Learn About Handwriting from Mother Jones
The Mother Jones magazine for September and October 2016 published "A Brief History of Handwriting." based on research from Madison Pauly .. Some questions and responses (some just mine) follow:
Why cursive? Because in the 600's quill pens and parchment resulted in drippy ink, and therefore lifting the pen from the paper was discouraged. So, cursive was invented.
In the early years, did everybody use handwriting? Usually, only fairly well off white males were taught to write in the 1700's. Gentlemen used an italic script, while those accomplished women allowed to write used something called "ladies roman."
Could slaves handwrite? Prior to the Civil War, some southern sites passed laws making it a crime to teach slaves to write. (Frederick Douglass learned to read and write. He had a little help from whites who could have been prosecuted.)
Didn't cursive writing become popular in advertisements? Yes, and it probably started with that show off John Hancock, who wanted to advertise himself to King George. Ford and Coca Cola used cursive writing as part of their ads.
When was the typewrite invented? A Dane, Rasmus Mailing-Hansen developed the Hansen Writing Ball. Was this a precursor () to IBM's Selectric machines? I'll have to check this out. Interesting.
The most useful class I took in High School was Typing 101. I'm not sure why I took it, except that I was the only boy in the class. The keys were covered so I learned to find the ones I wanted by touch position. My problem was with numbers and symbols. My speed was good except when I had to look at the uncovered keys (the numbers and symbols of course.)
After I snuck into the Air Force, I was sent to Morse Code School in Biloxi, Mississippi. Six months at eight hours from midnite to 8 am, I copied code using a typewriter. Once again, my speed was excellent, except for those damn numbers and symbols. Because I still had to look for those keys, my typing speed remained at around 25 words per minute, which was fine, except that my friends who could break that speed were allowed to learn foreign code characters and go on to secret jobs, eventually leading to the CIA or NSA... or so it was whispered to me.
When I got out of the service, the first thing I did was buy an extra small portable typewriter which served me well in College.
Do other Countries use cursive handwriting? Yes. Most that I've seen are easy to read, but Germany's is tough. However, one of the first things I did when I was stationed in Germany was to learn to read German in both typeface and cursive. After a while I was good at reading the old cursive script.. in fact some German adults never did learn to read it. I have been able to translate some old German birth certificates even though I'm not of German descent. (At least I don't think so.)
Timeline of notable events:
1880 - Alonzo Cross (you know, the good pen guy) patented the "stylographic pen" that holds its own ink.
1888 - John Robert Gregg invents a form of shorthand.
1894 - Austin Palmer introduces the "Palmer Method"
1904 - The IQ guy, Alfred Binet gets into handwriting analysis
1913 - Congress says its ok to use handwriting as forensic evidence in Court.
1944 - Laszlo Bird markets the first ballpoint pen.
1958 - The BIC ballpoint pen appears. (This guy collects them.)
I question this date, because I still remember my cousin Tom visiting and breathlessly showing me his BIC pen. At the time, around 1947 (?) I was very impressed because in school I was still using a pen that was dipped into an inkwell fit into the top of my desk.
When I was in the fourth grade at Massachusetts' oldest and most dilapidated grammar school in New Bedford, we "bad" kids would dip our pens into our ink wells and allow them to drip down between the old mismatched wood flooring onto the unsuspecting kids underneath.
One of the class papers that I wrote in the seventh grade was written in cursive with a "dip" pen. It is an autobiographical set of papers crimped together with one of those old type brass connectors. Why I mention it is because I dripped ink throughout the document, and this was before "inkblot tests." But, apparently I wasn't that sloppy a writer, because she gave me a "B."
I wonder what happens today when a child misbehaves in school. When I misbehaved, the teacher would have me write out 100 times on the blackboard in cursive: "I will not drip ink on people anymore." This would be a good punishment because it was such a pain in the ass to be doing this while your friends are all out playing baseball or such.
Do today's kids just grab their hand-held devices and implement an "app" that will handle the punishment. Besides, kids are not learning cursive writing today. A few years from now, genealogy will self destruct because nobody will be able to read their ancestors' letters.
Troubling Item
Another handwriting entry by Mother Jones relates to a State's push to get only the "right" folks to vote. Here is the entry:
c. 1964: From a Louisiana poll test: "Write every other word in this first line and print every third word in same line (original type smaller and first line ended at comma) but capitalize the fifth word that you write."
However, another entry shows:
"2016: Louisiana and Mississippi mandate instruction of handwriting in public schools. Without it, supporters argue, kids wouldn't be able to sign their names or read the Constitution."
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Addendum: I bought some pens with my fan club logo on them from National Pens. Now, almost every week I get a new sample of a pen with my logo and a "good price." I also have a few with my Niemand Associates logo on them, and I arranged for the Social Security Alumni Association to buy some with their logo to give out as advertisements.
Good friend, Mitzie L. sends to a special Internet site where they sell rejected pens. These are the ones that say things like: "Eat at Joe's Dinner." or "Go to our Weeb Site." She has a large collection. Sounds like fun to me.(I'd get involved if I wasn't so damn old.)
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