Handwriting

Of course you know that January 21-28 is National Handwriting Week. Today is John Hancock's birthday, which marks National Handwriting Day. The day was established by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association in 1977 to (surprise!) promote the consumption of pens, pencils, and writing paper.

Not so long ago, everyone was expected to write neatly, but not necessarily the same. The Victorians associated handwriting practice with character development. Disciplined, ordered handwriting demonstrated integrity, resourcefulness and a strong, upright character. In men, a "muscular" handwriting was admired, but ladies were admired for frivolous, ornate hands that took a long time to pen properly -- showing they had nothing of more importance to occupy them.

This penmanship book from the 1800's specified in the upper right corner that the version as intended for boys, meaning that boys and girls learned different styles of writing. In school we used to get a report card grade just for "penmanship and neatness." Several times a week everyone had to practice cursive writing from the same chart above the blackboard. The girls loved it; the boys not so much.

19th Century handwriting

Teaching cursive writing is on the decline, and printing out letter shapes or caps is more common with children now. That was discouraged when I was a kid because it wasn't "real" writing. Handwriting class pretty much disappeared from the curriculum in the mid-sixties. Now young people expect to keyboard and text their way through life. I think that's a shame, because there's a bias against sloppy handwriting and people still have to fill out forms and applications, or even write a letter now and then.

Many people say they can't write in cursive at all, so they print. Realistically, handwriting is "bad" only if it prevents others from being able to read it. Doctors are notorious for their bad handwriting. According to Time Magazine poor handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually. That was back in 2007. In reality doctor writing isn't any worse than the general population, but life or death depends on it. More prescriptions are being filled electronically now, eliminating the little scribbled paper.

Not to scare you, but bad handwriting can be a symptom of disease. For example, with dopamine-responsive dystonia normal handwriting in childhood steadily deteriorates into very bad handwriting during adult years. Well, this is true for most people my age, and we can blame the keyboard. There was once a time when I'd write a letter to a friend or family member nearly every day. I have bundles of letters received that I've saved for years, which is nothing like a file of old emails.

Our writing style is as individual as a fingerprint. Bart Baggett is a celebrity handwriting analysis expert. He appears on Oprah and such, talking about personality traits and the handwriting strokes commonly found in the handwriting of successful people:

High Goals and Ambition (t-bars crossed on the top of the stem)

Strong self-esteem (large signature and high crossed t-bars)

Determination (heavy downstrokes below the baseline)

Persistence (not picking up your pen when you cross the letter t)

Strong Physical Drives (large and heavy y and g loops)

Long Lasting Enduring Emotions (pressing very hard on the paper)

Enthusiasm (extra long strokes to make the crossing of your t)

That all sounds a bit too simplistic. But I suppose email style also reveals our personality. In this day of computers, more and more information is sent via cyberspace. Checking the mailbox can be a bit depressing. Isn't it nice to find a handwritten note from a friend or a child between the bills and junk mail? So pick up a pen occasionally and work the kinks out of those poor keyboarded fingers. You'll make a friend (and the post office) happy with a piece of snail mail.