Today, according to this link, few college students can write (or read?) in what we used to call "cursive". Cursive being a continuous script writing separate from the "printed" form of letters one sees on the computer, cellphone or laptop screen.
I learned to print in first grade. I was taught by nuns and they meant business. We had lined paper with a dashed line in the center of each row where we were to print. Capital letters had to reach from the bottom line to the top. Lower case letters and elements of letters that appeared in the "middle" of the letter had to be on the dashed line. There were no exceptions and we practiced this for an entire school year.
Above the blackboard where pictures of printed letters - organized alphabetically and demonstrating how each letter should be formed - right along with the dashed line. Since there was no kindergarten and the previous year my "school" had been a one-room school house (I got to visit it at the end of the prior year for a day to see what it was like) we also had to learn to read and do arithmetic right along with learning to print.
I was always interested in what the other, higher grades were doing so I could not help but notice that for the third graders there were different types of letters displayed above the blackboard. (First and third grade shared rooms.)
For second grade we moved to a different room but alas still printed.
I had to wait an entire two years before I was able to learn cursive writing.
However, the reality was disappointing. I was not as good at cursive as I was at printing and so I never wrote in cursive unless required to for school.
For me printing came into its own in high school. There we were required to write long biology reports and for me printing was the way to go. I got fairly good at it and was able to print far faster than type or write cursively.
All this is becoming ancient history.
My own children do not put pen to paper as far as I can see - they live in the worlds of MSDN, PowerPoint, web sites, cell phones and note pad computers.
And cursive is not the first victim of progress here in the US. Prior to the 1970's or so shorthand was used extensively in business. This was a form of writing designed to allow the writer to quickly capture the spoken word and was used (perhaps still is used) by secretaries and journalists.
Dictation machines, invented in the 1960's however, changed all this and shorthand has been in decline ever since.
So where does all this lead?
For one thing typing on a screen as I am now takes away from what I can do printing or writing in cursive - while I can change font size, add bolding, and so on no one can tell by looking at what I am typing how I might feel about what I am saying.
(Not that I run around with big, thick black markers SHOUTING on big rolls of white paper...)
So as "I Love You" goes from "I Love You" to "<3" what is happening in our minds?
Do young people think in terms of text symbols the more they use cellphones and texting?
Do these things take away from their ability to add emotional content to their communications? (Though I suppose, at least on a computer or in email, you can still say "<3" or "
And then there is "r u gng 2 b l8?" - as opposed to "Are you going to be late?" I suppose the former works well while driving and they do convey the same message - at least superficially. However the later, to me, indicates that writer might also be literate.
But if you send me the former because you are late for a meeting with me for your job interview what might I think? (I suppose I could reply "2l8"...)
I have noticed that quite often those using the more compressed forms of text speech often can only think in those terms. In fact, for me, on a system like Craigs List seeing that type of posting is clearly a danger sign. Why? Because how one expresses one's self of indicates how one thinks...
On the other hand, there is a lot of, well, shorthand, for texting (see this).
Perhaps shorthand is just making a resurgence...
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