Poll: "Handwriting is becoming a lost art" Autor vlákna: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question ""Handwriting is becoming a lost art"".
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'The Economist" published some time ago a very interesting article on the subject:
See more
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sorry, link doesn't work!
My Irish grandmother had beautiful handwriting.
My own writing had various ups and downs. We had just learned printing and were about to do joined up letters when the school decided to switch to Italic, so that messed things up for a while.
Then I developed a style very like my dad's.
Now we write so little, apart from odd notes on bits of paper, I see my writing getting worse, I have to make a conscious effort if somebody else has to read it.
[Modificato alle 2025-11-04 10:19 GMT]
| | | | Luca Adie
Německo
Local time: 13:55
němčina -> angličtina
+ ...
I somewhat agree.
There will always be people who can write well by hand. Just look at our Chinese brothers and sisters - they would have a completely different answer.
I do, however, look at the handwriting of children and internally scream. Circles as dots? Very fat, broad letters? No joining up?
I wrote to the National Records of Scotland recently to change my name. Handwritten, pink envelope. It was handled within the week. Something tells me that the ... See more I somewhat agree.
There will always be people who can write well by hand. Just look at our Chinese brothers and sisters - they would have a completely different answer.
I do, however, look at the handwriting of children and internally scream. Circles as dots? Very fat, broad letters? No joining up?
I wrote to the National Records of Scotland recently to change my name. Handwritten, pink envelope. It was handled within the week. Something tells me that the handwriting and envelope made them work faster. ▲ Collapse
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Gregor Trebec
Slovinsko
Local time: 13:55
angličtina -> slovinština
+ ...
It happened years ago in a hotel i worked. The printer was dead, than what?
| | | | Aitor Salaberria 
Španělsko
Local time: 13:55
angličtina -> baskičtina
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | IrinaN (X)
Spojené státy americké
Local time: 06:55
angličtina -> ruština
+ ...
| Scientists who believe in evolution | Nov 4, 2025 |
Claim that handwriting, first known as rock painting, played an immense, irreplaceable role in turning a certain branch of primates into humans. The remaining primates must have been happy with pushing a button to get a treat. Are they still?
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943480/
| | | | Mario Chávez
Spojené státy americké
Local time: 07:55
angličtina -> španělština
+ ...
| Don't believe everything you read online | Nov 4, 2025 |
It seems that lots of people read The Economist, Harvard studies, MIT studies and other stuff as the ultimate authority on a particular topic.
Carl Sagan counseled against leaning too much on authority to develop your own thinking. I agree, but not because I think Carl Sagan is an authority per se, but because his arguments are cogent and independently testable.
I, for one, grew up loving and practicing handwriting. I also studied calligraphy in high school (it was part... See more It seems that lots of people read The Economist, Harvard studies, MIT studies and other stuff as the ultimate authority on a particular topic.
Carl Sagan counseled against leaning too much on authority to develop your own thinking. I agree, but not because I think Carl Sagan is an authority per se, but because his arguments are cogent and independently testable.
I, for one, grew up loving and practicing handwriting. I also studied calligraphy in high school (it was part of the coursework for two years). Writing is a human invention, so is the printing press and books. Handwriting was one of the natural ways we started to put down what we heard, thought or copied. Handwriting is not going away just because a few people claim it. ▲ Collapse
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Denis Fesik
Local time: 14:55
angličtina -> ruština
+ ...
| But didn't trust transformation happen way before writing? | Nov 4, 2025 |
IrinaN wrote:
Claim that handwriting, first known as rock painting, played an immense, irreplaceable role in turning a certain branch of primates into humans. The remaining primates must have been happy with pushing a button to get a treat. Are they still?
