pen shifting to key
Yesterday a BBC article posited the influences contributing to the ‘slow death’ of handwriting.
A gradual metamorphosis, not necessarily death. Scrawl and scribble can convey a message without well formed, legible words, as many a toddlers parent and their fridge postings will attest. That a message is penned is a message of significance in itself. The significance may change with time, but it will remain significant. Keys on boards can convey a clear and consistent letter form reducing the variety of messages conveyed by the personal and environmental quirks of pen-personship. My own left-handed scrawl gets worse in cold weather and when I get a tad over-excited, these things are not conveyed by the clear system of key-strokes. Pen or keys will always imply different messages and the messages with change with time. Just as the messages of ’hand made’ and ‘factory made’ have changed from the initial high value associated with the consistent quality of factory made to the subsequent high value associated with the craft-skill required for hand made.
The art of pen wielding will be maintained by people who take the care to love and use and explore it well, and I may shift from these keys to further pen a wobbly thing or two for your merry bemusement and befuddlement. Consider yourselves warned.
March 3rd, 2009
I was banned from using fountain pens by my school until the age of 10. By that time, I could actually write legibly. Sadly, learning that ability completely ruined my dreams of becoming a medical doctor.
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March 3rd, 2009
I still use a fountain pen and have done for many years. Partly an affectation, but also an attempt to maintain neat handwriting. I read that article and spent the remainder of the day writing (self-consciously) very neatly. An effort, but worth it for the feeling of smugness in still having fine handwriting.
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March 3rd, 2009
If my handwriting could be consistent for even the length of a word it could be quite good.
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