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February 18, 2008
EL 336 - Legible and that's that
"Palmer's method eschewed the "pretty" writing of the Spencerian school in favor of a more practical hand. Palmer advocated "real, live, usable, legible, and salable penmanship." (Baron pg 59)
Finding out that handwriting was such a big part of writing at one point in history was surprising. I knew that the lower class were some of the last people to learn to write, but it isn interesting to know that they probably still had better handwriting then me. As someone with handwriting that has been described as "chicken scratch," I sometimes wonder if other writers get judged like I do. Learning that there was a scholar on penmanship who did not go for the smae kind of lovley and artsy handwriting, but wanted it to be legible and practical. I feel the same way. Why should I try to teach myself how to write all over again? To please the eyes of some stranger, I think not. With the beauty of the computer, I really do not have to deal with that judgment these days, but it does bring up bad memories from gradeschool and high school still.
Posted by RachelPrichard at February 18, 2008 9:49 PM