Submitted 18 hours ago by 
kimlockhartga@beige.party to bookstodon@fedigroups.social
It had not occurred to me until today, but I wonder how often readers cannot deciper a passage in a book, because it's written in cursive? I don't know the exact year that most schools stopped teaching it.
This potential issue has come up in a really good graphic novel I'm reading, recommended by you fine folks: Do Admit! The Mitford Sisters and Me, by Mimi Pond (published by Drawn & Quarterly). Cursive has come up frequently so far.
nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social 6 hours ago @kimlockhartga @bookstodon I don't think I've ever run into cursive in an actual book before. Interesting. I know they actually taught me cursive in school and I needed as I grew up. I'm left-handed at writing and it literally is easier to pull a pen than to push it. Taking notes in class was literally physically painful for me at times. Cursive is easier to write, so I required it just to get by. It's not my normal default though by any means, but of course I can read/write it fine. Or as well as anyone can... (Look, don't blame me if my handwriting looks like a doctor's, ok?)
kimlockhartga@beige.party 24 minutes ago @nazokiyoubinbou @bookstodon 😁 I'm with you on the handwriting thing. How often do we write by hand anymore?
I think it's probably only in graphic novels that we see variations in lettering that include cursive. I've seen different fonts used in novels, but I've only seen cursive used in graphic novels.
paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange 16 hours ago i recall someone asking for folks to do transcriptions of older documents and having trouble finding folks that read cursive.
norawickham@mastodon.social 17 hours ago Cursive can be a real struggle.
LovingFalloutLondon1954@mastodon.social 17 hours ago Posting scanned images of death certificates on Reddit now is a thing because they can't read the cause of death when it is written in cursive.
kimlockhartga@beige.party 17 hours ago @LovingFalloutLondon1954 @bookstodon oh my goodness.
QueenOfTheCroneAge@beige.party 17 hours ago My gkids are 8 and 11. 11 knows cursive, can read and write with it. 8 is learning this year, 3rd grade.
NYS school system, Central NY area.
My dil is great about all of their education. We're lucky to have her.
kimlockhartga@beige.party 17 hours ago @QueenOfTheCroneAge @bookstodon This is encouraging. My godson, 19 yrs. old, was taught cursive at a very diverse charter school. (The kids were mean to him in regular public school, but he immediately blossomed at the new school, where people who looked just like him were there.)
QueenOfTheCroneAge@beige.party 16 hours ago I love that. People can be ....blech.
mcpinson@mas.to 18 hours ago @kimlockhartga @bookstodon
I've seen books published in the late 1800's that slipped German, French, Latin, and Greek quotations into the text without apology, but CuRsiVe iZ tOo hArd!
#Literacy
kimlockhartga@beige.party 17 hours ago @mcpinson @bookstodon Truth.
AbramKedge@beige.party 18 hours ago @kimlockhartga @bookstodon I was fascinated to see the torturous US cursive font. In the late 60s we were taught Roundstyle in the UK. Still "joined up writing", but a clearer font without unnecessary flourishes.
kimlockhartga@beige.party 17 hours ago @AbramKedge @bookstodon I would have preferred that. I still have trouble writing "q" in lower case cursive.
@kimlockhartga
As an Italian who learned cursive as well, I am fascinated by the conversation going on here.
I didn't know there was an American way to write a cursive G.
The cursive G I learned in primary school was simpler, but at the same time the font had a lot more curves and complexity. Curious.
Seems like young people are losing their cursive also in Italy. I don't have any stats to back up this claim, though I remember reading some investigations about it.
@bookstodon
@magi_le @bookstodon I also find this conversation fascinating.
I keep hoping to be hired to read historical documents in cursive, like an archeologist reading hieroglyphics!