Cursive
Published by Yvonne Mitchell on 8 December 2008.Cursive: is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and letters quickly by hand. In the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic languages the letters in a word are connected, making a word one single complex stroke. In fact, the word comes from the Latin cursivus, meaning "flowing".
In British English, the phrase "joined-up writing" or "joint writing" is far more commonly used, while the term "running writing" or "handwriting" is most commonly used in Australia. Cursive is also commonly known as simply "handwriting" in Canada. Cursive is considered distinct from the so-called "printing" or "block letter" style of handwriting, in which the letters of a word are unconnected, and from "print-writing", which is a cross between cursive and printing, with some unconnected letters and some connected. In the Hebrew cursive and Roman cursive, the letters are not connected.1
My daughter brought to my attention a perplexing fact. My grandson who is in grade 8 cannot write, nor can any of his classmates. His little brother consistently gets a D in handwriting, even though he excels in every other subject. Oh, excuse me, it is called "Cursive". To be honest I had never heard that word until recently. Today's children do not have the opportunity to become proficient at the art of handwriting. We as parents and grandparents are so proud of our children when they learn how to use computers in JK and SK, since it is one of the most important job skills to have in this world we now live in. But reality is when we used to go to school we spent many hours learning how to write. It was a milestone to know how to read and write and to never print again! How many times did I have to restart a short story to be handed in because I made an error and it looked messy? I would write long letters to friends and family. I was told many times that my Mother had won an award for her beautiful penmanship. I would try to mimic her beautiful free flowing style. So will being able to read "Cursive" become as specialized as say, reading "Hieroglyphics"?
1 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2008
Comments
This brings to mind something funny that my mom used to say...
Of course its so inappropriate just now... (from George Hall on 11 November 2009)
