Letters
For this assignment, I wrote to my two grandmothers. The question of who to email and who to write to via email was an easy choice: my paternal grandmother doesn’t have a computer. My maternal grandmother, Popo, doesn’t use the computer either, but at least there’s a computer in the house. Snail mail was actually the best option for both of them, but instructions are instructions…
The first big difference I noticed was lettering. The email used the standard Times New Roman typeface that every other computer in the US can use. No personality, no individuality, no uniqueness. For the snail mail letter, I wrote in cursive.
Come to think of it, I always use cursive when writing to my grandmothers. First off, they’re among the few people I know who can actually read it nowadays. Secondly, they always use cursive when they write to me. Their letters and postcards are probably the main reason why I can still read and write cursive. Sometimes I think it’s a dying art.
Anyways, cursive just looks a lot more elegant and personal, as though I spent time writing and thinking about the letter. Cursive also shows personality more. I real a book a few years back about handwriting analysis—apparently, the way we shape cursive handwriting reveals a lot of personality. Even the way we loop a “y” can reveal lots.
For example—if the writing slants rightward, the writer is more outgoing and sociable. If the writing leans leftwards sharply, the person is introverted and anti-social. If the writing is in the middle or has only a tiny lean to the right (accounting for cursive training, which teaches students to lean writing to the right), the person is well-balanced between the two outlooks. Not that this analysis is always perfect though. My own handwriting leans right, but only because I angle the paper 45 degrees to the left and write at an angle. Technically, my handwriting leans left, but because of the way I slant my paper (a result of calligraphy training) it ends up slanting right. So it looks extroverted, but it’s really introverted.
Maybe it means that I’m duplicitous.
Another thing I noted about cursive is that it really fills up the paper. I had the same amount of words for each letter, but the cursive “looked” much longer because it takes up more space. The email looked really short in comparison. Again, this goes back to the time-spent issue. The snail mail letter looked like I had spent lots of time on it, while the email was so short that it looked like I banged it out in thirty seconds.
In tone, both the letter and the email were very similar. They both had more old-fashioned structure (i.e. Dear Grandma at the beginning; a final paragraph that asked how they were doing, what was happening in their lives, etc). I haven’t yet given up on the more formal tone in emails, and I don’t think my maternal grandmother has either.
Your blog really got me thinking this week. Cursive is a dying art?? That’s blasphemy! The first thing I did was ask my husband if they even teach it in elementary school these days (as if we’re ancient ourselves, and we’re not). He said he didn’t know, but that he doesn’t know how to write in cursive anymore either. I write that way all the time. My own casual handwriting is a kind of half and half mixture of printing and cursive. Anyway, my point to all this is I’m now worried people can’t read what I’m writing to them.
The handwriting analysis cracked me up. I’m totally introverted, I think. My handwriting is straight up and down now matter how far I tilt the paper. Maybe I should give myself more credit, eh?
I think it’s great that you still keep the formal tone in your emails. In all honesty, it usually bothers me when I get those formal emails, but after reading your blog about cursive dying and wondering whether we really are losing our personalization through CMC, I’m rethinking my ways. Good post!
Heather Howland said this on February 3, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I really do think cursive is dying, not necessarily in formal usage, but definitely in everyday usage. I learned cursive in elementary and middle-school (mostly because I was homeschooled) and most of my assignments were required to be in cursive, but that changed once I entered college. Most people don’t need it in college, and it’s very easy to forget.
skwalker said this on February 4, 2009 at 8:52 pm
For whatever reason, cursive seems to be an intriguing topic to more than just me. I was actually having a conversation a few days ago with a friend about it. Although I am very interested in hand writing and am proud to have an extensive repertoire of styles, I cannot remember a lot of the upper case cursive letters. I don’t remember the last time that I used cursive, but I do remember starting sentences with regular letters and switching after.
It is strange to think that in middle school, I used to have to use cursive for papers. It seems so outdated now. But good for you for using it with your grandmothers and keeping up with the ability!
This topic has also adds another dimension to our assignment. Not only does the content change, but the writing technique differs also, depending on the audience.
megustas2 said this on February 5, 2009 at 3:54 am
I remember learning how to write in cursive when I was in elementary school and how pretty it made the words look. I used to write in a mixture of print and cursive until I realized that some people couldnt read my writing anymore and I switched to all caps, I found that it people were able to read what I had to say more clearly. I think that how we write changes with who we are writing to. I try and make my writing look better when I am writing to older family members. But I will use my typical messy handwriting when it comes to younger family members and friends. I have two nephews who are in elementary school right now and I would hope that they are being taught how to write in both print and cursive because I think that it is important to know how write in both.
Heather Smith said this on February 6, 2009 at 6:18 pm
My understanding is that handwriting is no longer taught in elementary school. This from several friends with children that age. Instead, kids learn to type. Sigh.
Dr. Goodnow said this on February 7, 2009 at 9:55 pm