Handwriting Shock
 

The other day I was gifted to go to a friend's daughter's 16th birthday party. As she was opening gifts and cards with "gift cards" or cash enclosed, I seen her lean over to her mother and ask her to read one of the cards to the guests of the party. The birthday girl commented to all that she could not read handwriting as she was never taught handwriting in school. We live in Texas USA. :hmmm:

I guess I am just a 77 year-old "old fart" with old thoughts of things we always will need in daily adult life such as:
Signing official documents like drivers license, marriage licenses, personal checks, wills, testimonials, and the list goes on.

Mind puzzling............:hmmm:

:subsim:

It's a wonder they even know how to open a bloody envelope...

What's an envelope?...









<O>

I'm from the old school too.

I have learned to write in cursive and normal handwriting
I have also learned to read these type of writings.

There is one handwriting types I never have learned to read and that is the type of handwriting my Grandma used

I think my mom said it was gothic handwriting.

Markus

Does not surprise me, they have been trying to do away with cursive writing in schools in the U.S. for years. I guess one day we will be going back to making an X for your signature. It is more likely that by not teaching cursive reading and writing, the students will be unable to read our founding documents, will not know what they really say, and will be better able to be controlled by a corrupt government.

Not likely, since those documents already exist in printed and electronic formats of all kinds...

The real question will be not if they can read them, but will they read them...










<O>

About 35 years ago I saw some letters that were written by a woman in Pennsylvania at the beginning of the 20th century. I think it was called something like "cross writing". It was used to save paper. First you write a letter on a page as you normally would, then to continue the letter you turn the page 90 degrees and write across what you have already written. It saved paper but was very difficult to read.

That is a very good point, but I would say my signature from 25 years ago looks nothing like my signature now, and my signature from 50 years ago looks like neither of the others. As people age, they tend to see changes in their handwriting and signatures. The only practical means of verification would be to make a comparison with several other specimens from contemporaneous documents...

As far as future signatures, most likely, for the foreseeable time, signatures will be electronic; we've all seen the little signature pads on all sorts of devices where either with a stylus or a finger, you sign for whatever the transaction is: a package, a purchase, verifying identity, etc. Sometime in the farther future, we will probably rely on biometrics: fingerprint or iris scans, voice or facial recognition, or some combination of these...

The Japanese have used a form of ink stamp called a Hanko since the time of Christ; it consists of a small block of wood or other solid material carved on one end with characters giving the name, and sometimes, the position, of the bearer; the Hanko is used by pressing the carved end onto an ink block and then pressed onto the document as a signature...












<O>

Another thing

A persons personally signatur is lighter different from time to time.

I saw a documentary about this.

An expert in handwriting said a person's signatur could change from one month to the next.

Mostly it is about 99.99 % same each time.

Markus

I wonder if anyone uses shorthand any more?:hmmm:

Signatures? Pshaw!
I've got my sealing wax and stamp! I don't need no signature.

I think it's the icon that shows up when you get email.

What's "email"...











<O>

Maybe they can't understand cursive but i'll bet they can type like the blazes.

My thoughts too :yep:

Yeah, so true. All my kids can type like maniacs. Not sure if they can read/write cursive. I think the youngest one never learned it, or if she did, she does not like/practice it.

I imagine this young lady as well as other in the same boat will not be able to decipher the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights as written on parchment. Well, one could say these two documents are printed in books. We can also say at one time certain books were burned. Then we could go on and say these documents are on the internet. Then we could go to say some countries control what is available on the internet or one day we are pushed back to the stone age by natural disaster. These electronic devices useless. Writing and the ability to read handwriting should always be taught IMO.

A thought: a handwritten version of the Subsim Forums... :hmmm:











<O>

Don't threaten me!!:timeout: