Crummy handwriting thread.

Lefty here as well.

Sometimes my handwriting is downright great. Sometimes it’s horrible. I do so very little of it these days that I just take whatever comes that day. 😂

I'm also a lefty, have never written well and am nearly non-functional these days, even printing. When visiting a new doctor I'll download their new patient forms and edit in Acrobat, print them out and bring them already prepared. It would be futile for me filling out forms on a clipboard on my knee in the waiting room.

My energy levels aren't turning out to be what I thought they'd be (still recovering from radiation), so I might skip the cards today, and plant myself on the couch with a clipboard and practice some penmanship. That might make it a bit easier when the time comes.

At points in the past I've looked online to see if I could find some sort of practice books intended for adults like us, but I never found anything that seemed to be just right.

Edit: just googled it and I'm seeing some stuff online.  Maybe I'll order something if it isn't too expensive.

when I was a young jazz musician I went to a famous musician's autograph session at a small record store.
due to zero advertising by the store I was the only one that showed up.
the musician was there w/ his wife and I talked to him for an hour, very cool.
I brought along 2 records that he personalized to me but the writing is just about illegible.
if I had to prove it was his signatures I probably couldn't unless someone else was familiar w/ his chicken scratch writing.

writing so bad I could be a doctor.... Printing is OK......

Lefty and Catholic school refugee during the era of "erasable pens" - I got more discipline for 'bad penmanship and smudging" and didn't realize it until years later why.

Because...erasable ink, ,and left hand...instant smudge.

I can be decent with a fountain pen, but I have to care.

The rest of the time I don't care.

This reminds me of my paternal grandfather whose writing was atrocious. He was born a lefty in 1903 and was forced to learn to write with his right hand. Evidently, at that time, left-handers were viewed as being oddballs. My grandmother was the only person that could consistently decipher his scribbles. Here’s to all you oddballs out there. My grandfather was an awesome guy.

Ive never had a good hand at cursive. Always looked  childish. In my previous life as lead draftsman and mechanical designer I had to "letter".
Took 8 years of high school drafting in 4 years so lettering was drilled in and it had to be good.
30 years of professional work made me a good draftsman but my hand was retrained to work with straight vertical and horizontal strokes. After so many years cursive was almost painful so I stopped using it. I developed a hybrid cross between architectural style and more strict industrial style. So I letter letters and anything else I write. Even my "official/legal" signature is lettered. I get the occasional compliment and am happy with no cursive.
I do think that kids should learn cursive. It is sort of the first chance for kids to be creative in school.

I can write well if I want to, I just rarely want to. Really.

I print everything but my signature. My cursive is dismal and always has been. My printing is legible and good enough. I seldom write down anything someone else has to read other than medical and insurance forms and the like. I slow down and print better for those so they're easy to read by someone not familiar with my handwriting. It's not pretty but gets the job done.

My wife remembers her grandfather being able to write in cursive with both hands simultaneously. The right hand properly and the left hand writing backwards. Cool parlor trick.

I took multiple drafting courses and used to be able to print beautifully.  Over the years that's degraded considerably.  I can still print nicely if I slow down and work at it, but I only do that when writing a note or addressing an envelope.  

I haven't done much cursive since 7th grade where I decided it wasn't cool to write in cursive and switched over to printing exclusively. 


Funny side story related to handwriting....I switched dorm rooms mid year and shortly after that I was called to campus security because someone from my dorm room had paid for pizza delivery with a stolen check.  I didn't even live in that room when it happened but the campus keystone cops were convinced they were gonna nail me.  They made me give a handwriting sample, which I struggled mightily with because the name had a capital 'F' in it and I couldn't remember how to make that in cursive.  They then pulled the  classic "we have you dead to rights....handwriting is a perfect match...best to just confess now" routine.  I told them they'd been watching too many cop shows and that I didn't do it.  They let me go with a last ditch "we're still gonna get you" type comment, to which I replied "good luck with that".  Never heard from them again.