[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Brit Speak - Joined-Up Writing Confusion

[Shaun Hately]

On 3 Jun 2004 at 18:57, Ali wrote:

> I'm not entirely sure what cursive script is, but I take it to 
> mean "joined up" writing. 

Well, living in Australia, the land which gets hit by British 
English and American English in roughly equal amounts, I can 
confirm that these are pretty much the same thing - both terms are 
used more or less interchangably here (along with 'running 
writing').
 
> I think that once again, this is simply Brit speak, and there is no 
> play on words. Lockhart's pride just shows that he is improving.
> 
> BTW, not quite everyone over the age of whatever does joined-up 
> writing: I don't! I was a tragic failure in the handwriting 
> department at school, and was the last kid in the class allowed to 
> write with a pen. I'm left-handed, write upside down, but despite 
> all that, my writing is still amongst the neatest that I know. 
> 
> I don't personally rate the ability to join up writing very highly...

My handwriting dilemmas...

Aged 5, Grade Prep, start school in the state of Victoria - begin 
to learn Victorian Standard Cursive Script - though at that stage 
we only printed, we were expected to form the letters in the same 
way we would when we eventually joined them up.

Aged 5 and 2 months, Grade Kindergarten, - moved to the state of 
NSW, having just mastered the basics of Victorian Standard. Had to 
change and learn NSW standard printing (not sure if it had a name). 
Considerably different. Wound up in a *very* old fashioned primary 
school which had no flexibility when it came to handwriting.

Aged 7 and 2 months, Grade Two, - now a master of NSW script. Moved 
back to Victoria. Suddenly had to relearn Victorian Standard 
Cursive Script. Teacher who was totally obsessed with handwriting 
and completely unable to deal with the fact that I was already 
beyond Year 7 standard in all academic areas - and so insisted I 
spend all my time working on changing my handwriting back to the 
acceptable standard.

Aged 8, Grade Three - my Victorian Standard Cursive Script is OK - 
but this is the year when we are expected to start joining it 
together. Teaching us how to join all those printed letters 
together becomes the obsession of all our writing classes. I have 
fairly poor hand eye coordination, and very poor eyesight that 
cannot be fully corrected with glasses - handwriting would have 
been difficult anyway. But now I was learning (or relearning) my 
fourth style in four years. Fortunately this year I had a very 
patient teacher, and by the end of the year my handwriting was 
pretty reasonable.

Aged 9, Grade Four - Pen Licence time. We now had to learn how to 
write neatly with ball point pens rather than pencil. Not a major 
drama in my case - adapted to that pretty well.

Aged 10, Grade Five - somebody at the Catholic Education Office 
decides on a bold new plan to improve children's handwriting. Every 
primary aged child from Grade Three upwards will now learn to write 
using fountain pens - and will learn a heavily modified and 
simplified Copperplate script. Mad rush in Catholic schools all 
around the state to buy the indicated pen. Shortage - children told 
to just buy different fountain pens, much harder to use (sharp 
pointed, rather than round pointed). I spend the entire year 
ripping pages of work - fortunately same patient teacher as I had 
in Grade Three - so not disastrous.

Aged 11, Grade Six - parents revolt at cost of replacing school 
uniforms covered in ink spots by fountain pen wielding children. 
School bows to pressure and tells us we can write anyway we want 
using any method we want. I start to develop a consistent style of 
my own - a combination of cursive and modified copperplate using 
decent quality ballpoints.

Aged 12, Year Seven - the school from hell (not just because of the 
handwriting - a year in this school ruined my childhood and left me 
a near suicidal clinical depressive). Homeroom teacher *obsessed* 
with neatness in work - and with the use of Victorian Standard 
Cursive. Required to use specific pens on the school booklist, 
which were nothing like what I was used to using. By end of year, 
writing in standard cursive again, but very poorly.

Aged 13, Year Eight - my favourite school out of all those I 
attended. *Extremely* interested in neat handwriting (and prepared 
to rip up pages that weren't as neat as you could make them (they 
didn't expect perfection - but they expected whatever your best 
was) and make you redo them) but you could use any style you wanted 
to use. Back to my Grade Six style, slowly.

Aged 14 and onwards - assignments had to be typed or word 
processed, handwriting merely needed to be legible.

Aged 28 (last year). Begin primary teaching course. Have to relearn 
Victorian Standard Cursive, and also how to write on a blackboard 
and a whiteboard. Just about ready to scream!


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia