older pens are available.
It’s surprising what you can get for old pens. Just a few months ago I bought online a new nib for an Osmiroid fountain pen that is about 50 years old, and I know parts for older pens are available.
There's a niche market of people who either buy them new (and in many cases the designs haven't changed so much that nibs would be different) or that keep or in many cases restore old ones. Or at least it used to be a tiny niche, and is now a bigger niche thanks to people showing what they've done on youtube/social media.
Similarly old watches - generally either Swiss, Japanese or Soviet.
There are scattered throughout Canada and the US-- and I am certain in Britain and Ireland-- legions of self-taught nerds/artisans who repair pens and can likely replace the sacs in @Ariel 's pens and get them working again.
I often hear the cry of teach them cursive and I reply teach them italic. Cursive is just joined printing and a number of letters disappear into incomprehensibility when cursive is used.
Come the revolution, the people will embrace italic.
There are scattered throughout Canada and the US-- and I am certain in Britain and Ireland-- legions of self-taught nerds/artisans who repair pens and can likely replace the sacs in @Ariel 's pens and get them working again.
Indeed there are. I know several. My late husband was one. He had several hundred pens, ranging from very early eye-dropper Swans, to a mint and boxed Conway Stewart commemorating the coronation of Charles 111, which was delivered to our house just a few days after he died. Plus Parkers, Sheaffers, Pelican, Onoto, Waterman, Mont Blanc and others.
Just when I thought I had sold them all, we found another box of 30 Parkers and three display cases in the loft.
There's a chap comes to the Festival craft fair who makes (ball point) pens from turned wood, with proper screw-together top and barrel. I have a couple of those. And one made from deer horn. They all write beautifully smoothly.
I also have no end of notebooks. The less special I use for things like noting down recipes from the web, then tearing out the page to take to the kitchen. Good ones get to be journal/poetry workbooks.
I (at the slightly creaky age of 47) write a great number of notes in the course of an average work day, mostly in block capitals for legibility, sometimes in print, never in cursive.
I imagine that a writing stylus, the cost of a biro, whose position and attitude could be remotely read and linked directly to a personal device's notes page, capable of being used on any surface (i.e. not simply used to write on a device's screen, which requires the faff of retrieving and unlocking) might be enough to finally make me go digital. (I've just tried to search for such a thing, but the results are hijacked by Microsoft Surface adverts...)
Comments
He, and certain teachers, used to give me grief about my appalling handwriting. One factor was that I could not get down my thoughts as quickly as I could think them. My handwriting was, objectively, poor back then and has grown a great deal worse. Now I rarely pen anything but the occasional cheque. Occasionally I have been honoured when someone has asked me to sign one of my books, but it's a skill I have all but forgotten. I started using a typewriter when I was about 17 and progressed to word processors and computers.
Handwriting, sadly or not, will go the way of the distaff and spindle. That is to say, some will still do it as an art/craft but the majority simply won't.
Just historical fiction. Medieval England. I'm a very minor writer.
My handwriting has been described as Victorian. I think it's more late Victorian/Edwardian.
It was an odd feeling seeing a reproduction in a book of a handwritten letter in a style that looked quite close to my own, but had been written over a century ago.
Same. I love historical fiction of that era.
Yes, I had a funny moment when I came across the postcards my grandfather sent from WW1 France, and realised he must have learnt from the same book I was taught from 65-odd years later. For no good reason, as I can't recall any of the others, I've never forgotten that "E was an Esquire, with pride on his brow".
Quote snipped.
Do people write cheques these days? I can't remember when I last wrote one and when I changed bank accounts last year they didn't send me a chequebook which I didn't complain about. I'm pretty sure the Roguelings have never written one although aged relatives sometimes send them for birthdays.
I last wrote a cheque about 3-4 years ago for someone who pruned a tree for me. He lost it so I cancelled it and went to the bank to arrange an electronic transfer instead.
I received a cheque recently - first time for years. I was delighted to find that I could scan it using the banking app on my phone and it credited to my account. Once it had cleared, I tore it up.
The DVLA. I got a car tax refund not so long ago and had to go to the bank to pay it in as it wasn’t the right shape for the app to work. The bank didn’t bat an eyelid as I suspect they account for a high proportion of the cheques they have to process.
I do have a chequebook somewhere but haven’t used in in ages as I tend to use card payments or bank transfer. I do also get cheques sometimes from elderly relatives on special occasions.
I get through about 3 chequebooks per year. Birthday money for Godchildren, deliveries of logs, account at the local farm shop, piano tuner, etc.
Until, of course, COVID prompted them to make so many extra hurdles to jump through to actually visit the office (you have to have an appointment, but you can't book one online or by phone: you can only get an appointment by showing up at 7am, when they will give you a ticket telling you what time later that day to return. Clearly nobody but a government monopoly would be able to get away with such an absurd, anti-human scheme, so I now find it easier to pay their "convenience fee" than endure their inconvenience in person.
Which means I think it might be three years since I've written a check. Arranging outings with schoolfriends for the kids is all Venmo or Zelle to the parent organizing it.
It was exciting to start High School and be able to write however you liked and use whatever coloured pen you liked, I loved those multicolour pens, so cool in the 1970's. Before starting High School I remember asking Mum to show me how to write using the style she would have learnt at school in the 1940s. It wasn't copperplate, but a bit loopier than cursive.
My Dad's handwriting was so dreadful he wrote in capitals for everything. Even Mum couldn't decipher his handwriting. Both my kids learned a similar style to that I was taught, but son has huge writing, it looks like kindergartener and daughter has very scratchy chicken feet writing. The only thing that I handwrite these days are birthday and Christmas cards, but that's about it, everything else is typed
When I got to secondary school (and allowed fountain pens!) I firstly devised a script of my own, then brother and I bought a Teach Yourself Italic, which became my default handwriting. Later on, I took up calligraphy and practiced a Carolingian and Gothic hand.
I can still, if I think about it, write a fair Italic.
My late father liked a regular punt in the horses. Lots of bookmakers have a similar concept. You write out your bets on a small form. It goes into the machine which registers your bet and gives you a print out of your form, smaller than the original and it also includes a bar code to claim any winnings with.
When we lived in the UK, we had a window cleaner who would come around and clean the windows while we were both at work. The arrangement was that we would leave him cash on an upstairs windowsill.
What happened if it was a windy day?
I took a self-education path as well after my Grade IX geography teacher, Mr Metcalfe, told me that my handwriting (fast, therefore illegible, Ontario cursive) could not be read by civilized people. He was right.
I found myself a handbook on italic writing and with further research soon could turn out a Carolingian hand-- I did not like Gothic much, but could do a decent one if pushed to it. Italic came to be my default and still is. I was one of the two boys in my Grade IX typing class, while I had a good speed (65wpm at my best), I always preferred getting out a decent pen and carefully choosing an ink to suit me. When I hit university, I developed a good Greek hand, if influenced with a round Coptic flavour, and my Hebrew was deemed to be excellent-- it's a difficult alphabet to read and a good hand helped me study.
Then I had years of attending meetings and taking notes, and without access to a computer or typewriter in those primitive days, often had to turn out a fair copy of documents-for-the-record-- a Mountie told me that no-one would dare to imitate my writing. Even now, most of my letters are by hand and my nigh-daily visits to my local espresso joint are occupied with writing letters by hand. I have two friends with perception challenges, so I write to them with printed script as that is what they can read. Every now and then I go bananas with an initial letter and perhaps once or twice a month, it will be illuminated. Congratulated on this by a friend, I replied that while one might not always have content, one could always provide style.
A literary friend who had twenty years of my correspondence asked me for permission to include it in her literary papers which were going to a western university to produce a nice tax receipt. She warned me that scholars of the future (should society not collapse entirely) would have their perception of our period totally warped by my letters and, given that writers and critics use electronic journals and ephemeral blogs, my literary opinions could be a rare surviving source in the 23d century. I told her that I was fine with that.
