What's the point of writing in cursive?
 

There's probably a very obvious answer, but it hasn't dawned on me. Somebody enlighten me.

I always thought it was supposed to be faster than printing.

formal looking also.

I was required to write in cursive from third through fifth grade. Once I got to middle school and discovered it doesn't matter, dropped it for good ol' fashioned normal writing. Now about all I can write in cursive is my signature.

Exactly -- back in the day, people could do this really fast because you don't lift your pen from the paper much.

maybe we should delegate cursive to art/culture status the way calligraphy is in say japan.. this would ensure its survival as a cultural and philosophical treasure, but not annoy students who would rather print.

I'm inclined to agree with this, but I do know a few people who take notes in cursive (and are faster because of their extensive practice than my printing). It seems to still be a somewhat useful skill.

Perhaps it should be a high school elective subject rather than a mandatory elementary school thing. Their are much more useful things for little kids to learn anyway.

I'm left handed, and I've always found cursive extremely difficult. I think it's much easier to write flowing strokes by drawing a pen behind your hand (i.e. right handed people) than by having to follow the writing with your hand (i.e. LH people). And let's not even get into smudging :P

I am the reason word processing was invented.....was it not for the computer I would probably be considered illiterate......Typewriter? come on all that white stuff all over ..... what was wrong with cuneiform anyway?

It's a conspiracy to make me look illiterate. I can't read a damn thing that people write in cursive, and I'm not exactly stupid.

I started to learn it in the 3rd grade but then I went to a private school where they made me write in pure caligraphy instead. Now I can't read anything in cursive without struggling.

Now that we have computers I don't think we'll see much more of cursive handwriting. Besides, think of how much time that will free up for teaching our kids something that really matters.

You bunch of pinko communists bastards! What the hells going on here? Don't you all understand that cursive writing is the basis of our great and mighty nation. That without cursive writing, there would be no polio vaccine, no toaster struedels, no weapons of mass destruction, no fine cuban women to massage my prostate.

Oh sorry, that was something else. My bad.

"Back in the day?" You know, cursive still requires you to lift your pen as little as possible, to this very day! Back in the day?

Yes, cursive is demonstrably faster because you don't have to lift your pen. Not only is it also an art form and part of our culture, we still need it to sign documents with it. It's a personal mark that uniquifies us (surprisingly well) and is somewhat difficult to forge. While all this stuff can be bypassed, it's like software protection schemes. It's meant to stop casual piracy. Or, in this case, casual forgery...

This is exactly why our culture reads from left to right. Because we wrote that way! Why? Because we didn't want to smudge the ink before it dried while writing the rest of the sentence. Because the vast majority of us are right handed, we were concerned about smudging this ink with our right hand.
If most of us were left handed, we would probably be reading and writing right to left, for the same reasons...

cursive is much faster. How will you take notes in college if you can't write fast?

If you are going to be a plumber, fine - study soldering instead of cursive. If you are going to go to college you need to write fast to take notes.

i can print faster and clearer than i could ever write cursively, and it's a lot neater also. it's all a matter of what you spend most of your time practicing. i think many others feel this way. in fact if speed is an issue it's best to practice your own type of shorthand.

about signatures: i'm wondering what will happen to cursive when/if we start marking documents with electronical keys.

I was forced in school to use cursive (or the nuns would hit me with a ruler)but found that I could print faster and more legibly.
I think cursive is an art form, would love to be able to do it well but never could.

there is no point to writing in cursive. at least i dont think so. it is supposed to be a lot faster in print, but i dont think so. it is also made to be read easier by some people too but i guess they have never seen me write in it. i quit trying cursive because i write in print so much faster and if i want something legible i'll type it up.

I feel the same way! Cursed smudging!

Cursive vs. print is the classic case of form vs. function.

Cursive makes writings look much prettier and can add an artistic flair.

I think cursive is a pain to use, especially if you haven't been done it in a while (i.e. me). But if you've been writing cursive all of your life (like grandparents), the writing is absolutely beautiful. Long, flowing stokes, with perfect curves that defy the physics of a ball-point pen. Its gorgeous.

Cant we just type?

Who needs writing.

writing is gay.

Amen.

Word.

It can be faster, but I was never all that great at it. I find it to be not very readable as well. I switched to print as soon as I could. I don't think I can even write in cursive anymore.

Bottom line :

X = Signature
cursive = clownshoes

I would love to be able to have beautiful cursive but it's just not for me. Possibly its used for signatures because it's easier to develope your own style with cursive. There are so many ways to do all the loops and twists but normal writing is sort of one way.

Perhaps cursive evolved in part because quills with real ink didn't have to leave the paper as often, which meant there were fewer opportunities for unsightly drippage.

It's faster for me to write in cursive, but it takes me longer to read back my notes ;). I find that I tend to mix my print with cursive when it's nessisary to speedy. For instance, I will connect the F and o in For and the g and e in get. But if I really need something fast (like school notes) I'll type it. I type faster than I print and it's more legibel than either my printing or my curisve.

Back in Elementary school I used cursive all the time, but once I entered middle school I lost that skill. However my handwriting now has kind of evolved into a combination of print and cursive... which ends up quite sloppy if done fast... but hell, I understand it, so who cares!

It makes writing fun!
and looks fancier

About the only time I write now is in my journal and I do that i cursive.. why? Just because. No-one needs to read it and I rarely go back and re-read what I've written so that's not an issue for me.

As a pre-teen I spent many an hour perfecting my loops and swirls and have since always been required by ex b/f's to write the messages on greeting cards! That's about as useful as it gets :)

I have mixed feelings about it. Sure, It's useless and no one bothers to learn it, but I feel like we're letting a tradition die.
It's kinda sad, but not sad enough to make me write with it.

I think that writing in cursive makes you smarter and gives you high paying jobs. At least this is what I have gathered, considering the majority of people who try and read my signature say I'd make a good doctor.

You all should start writing like Leonardo Da Vinci did, right to left. That should help with the smudging ;) Aside from it being counter-intuitive and confusing as hell, it seems pretty damn cool to me!

Theres no point to it which is why i havent used it since fifth grade

i remember reading a study years ago showing that cursive was NOT the fastest way to write. Actually, the fastest is a combination of print and cursive, where you connect some of the letters, but lift the pen so that you can cross your t's, dot your i's as you go along, and in other convenient places.

Cursive is definitely faster. Regardless, I've abandoned it for print. I'm not completely sure why...I just prefer it. I don't think it's a bad skill to have if I needed to write more quickly.

Oh, and here's an interesting fact. In Russian, there's no such thing as hand-written print (or at least not normally). That means that everyone writes in cursive. It leads to some confusion when learning to write the language. For example, think of how different 'z' and 'cursive z' are. There are similar differences in Russian.

Cursive is faster. I think it's beautiful when done properly. Having students study cursive teaches them pen control and can help improve handwriting and small motor control. I enjoy cursive and use it almost 80% of the time. Wrote all my Christmas cards in cursive. I took handwriting every year of highschool and 2 years of Calligraphy as well. When I'm rushed and sloppy my handwriting can look stereotypically like a physicians but when I'm halfway careful I take pride in how it looks.

I never got into cursive really much so I have always been a printer. I print everything and I when I write in cursive, I am really really slow and it is terribly ugly. All I can do in cursive is my name, and it isn't all fancy like some people have their signatures either.