Cursive Writing

[Mise]

The top pic is too blurry, but the bottom pic says "not developed enough". I think the top pic says "was this justified", but (a) with such a blurry pic, and (b) without any context, it's kind of hard to say.

Teachers mark like a million papers every night. I'm not surprised that they write joined up, quickly, and a little bit illegibly.

 

[azzaman333]

The first one is too poorly focused to read, the second one clearly says not developed enough.

 

[Camikaze]

Yeah, 'not developed enough' was what I settled on as a closest guesstimation (and 'was this justified' probably works). Super-zoomed in:

Spoiler :

That word, though, is clearly not formed by the letters that spell 'developed', but by distant approximations of them. The 'd' and the 'b'-like 'l' are joined by squiggles. The first 'e' is much more like an 'a', and the second one seems to resemble an 'e' by coincidence more than design. Certainly doesn't surprise me at all that they're writing fast and illegibly either, but then that's the entire point. It's a very messy style to choose to write in, especially when you're sacrificing further legibility for the sake of speed. Without the joins between letters, the same thing could be written just as quickly, but would be far more readable.

 

[Tee Kay]

"Was this justified" and "not developed enough"

Sometimes you do sacrifice speed for legibility (or the other way around). I think I can write quickly and legibly, though I say so myself.

 

[azzaman333]

But it is perfectly readable, and not joining the letters doesn't necessarily make it more readable either.

 

[Mise]

Without the joins between letters, the same thing could be written just as quickly

False.

 

[Quackers]

Was this justfied?
Not devoloped through.

ahh yeh tailess got it.

 

[Camikaze]

Perfectly readable? Really? Perhaps the problem is in a failure to teach people to read scrawl, then (though I hear university medicine departments have this well covered). I was only taught English.

False.

This seems just as baseless as my claim. Either way, any difference would be measured in milliseconds.

I don't know though. In the latter years of schooling people seem to work hard on refining their writing to be as efficient as possible, and I don't know of anyone who settled on cursive; everyone goes for a hybrid based on printing. I certainly did. Loops require the pen to cover more distance than simply moving from one letter directly to the next. More specifically, between what we're assuming are the 'o' and 'p' in 'developed', you can see a completely unnecessary upstroke, which comes with a change of direction, given 'o' is generally written anti-clockwise (at least, that's how I write it).

I guess the 'e' and 'v' are differentiable from each other in that word, but only in direct comparison, and neither on their own actually particularly resemble those letters.

 

[Mise]

Perfectly readable? Really?

Yup. I read the bottom pic without any problems. Even that blurryarse top pic was legible after a moment's thought.

I was only taught English.

Evidently not well enough.

This seems just as baseless as my claim.

Your claim is demonstrably false.

Either way, any difference would be measured in milliseconds.

You can measure any length of time in milliseconds. I would estimate tens of thousands of milliseconds difference in marking your paper.

I don't know though. In the latter years of schooling people seem to work hard on refining their writing to be as efficient as possible, and I don't know of anyone who settled on cursive

Everyone I know writes joined up and has written joined up since the age of about 8. Nobody needed an extra 10 years to figure out how to write properly.

Loops require the pen to cover more distance than simply moving from one letter directly to the next. More specifically, between what we're assuming are the 'o' and 'p' in 'developed', you can see a completely unnecessary upstroke, which comes with a change of direction, given 'o' is generally written anti-clockwise (at least, that's how I write it).

I guess the 'e' and 'v' are differentiable from each other in that word, but only in direct comparison, and neither on their own actually particularly resemble those letters.

Nobody reads individual letters past the age of 4. If you read individual letters then you're doing it wrong.

Cuh
Ah
Tuh

CAT!!!!

 

[Kraznaya]

people still write by hand?

 

[BvBPL]

I don't know though. In the latter years of schooling people seem to work hard on refining their writing to be as efficient as possible, and I don't know of anyone who settled on cursive; everyone goes for a hybrid based on printing. I certainly did.

More efficient then what? The people who write out their words (as opposed to printing them) had no problem reading your professor’s scrawl whereas you had to scan it and post it to a message board for a transliteration. Maybe if you wrote yourself you’d have been able to read your professor’s comments.

 

[Camikaze]

Nobody reads individual letters past the age of 4. If you read individual letters then you're doing it wrong.

Cuh
Ah
Tuh

CAT!!!!

Most people read words formed of individual letters, though. General shape is more important, but scribbling distorts that. The abstract art version is good for those who like to squint at ten paces, but doesn't seem particularly conducive to actually conveying meaning in a instantaneously identifiable form.

Now, if you were able to read that without a second thought, well done. I really only come across handwriting other than my own in marked essays, and this is probably increasingly the case, so identifying something in a completely different font when it isn't actually composed of the letters that spell it isn't nearly the same thing as reading printing.

More efficient then what?

More efficient than trying to run an 'o' into a 'p' with a change of direction and upstroke.

The people who write out their words (as opposed to printing them) had no problem reading your professor’s scrawl whereas you had to scan it and post it to a message board for a transliteration.

(I was being facetious to make a point that cursive is hardly particularly legible. I don't actually require an interpreter)

 

[Catharsis]

The curly cursive capitals are news to me. I was taught that capital letters should be printed, not connected to the rest of the letters, even if you're going to write the rest in joined-up writing.

When I was in primary school you had to demonstrate reasonably good handwriting to be allowed to write with a pen.

I did that in the first year of middle school - once you completed it you got a cardboard license with a Snoopy sticker on it

 

[Mise]

Most people read words formed of individual letters, though. General shape is more important, but scribbling distorts that. The abstract art version is good for those who like to squint at ten paces, but doesn't seem particularly conducive to actually conveying meaning in a instantaneously identifiable form.

Now, if you were able to read that without a second thought, well done. I really only come across handwriting other than my own in marked essays, and this is probably increasingly the case, so identifying something in a completely different font when it isn't actually composed of the letters that spell it isn't nearly the same thing as reading printing.

I've never seen your professor's writing before and I haven't had an essay of mine marked in over 10 years so I suggest the problem is on your end. If you don't want to read your professor's handwriting then may I suggest you sufficiently justify and develop your essays in future.

 

[Camikaze]

I've never seen your professor's writing before and I haven't had an essay of mine marked in over 10 years so I suggest the problem is on your end. If you don't want to read your professor's handwriting then may I suggest you sufficiently justify and develop your essays in future.

Well I do want to read it, which is why it'd be nice if it were more legible. Your superhuman abilities are quite literally breathtaking, but unfortunately we cannot all be that amazing, a fact which would seem to diminish cursive's utility.

Have you heard the phrase "doctor's writing"?

 

[Mise]

5 posters managed to read your professor's writing. That's 5 people superhuman abilities on this page alone, all posting within an hour of you posting that picture. What are the chances!

 

[Tee Kay]

The curly cursive capitals are news to me. I was taught that capital letters should be printed, not connected to the rest of the letters, even if you're going to write the rest in joined-up writing.

Yeah. capitals should be printed, at least that's how I write. I was introduced to curly capitals though; when I was learning English as a second language (!)

 

[Camikaze]

Are curly capitals meant to be quick, or is that entirely stylistic?

5 posters managed to read your professor's writing. That's 5 people superhuman abilities on this page alone, all within an hour of you posting that picture. What are the chances!

People have always said CFC's got a lot of smart cookies!

 

[brennan]

Mise's 'superhuman' abilities are normal for primary school children in the UK. He's also correct that you don't read by looking at individual letters. A good reader can scan a line of text far faster than they can speak it, the words are recognised intuitively on sight, rather than interpreted one letter at a time by the brain.

Edit: The curly capitals thing is cursive as a style of text I would refer to as italics or a form of calligraphy, rather than a feature of joined up writing.

 

[Tee Kay]

Are curly capitals meant to be quick, or is that entirely stylistic?

Probably the latter. I'm not sure, I've never learned to write them properly.

People have always said CFC's got a lot of smart cookies!

Though you typically hear that from other CFCers.

Mise's 'superhuman' abilities are normal for primary school children in the UK. He's also correct that you don't read by looking at individual letters. A good reader can scan a line of text far faster than they can speak it, the words are recognised intuitively on sight, rather than interpreted one letter at a time by the brain.

Ditto.