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Path: utzoo!utcsri!greg
From: greg@utcsri.UUCP (Gregory Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Handwriting (was:Input device)
Message-ID: <3968@utcsri.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21-Jan-87 13:07:40 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsri.3968
Posted: Wed Jan 21 13:07:40 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Jan-87 20:10:29 EST
References: <1191@ucbcad.berkeley.edu> <191@its63b.ed.ac.uk> <1145@rti-sel.UUCP>
Reply-To: greg@utcsri.UUCP (Gregory Smith)
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Lines: 38
Summary: 

In article <1145@rti-sel.UUCP> rcb@rti-sel.UUCP (Random) writes:
>Before any of you might laugh, the other day, I was taking some notes and
>I had to stop and think how to make a capital cursive "G". And of course
>my handwriting has always been awful even before computers. Has anyone
>else noticed this problem? 

Yes. I have a G in may name. One day when I was about fourteen, I took a
good hard look at this alleged cursive uppercase "G", and decided that
if it looked like a G, I was Idi Amin's grandmother. I now sign my name
using a G which looks a bit like a large, somewhat degenerated '6', and
which may or may not be joined to the following letter. I encourage
everyone else in the world to do likewise so that this ugly thing (the
alleged G) can be eliminated once and for all.

Some years later, I made a concerted effort to write my letters
separately rather than joining them all up. As a result, my handwriting
improved to the point where other people can almost always read it !!
Before this, I always had trouble with words like 'minimum', which came
out something like a highly distorted sine wave, and I had to count cycles
to find out where the dots on the i's went.

Personally I feel that the 'italic' style of writing is more efficient
than cursive script, since it requires a smaller number of strokes. The
'joining' strokes which are eliminated in this method do not contribute
to legibility, and actually degrade legibility unless they are very well
placed (cf. 'minimum')

Any comment on this? I feel that children should not be forced to write
using a a cursive script; they should be free to use either the cursive
method or the italic method, whichever seems best for them.

Signatures, however, are best done in a cursive manner with as many
'useless' joining strokes as is practical, since this extra redundant
information makes forging difficult.
-- 
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Greg Smith     University of Toronto      UUCP: ..utzoo!utcsri!greg
Have vAX, will hack...