Joined up writing

[chomp my root]

1 hour ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

The trouble with cursive script can be that folk get sloppier as they get older and don't have a teacher hovering over them. Some of the notes I've seen from elderly folks have been completely impenetrable, and we all know what doctors are notorious for (other than bumping off the elderly).

<<< oddball who writes everything in capital letters

When I'm writing a list, shopping or whatever I print everything in capitals too. I can't remember the last time I wrote a letter in cursive, not that I'm much of a letter writer, pretty much everything is done by email these days.

I'm another touch typer, hated learning it, struggled to keep up with the pace but then it just clicked. Probably one of the most useful things I've learned, seeing as we tend to live our lives in front of a keyboard one way or another.

Edited June 27, 2018 by chomp my root
Distracted by football

[Nutz_the_Squirrel]

Touch typing is a skill which should be given equal priority in education.  I type far, far quicker than I could ever write.  If I was to hand write anything, it would soon be typed up anyway. 

I see a lot of index finger typers in my work.  The role involves a lot of report writing and it's no coincidence that those with crap IT skills are more often pulled up for overdue reports, and are stressed out their heads.

[nsr]

1 hour ago, Hedgecutter said:

Do people here go to work meetings / lectures / conferences and completely rely on laptops  to annoy the **** out of the speaker with clattering of the keys?

You might be confusing a laptop with a typewriter there mate.

[Jacksgranda]

6 hours ago, GordonS said:

It's faster. Unless you can type really quickly it's still faster than typing or any other form of writing. I take minutes of a lot of meetings and there's nothing quicker than writing - plus, it's disruptive to sit there clattering away on a keyboard.

Throughout school kids are going to have to write a lot. There's no way in the near future they're all going to be sitting there with laptops in front of them in class, taking their notes. 

It's also nicer to look at. I don't think I'd like to get a Valentine's card written in small caps.

But schools are still miles behind, typing is an important skill now and they ought to be teaching it. And I'd happily see them spend less time on handwriting and more time on grammar and punctuation. 

I thought they'd scrapped that going by most posts on here...

[itzdrk]

4 hours ago, Cerberus said:

THERE ARE MANY ADULT READING AND WRITING CLASSES IN YOUR AREA THAT YOU COULD TAKE TO HELP WITH YOUR PROBLEM.

 

My handwriting is excellent.  Reading of lawyers scribbled amendments (sometimes so scribbled it is just a straight line) not so much.  

[Raidernation]

Judging by the majority of P&B posters I’d be happy if they’d have been taught joined up thinking!

[Nutz_the_Squirrel]

10 minutes ago, Raidernation said:

Judging by the majority of P&B posters I’d be happy if they’d have been taught joined up thinking!

Hahahahahaha. Oh, you! 

[The OP]

I can touch type* but I generally dictate anyway because I’m a lazy c**t and I’d be doing someone out of a fantastic job involving listening to me all day. Seem to remember being taught the basics of touch typing (basically where the home keys are) in some class in high school but I properly learned at uni when essay writing to a deadline.

In terms of joined up writing, I used to pity the person who marked my exam answers - they were trenchant and brilliant obviously, but très hard to read. Despite this I still use my standard scrawl when handwriting because if someone over 11 doesn’t do joined up writing as a matter of course I’d automatically assume they are a complete idiot, in the same way I’d judge them for using a pen which uses ink other than black or blue, or if they put anything other than a dot at the top of the letter i or j.

 

*Doesn’t get you as much pussy as you might think.

[itzdrk]

7 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

^^^^ high school teacher 

I would welcome the increase in salary

[Melanius Mullarkey]

58 minutes ago, The OP said:

I can touch type* but I generally dictate anyway because I’m a lazy c**t and I’d be doing someone out of a fantastic job involving listening to me all day. 

Do you often get asked by colleagues if they can use your dictaphone?

[The OP]

3 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Do you often get asked by colleagues if they can use your dictaphone?

No.

[parsforlife]

Given everything more than 3 words long should be typed and writing in general is becoming less and less important as more is digitized it is utterly pointless to be teaching kids a more complex and less legible form of writing. Genuinely can't remember when I last wrote out a full sentence.

Tends to just be the old that try and justify the hours of their childhood wasted away.

[welshbairn]

12 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Given everything more than 3 words long should be typed and writing in general is becoming less and less important as more is digitized it is utterly pointless to be teaching kids a more complex and less legible form of writing. Genuinely can't remember when I last wrote out a full sentence.

Tends to just be the old that try and justify the hours of their childhood wasted away.

^^^of no use to anyone when a serious solar wind hits and all electrical systems go down.

[GordonS]

3 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

I thought they'd scrapped that going by most posts on here...

You really are Jack's granda.

I think the problem is that most teachers were brought up in the post-grammar era too, so only the English teachers in secondary schools can teach it. It's much too late by then.

Our lack of focus on grammar is one of the major reasons why we're so bad at learning foreign languages too. How are you supposed to learn the perfect tense in French if you don't know what it means in English?

[Raidernation]

17 years of writing on blackboards/whiteboards has got me writing mostly in capitals as it’s easier for kids to read in class. I’m also pretty good at doing it quicker and neater than cursive these days.

[nsr]

We were never taught how to type at school. I just learned it from constant computer use at home. I'm not sure how many kids actually type on computers at home now. It's all tablets and other such new-fangled machines.

[Jacksgranda]

11 hours ago, GordonS said:

You really are Jack's granda.

 

The clue is in the name...

[DA Baracus]

In 4th Year my English teacher told me that my handwriting was shit.

Since then I've written in block capitals. That was a fucker in some Higher exams, since I had to write so much.

 

If you want bad handwriting, you should check out many doctors' writing. It's almost like they're trained to write terribly. 

[glassnahalf]

I was taught cursive in Primary 7 in 1978 and it has stuck with me to this day. Unfortunately it has degraded somewhat and even I can't decypher what I've written from a few days before!

[supermik]

3 hours ago, glassnahalf said:

I was taught cursive in Primary 7 in 1978 and it has stuck with me to this day. Unfortunately it has degraded somewhat and even I can't decypher what I've written from a few days before!

How the heck do you think the rest of us feel?