The advent of computers - in particular ones that I could use at home - made such a difference to me, so I write pretty much nothing these days, to everyones delight.
The books I write would never have happened if I had to do them by hand. In truth, even I cannot read my own writing often.
Now retired, my handwriting is limited to notetaking and signing the occasional card or other document. Even my minute-taking is now direct to laptop. I've also developed a slight tremor which hasn't helped the quality and readability of my writing, so I also rely on technology now for posters and certificates which would have been hand-crafted in the past.
Magical humour. broadly it is SFF but the current series is mostly humourous.
And there's a vast material culture around handwritten texts that disappeared in recent decades, artefacts I took for granted as a child, as my mother and grandmother had done before me. Small bottles of Quink (a portmanteau word from quick ink) dark blue or black ink for fountain pens; Parker pens with disposable nibs and ink cartridges; blotting paper or felt blotters; ballpoint or biro pens; nibs sturdy enough to push hard on the carbon paper underneath for copies; light-blue airmail paper for letters, Croxley letter paper with watermarks; ruled notebooks and yellow exam pads; notebooks with graph paper for maths lessons, sketch pads for art classes. Every bookshop had a stationery department and that was where I spent my birthday money.
I still favour fountain pens or roller-ball pens and scribble in moleskines or cheap A4 ledger books, but my cursive handwriting has deteriorated in the last decade. My mother used Pitman's shorthand for recipes and shopping lists; most of those were unreadable to anyone else.
Then I have been going through a veritable archive of family memorabilia. The hand written sermons, study notes, letters for every occasion, delivered the next day, revealed so much of the trivia of every day as well as the big events. I can’t imagine future generations being able to discover much about our lives from our communications today.
Almost all of the handwriting was legible, often very attractive.
For work, I often have to request that people ages 18-30 sign their names on forms, and occasionally when I see them stumped by the request I tell them the can just print their name if they don't have a signature in cursive. But I find most younger people, including my own two who are in their 20s, have developed some sort of artistic scribble that roughly equates to their name, to use as a signature on documents.
As a former teacher I'm always amazed by people who make "Cursive Must Be Taught In Schools!" the hill they want to die on. If we made time in the curriculum for all the things that people think are absolutely essential to teach in school, kids would be there 24/7 -- and if we're going to bring back "outdated" skills, I'd vote for gardening or darning socks over cursive writing.
I constantly shout at clouds I mean rant at social media whenever I see one of those "what do you think should be taught in schools?" threads.
Half the stuff people come up with already is.
The other half, no-one ever says what should be taken out to make room for it.
My favourite is "how to do your taxes". For the vast majority of Brits that's "bugger all - your payroll people have already done them for you".
I've always felt that if you have a pen, it should be something that you enjoy writing with. From time to time I think about reviving some of mine: I still have cartridges and bottles of ink, though what I'd write with the pens now I don't know.
There's a niche market of people who either buy them new (and in many cases the designs haven't changed so much that nibs would be different) or that keep or in many cases restore old ones. Or at least it used to be a tiny niche, and is now a bigger niche thanks to people showing what they've done on youtube/social media.
Similarly old watches - generally either Swiss, Japanese or Soviet.
I often hear the cry of teach them cursive and I reply teach them italic. Cursive is just joined printing and a number of letters disappear into incomprehensibility when cursive is used.
Come the revolution, the people will embrace italic.
Just when I thought I had sold them all, we found another box of 30 Parkers and three display cases in the loft.
I also have no end of notebooks. The less special I use for things like noting down recipes from the web, then tearing out the page to take to the kitchen. Good ones get to be journal/poetry workbooks.
I imagine that a writing stylus, the cost of a biro, whose position and attitude could be remotely read and linked directly to a personal device's notes page, capable of being used on any surface (i.e. not simply used to write on a device's screen, which requires the faff of retrieving and unlocking) might be enough to finally make me go digital. (I've just tried to search for such a thing, but the results are hijacked by Microsoft Surface adverts...)