Thread: Any Fountain Pen Users?

Hehe, yes my penmanship can definitely use work too. I've always used cursive, or some bastard child of regular print and cursive, but when all you're doing is scribbling out of necessity the quality of the characters becomes rather abysmal and bad habit form that never get corrected. My writing has gotten a lot better over the past few weeks just thinking back and practicing what I learned.

It's a fun way to burn time, and it'll be funny in 10 to 20 years when us old folks have a secret code the younguns can't decipher!

Right on Marshal, one thing I am going to teach my two youngest sons is cursive.
They will most likely be homeschooled anyway. In my area, there isn't to many good schools, so I want them to be well educated and rounded.

I think many of us have our own style of writing when it comes to scribbles and note taking

I guess my Bic Click and a cross between psychotic and cursive is not in your guys league! man if I tried to write clearly and proper I would melt my brain. but will admit a finely wrote letter with a fountain pen is almost artwork. my dad cringes when he sees my writing, when I send a letter written like its my Tally book out on a drilling rig. hes one of the guys who loves his fountain pens and still to this day will send letters instead of emails, Tc

To each their own Tc. My brothers and older sons writing.......well if you call it that, is pretty bad. They prefer to type everything

Some of have good penmanship and other just don't. Part of being an individual.

I also write letters and thank you notes/cards by hand. Just my personal way of saying thanks

I only have one...a Waterman that I purchased in the early 1980's. I have no idea what the model is, just that I had always used inexpensive Sheaffers, loved them and wanted a quality pen to use at work. Still use it to write thank you notes and the few letters I still send.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Hehe, yes my penmanship can definitely use work too. I've always used cursive, or some bastard child of regular print and cursive, but when all you're doing is scribbling out of necessity the quality of the characters becomes rather abysmal and bad habit form that never get corrected. My writing has gotten a lot better over the past few weeks just thinking back and practicing what I learned.

It's a fun way to burn time, and it'll be funny in 10 to 20 years when us old folks have a secret code the younguns can't decipher!

That's funny. True, but funny. I was shocked when I heard that Cursive was being dropped from school cirriculums, but it's a sign of the times.
My cursive has always embarrassed me. I printed everything as an adult when I had to print because my cursive was so terrible. You could read it, but as I posted, you'd think the author was about 13 from the style, but with a large vocabulary from the vernacular. It's SLOWLY getting better.

I remember in high school and college (before computers) all the letters written to girlfriends during summer breaks. Even with that high demand for cursive, I was terrible. It's odd because I am right-brained and very creative. But artisically, I'm pathetic. I can't draw or paint worth a lick, and it shows in my cursive. You'd think a right-brain dominated person would have neat hand writing, but not in my case. It must be partially hereditary. My mother (RIP) had very poor hand writing as well, bless her heart. This seems odd for a woman to me. Most of the ladies I have known in my life have had beautiful hand writing, because it's finess that counts, not brute strength.

Speaking of not being artistic;
I have been watching Bob Ross in "The Joy of Painting" lately on Amazon Prime Video - if you remember that older PBS series. When I see him create such beautiful painings from nothing I have two thoughts. First, "Wow. He's amazing and that painting is absolutely beautiful." and second, "Oh, I can see how he did that. He makes it look simple, but I can't do it myself."

-Zip

You know, the way that I found out they stopped teaching cursive was what really got me. I'm 31, back in Elementary they told us, "You need to learn this, because all your research papers in Middle School and beyond WILL be written in blue or black ink, in cursive!" And it was true through out Highschool, but from what I heard if you did that in college (I went to tech school instead) you'd be told to do it again - in type. Or fail, depending on the professor.

Anyway, I was working at a body shop with a lot of hand written ROs. I started using cursive, because it's more legible than my print. Which isn't a high bar mind you. The shop manager (owner's son, just a few short years behind me growing up) came over to me and told me not 1: I was lucky to be able to read and write cursive, and 2: never do that again because he couldn't do either! It wasn't taught to him. I'm still floored to this day that it was cut off that soon after they spent 12 years beating it into my brain. And they continued with the narrative all through my school career, even though those just 2-4 years behind were getting a totally different story!

Well, on another note I agree that Bob Ross is great. His series is also on Netflix, or at least it was a while ago. I need to check and see if it's still there. I actually bought some paints and tried to mimic him a little bit. My paintings are worse than my penmanship, but it's still fun to try! lol. Well, for the longest time I thought coloring was beyond me, even though I could draw and shade things OK in graphite. Inks and paints just bleed too much and I couldn't figure out how to control them via trial and error alone. Colored pencils are a saving grace in that department. Maybe one day I'll master a brush or ink pen!

Originally Posted by Marshal

You know, the way that I found out they stopped teaching cursive was what really got me. I'm 31, back in Elementary they told us, "You need to learn this, because all your research papers in Middle School and beyond WILL be written in blue or black ink, in cursive!" And it was true through out Highschool, but from what I heard if you did that in college (I went to tech school instead) you'd be told to do it again - in type. Or fail, depending on the professor. ....

While I am CONSIDERABLY older than you, it is sad that this art is being lost. I actually had a young father once complain to me that they should stop emphasising spelling in school. His son had been knocked for misspelling "debt" in a paper. His arguement was that the "b" was silent and should not be required.

Originally Posted by Jlander

While I am CONSIDERABLY older than you, it is sad that this art is being lost. I actually had a young father once complain to me that they should stop emphasising spelling in school. His son had been knocked for misspelling "debt" in a paper. His arguement was that the "b" was silent and should not be required.

Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are incredibly important! There's a huge difference between, "I helped my uncle, Jack, off his horse." and, "I helped my uncle jack off his horse." One could also make the argument that with a rich history in cursive script, and the fact that things written down actually stick with you better (and even more so in cursive script), that cursive is also incredibly important. Future generations are liable to lose things like the Declaration of Independence and Constitution just because they can't read the originals, and you can't count on secondary sources to transcribe the text faithfully.

Originally Posted by Marshal

There's a huge difference between, "I helped my uncle, Jack, off his horse." and, "I helped my uncle jack off his horse."

That is funny!! But so very true

also make the argument that with a rich history in cursive script, and the fact that things written down actually stick with you better (and even more so in cursive script), that cursive is also incredibly important. Future generations are liable to lose things like the Declaration of Independence and Constitution just because they can't read the originals, and you can't count on secondary sources to transcribe the text faithfully.

This is one of the saddest parts in my opinion. They will lose their rights and our Heritage if they don't know what it is. It's not all that bright of a future.....