I take it, however, that the post was partly humorous. My understanding is that the dawn of humanity was the time when man first felt the urgent need to overcome death. That was probably before homo habilis back in the Paleolithic, but what we do know is that homo habilis did seek immortality. To them, human head was the seat of what we now speak of as the soul, so they'd put the skulls if their dead on altar stones or in caves. They didn't know how to bury their dead, so they'd first let animals or scavenger birds (such birds being an ancient symbol of resurrection) eat the flesh and then use the skull for religious purposes and place the bones in designated sites. One such site had lots of femur bones arranged in a neat rpattern and skulls placed on altar stones. Some would explain it through cannibalism, but there were also animal bones scattered around, so people would probably visit their dead and have commemorative feasts. I'll skip the age of the Neanderthals and touch briefly on the Cro-Magnons since the article probably refers to their rock paintings. Those paintings emerged out of the blue and were done with amazing skill from the outset. How can one hold the opinion, like some do, that it was all for the sake of good luck hunting? Made in hard-to-reach caves where no one was likely to see them. Some appearing at heights which could not be reached without some kind of trestlework. There are hunting tribes today who do make images of animals in pursuit of good luck, and somehow manage to catch exactly what's shown in the image, but a key thing with them is that the image has to be destroyed after the catch. To a Cro-Magnon, the caves were sanctuaries, and the paintings were everlasting offerings. And that, mind you, was way before writing. Ancient Greeks have shared with us the stories of Chronos and of his secretary, Hermes, according to which the former invented agriculture and the latter invented astronomy as a source of agricultural knowledge. All names of Hermes (including Mercury, Thot, and even their Celtic counterpart whose name I forgot) mean "sign" and related concepts such as "boundary," "pillar," or "mountain." He was the god of signs, but the first signs weren't letters but constellations. Letters followed later, and all those developments were associated with the discovery of agriculture, which took place in the Neolithic.
Anyway, my first ever F grade (a 2 over here) was for penmanship. Later, I'd invent my own handwriting styles, some of which were quite lovely. Nobody would borrow my notes in university because I was the only person who could understand them. And now I struggle through every word I have to write with my hand (sigh)
| | | | IrinaN (X)
Spojené státy americké
Local time: 06:55
angličtina -> ruština
+ ...
| Let me stretch it a bit, | Nov 5, 2025 |
generalize, and call any attempt to depict or express anything for visual perception by others using all kinds of symbols, drawing sticks or striking tools and manual skills before stylus, guills and modern pens, "handwriting" since this is how it all started anyway.
Science will tell in better words what gets triggered, evolved and advanced in our brain with each handwritten word.
I feel sorry for people who have never, ever received a handwritten letter (a real lette... See more generalize, and call any attempt to depict or express anything for visual perception by others using all kinds of symbols, drawing sticks or striking tools and manual skills before stylus, guills and modern pens, "handwriting" since this is how it all started anyway.
Science will tell in better words what gets triggered, evolved and advanced in our brain with each handwritten word.
I feel sorry for people who have never, ever received a handwritten letter (a real letter, not a signature and 2 words on a card) from the loved and loving ones. Likely, many younger people will never, ever earn the pleasure of both writing and receiving such letters, really live, not digitally live. Why don't you (general) try to write one? You never know, you just may get genuinely immersed in that unusual experience, or win the heart of a girl you always thought to be way out of your league
Just kidding, stay cool. Some modern girls may get bored just looking at it and think that you are a nerd to stay away from . No advises on personal choices from me
[Edited at 2025-11-05 13:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Denis Fesik
Local time: 14:55
angličtina -> ruština
+ ...
| Facts about writing | Nov 9, 2025 |
There are many ethnic groups scattered all across the globe who have never developed their own writing systems. Some ended up getting such systems from preachers, but the fact is that they could develop their own if they cared. But they didn't. They were fine as they were. And they are shockingly similar. For example, they all know of a god who created everything, they even know his name, but he's always a deus otiosus, it makes no sense for them to even talk about that god. They don't go to he... See more There are many ethnic groups scattered all across the globe who have never developed their own writing systems. Some ended up getting such systems from preachers, but the fact is that they could develop their own if they cared. But they didn't. They were fine as they were. And they are shockingly similar. For example, they all know of a god who created everything, they even know his name, but he's always a deus otiosus, it makes no sense for them to even talk about that god. They don't go to heaven after death but end up in a world just like ours, perhaps just a little better. They still follow the practice of double burial, except that, unlike the people from the Paleolithic who didn't have digging tools strong enough to dig a grave and would rely on scavenger animals to eat the flesh, modern people with no writing systems bury the body twice, and some even keep it standing upright before the house for quite a long time. Their dead go to a world from which they can come back to ours easily, and they are often nasty and can cause harm. They also contact spirits of all kinds and can do things that amaze modern 'civilized' folks with their neo-magical mindsets and no religion. There are many more similarities I don't know how to explain ▲ Collapse
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugalsko
Local time: 12:55
angličtina -> portugalština
+ ...
As long as I’m around, handwriting won’t be a lost art. ✍️
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