* I think it's time for me to invest in an iPad. I do have a laptop ...but I do not trust the wifi connections at hotels. It is hard to use it when I travel. Blogging from my phone is HARD too...and, I do have a few disabilities when blogging from my phone. I'm not able to post photos and Google will not allow me to make comments when I read your blogs!! There are a few of you that I can comment on your post and I'm trying hard to keep up. Just want you all to know that I am visiting you each day.. We will be home on Saturday.
Printing and Cursive!!
I realized something shocking the other day.
Cursive has officially become a foreign language.
Not Spanish.
Not French.
Not even Latin.
Nope.
A simple handwritten recipe card from Grandma now looks like an ancient treasure map to half the younger generation.
I watched a teenager stare at cursive writing recently like they were trying to decode Egyptian hieroglyphics. Their eyes narrowed. Their forehead wrinkled. At one point I honestly thought they might call for technical support.
“Wait… what letter is THAT?”
Honey… that is an “S.”
They could not read the graduation card I had given them.
And suddenly I felt 147 years old.
There was a time when learning cursive was serious business. We practiced loops and swirls until our hands cramped. Teachers walked the aisles correcting our slant like tiny handwriting coaches preparing us for the Olympics of penmanship.
Capital Q’s alone could humble a whole classroom.
And heaven help you if your lowercase “g” looked funny.
Back then, cursive meant you were growing up. It felt fancy. Important. Mature. We signed our names with pride like we were approving million-dollar business deals in third grade.
Now?
Kids text faster than lightning but cannot read the word “banana” written in cursive.
Their generation can edit videos, build gaming worlds, and type 94 words a minute with two thumbs… but hand them a birthday card written in cursive and suddenly we are starring in National Treasure.
Honestly, it is kind of adorable.
But also a little sad.
Because cursive carried personality.
You could recognize someone’s handwriting instantly. Messy. Fancy. Tiny. Dramatic. Every curl and swoop carried emotion. A handwritten letter felt personal in a way typed words never quite do.
There was magic in opening a card and seeing familiar handwriting across the envelope.
Even grocery lists had character back then.
Now everything arrives in identical fonts looking like it came from a robot with excellent organizational skills.
And can we talk about signatures for a minute?
Some younger folks are out here creating signatures that look like they accidentally dropped a spaghetti noodle onto paper. Just one confused squiggle and a dot.
Meanwhile our generation was trained to make signatures look presidential.
If you signed your name with flair, you were somebody.
I still believe cursive deserves a comeback. Not because technology is bad, but because there is something beautiful about words written by hand. Something warm. Human. Imperfect.
A handwritten recipe from your mother.
A note tucked inside a Bible.
A love letter folded soft with age.
A signature on an old photograph.
Those things matter.
Cursive is more than handwriting.
It is memory written in ink.
And honestly, I may start randomly leaving cursive notes around just to keep younger people alert and mentally stimulated.
Nothing dangerous.
Just enough to make them wonder if they have discovered pirate clues hidden in the kitchen drawer.
When I went to Business School.. I had to take a whole semester of penmanship....kids these days would flip out if they had to sit in class and perfect their penmanship.
And what about signing checks?? Oops...I forgot! Everything is now done on the net! lol.. 😬😂🫢🤣🤓
Shug....
I had no idea that even high school graduates cannot write or read cursive!! I'm with you on how our teachers taught us when we were kids! Mine went up and down the desk rows checking it. My ability to learn it in grade school was so bad that the teacher made me sit in the cloakroom. Kids today would never know what a cloakroom is either! I write lists all the time, it calms me down. And I do them all in cursive!
ReplyDeleteWell, no offense, but I don't think it's adorable - I think it's pathetic. I still cursive but am not as neat as I once was.
ReplyDeleteI was just talking to friends about this the other day. It's so sad - they can't read historical documents, old letters... One told me that some schools are now starting to teach it again. I can't figure out why they ever stopped.
ReplyDeleteI think it is sad too. The reasoning was that they did not have time to teach them - because there were so many other things to add to the curriculum. They can't read regular clocks. Multiplication facts - we were told to teach Andy them over the summer, and he would be tested when he started school in the fall.
ReplyDeleteNow it might make sense if kids were really taught more - but were they?
Yes, iPad! Mine was a sanity-saver when I had to be away from home for a month when I broke my hip a couple of years ago. I still blogged every day. ❤️
ReplyDeleteYes bring back cursive. The girl I work with prints everything and now that you mention it her signature does look like you described. She attempts to make it look like cursive but you can't tell what her name is if you don't know it.
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was sad that they stopped teaching it.
Shug, this is a hot topic, for sure. Cursive used to be an indicator that you were growing up. But then again...so was counting back change and that's a whole different story :) If your burger cost 19.05 and you give them a $20 and a nickel, they look at you like you just asked them to recite the declaration of independence. Speaking of business school...my mom was recently showing me her shorthand that she learned over 60 years ago. She still remembers it all. Now that is something that would blow their minds! :)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know how to blog from my phone or the tablet that I have, I only ever use my laptop.
ReplyDeleteWhen my girls were at school my eldest who is 5 years older than my youngest was taught cursive but my youngest and her peers were never pushed to do it. It is pretty sad that it's not a thing anymore. I actually had words with my eldest yesterday about her signature, it was a squiggle and a dot, I told her to do it again and it looked completely different. I was always taught a signature had to be almost the same every time. I don't even think my girls have dealt with a cheque before. I feel old. lol
I still love my desk top, I do have an Ipad and use it once in awhile. I couldn't imagine blogging from my phone:)
ReplyDeleteYou are so precious, dear Shug! I'm over here, nodding like a bobblehead doll. Yes, I well remember being graded on penmanship. Sad, that now my essential tremor's caused it to "go to pot" like my momma used to say. Ah well. Proud to be a member of the Greatest Generation.
ReplyDeleteBoy, this post really hit a nerve with me. Every word you wrote is the same feeling I have. My granddaughter Amanda is a k/1st grade teacher at a christian school. They use cursive ... no exceptions ... these little 5 &6 year olds have such beautiful handwriting, it would put some of us adults to shame.
ReplyDeleteI love the statement that cursive handwriting is memory written in ink.
We are living in a cookie cutter world now and the individualism is no longer a "good" thing. Everything has to be perfect from our bodies to the way we think. Maybe 1984 is coming true !
Ok, I'll get off my soap box but thanks for this masterful post today.
Incidentally, I wok up this morning praying for your surgery. Its all in the good Lord's hands.
(((hugs)))
Sue