Tuesday, September 22, 2009

My Love of Cursive Writing; or, Cursive Adds Class, Class!

An AP article that I came across in the local Sunday newspaper (which this old-fashioned lady still reads in its physical, newspaper form!), which I've located online, for your linked convenience, basically summarizes that cursive writing, as a form of correspondence, is dying.

I don't know why I'm surprised. I've found that the art of writing thank you notes, in ANY form, handwritten or otherwise, is dying. So is the art of sending seasonal cards, moving announcements, or any other kind of correspondence or stationery that doesn't directly or indirectly hint at the senders' solicitations of some kind of gifts for themselves or their children. Etiquette has died, & proper grammar has died & rolled over in its grave a few times. Not it's grave - ITS grave.

(Why, why, WHY is it so hard to understand the difference between plural&possessive? WHY???)

Nonetheless, I was surprised. Perhaps it is because I so adore cursive handwriting. I much prefer to make my to-do lists on actual lined, paper lists (back to my love of stationery, I suppose). I almost always use cursive handwriting, even for my planner, writing out checks, writing out recipients' addresses on mail, etc. On the Stickies I use on my MacBook, I even use a cursive font!

Cursive just seems to elevate whatever the reader or writer is reading or writing to a more attractive, classy item to look at. If done properly, it is no harder to read than any other kind of printing or typing. Frankly, a well-written piece of cursive handwriting, with proper capitalization, grammar, punctuation, & spelling - well, I find that a LOT easier to read than these horribly abbreviated text messages & chicken-scratch graffiti fonts that "kids these days" are using.

I suppose this is yet another of my soapbox moments, for which I apologize. I really will get back to posting my photos of my cooking&crafts. ASAP.

I promise I'll save you my further opinions about homeschooling, private education, public education...or how this article relates to those opinions. (Suffice it to say that I will be darned if my Pretty Little Bare Feet doesn't have pretty cursive penmanship one day, like any good little educated Southern belle should.)

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