When's the last time you hand wrote a letter? in cursive?

[Liberal_in_LA]

I haven't hand written a letter in years.

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In e-mail age, still nothing like a handwritten letter


CNN) -- E-mail is quick. Texting is convenient. Facebook has photos, videos and games.

But for all the fancy, multimedia modes of communication out there, nothing beats the thrill of opening the mailbox and finding a personal letter, written and addressed just to you.

"Snail mail" has been under attack for the past several decades, with the U.S. Postal Service reporting a drop of 10 billion letters in the past 20 years. Literally billions of e-mails and text messages are sent each day. And the Postal Service says that unless something changes very soon, it plans to stop Saturday mail delivery beginning next year.

The prospect of no longer receiving letters has many of us thinking about what makes them so special, remembering the most meaningful ones we ever received, and even vowing to send more letters to friends and family.

Samantha Nelson's boyfriend teaches English in South Korea. And since she was still a student at Florida State University when he left, she couldn't go with him. Now it's his monthly letters that make the pair feel connected.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/27/letters.irpt/index.html?hpt=C2

[Speck Tater]

1. Even back in the 60's I used to type all my letters. My handwriting stinks! nt

[katzenjammers]

6. Me too, I shoulda been a doctor!

:rofl:

I think I was the only kid in 6th grade that didn't get a 'penmanship certificate'. I'm still traumatized over that but I made up for it by having a huge

[Blue-Jay]

2. Maybe 15 years or so.

Then again, I was never much of a letter-writer to begin with.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I always write hand-written notes for birthday and sympathy cards.

[kevinbgoode]

66. Me too...even though my handwriting is awful

but I teach and hand-write comments on every student essay, so I often have to try to pay more attention to my penmanship. I always add a note to a card to personalize it.

[HappyMe]

4. Well, I just mailed

(that's right) off a letter today to a friend. I enjoy getting/writing letters.







:shrug: Call me kooky, but it's nice to get something in the mail other than bills.

[Crystal Clarity]

27. Me too (but over 2 months ago)

for my daughter's B-Day Card... (you know, a letter within the card) But it's not just limited to a special occasion like that. I'm 44, so writing letters is what I grew up with. I know letter etiquette better then how formal or informal I am supposed to be in an e-mail or even on the computer in general.

But it's funny how my daughter's generation responds to them and vice versa for my gen. (or me at least) but I'll spare you folks the details. :-)

Sincerely,
-CC

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. I was never taught cursive

Cursive is dead in Britain. It died in the sixties.

[trotsky]

8. How do you sign your names? n/t

[Cronus Protagonist]

15. We write in printing

It's much more legible, particularly as you get older and sloppier. And I kid you not, my signature is a drawing of an erect penis - no cursive involved.

[trotsky]

33. LOL

Yeah my signature is the only thing I write anymore, and usually it just comes out in a squiggle. But not quite a penis. :)

[Cronus Protagonist]

37. My dad always told me my signature should look like a penis

And for years I made my name look like one. Then one day on an acid trip, I realized I should just ditch even trying to make it readable (no one reads it anyway) and I went full bore for the erect penis, complete with pubic hair and balls. The bank manager who took my sig card in didn't bat an eyelid at it! lol

:P

[Berserker]

47. Your Dad Rocks

I am now going to practice this.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. seriously? OMG.

[NeedleCast]

7. Never

Thankfully

[monmouth]

10. Just last month I wrote (cursive) a letter to a friend for his birthday. It's

a dying art and I'm sad about that. To go to the mailbox and receive a letter is a wonderful feeling.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. I haven't received a handwritten letter in a very long time. I do recall feeling happy to receive 1

[CountAllVotes]

11. day before yesterday

sent my old aunt a birthday card. :D

[zipplewrath]

12. Define Letter

I send greeting cards and that's how I always write.

And I'm currently composing a letter to Obama and I hear he prefers hand written so that one will be in cursive.

[Journeyman]

13. I became a typographer in part because my handwriting is illegible. . .

In college, if I didn't go home immediately and type up my notes, I couldn't read them the next day.

These days, the most I write by hand is my signature, and then only when I can't get around it.

[Raineyb]

14. I hand write things all the time.

I prefer doing drafts on paper.

[DefenseLawyer]

16. I hand write a lot of things

but generally only for my own use. Notes, ideas, drafts, unibomber-like manifestos, that kinda thing.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. 1991 or thereabouts

I used to have beautiful handwriting; now it's ugly and illegible. Kind of a shame.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

19. I haven't written cursive since high school. Maybe middle school.

I'm an engineer now.

EVERYTHING I WRITE NEEDS TO BE IN NEAT & CAPITAL HANDWRITING.

[kentauros]

52. If only ALL engineers had "neat and Capital handwriting",

then I wouldn't have to call them up and ask what they scrawled on their sketches ;)
Surveyors aren't much better :P

"Is that an '8' or a '3' or a 'B'?"
"No, it's an 'F'."

[Toucano]

20. I hand write notes all the time.

My journal is handwritten.

Last actual letter was probably written in January. It was a letter of apology.

[RedCloud]

21. One day ago. I can multi-task!

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

22. Men don't multi-task... We serially-parse tasks rapidly.

GET IT RIGHT OR PAY THE PRICE! :)

[virgogal]

23. Last summer. I write the grandkids when they are away at camp.

[tularetom]

24. If I wrote you one you couldn't read it

On the other hand, my wife's handwriting is beautiful, a work of art.

But it takes her 15 minutes to write a check.

[peacebird]

25. I write notes frequently, and always handwrite thanks yous. But I print

because my cursive is pretty awful.

[juajen]

26. I hand wrote, in cursive, all of the thank you notes after my husband's funeral. NT

[Zoeisright]

28. Couple of months ago.

I write letters to my nieces and nephew because they like getting mail.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

29. When was the last time you used a slide ruler to multiply two numbers?

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. 30 years ago, high school physics class where we learned to use a slide rule

The HP scientific calculator was new. We never used the slide rule again.

[kestrel91316]

50. College chemistry exams. 35 years ago.

[Tailormyst]

65. I never have.

[Hempathy]

30. Monday.

[proteus_lives]

31. One to my grandmother in Texas a few weeks ago.

She's 90 and doesn't have a computer.

She still has beautiful penmanship.

[dana_b]

32. today

I wrote (in cursive) and sent a card to my friend in Chicago.

[WinkyDink]

34. Writing a letter isn't the sole use for cursive. Don't you sign checks? Write in cards? Make notes?

Create anything with words? I sometimes write poems; I must use pen and paper to scribble, write, cross-out, and doodle when I'm stuck.

[Liberal_in_LA]

41. true...those are the few times I use cursive

[REP]

61. Grocery lists, budget planning, notes ... all in cursive here

But I'm super-old - 45.

[Duer 157099]

35. When I was stoned

I don't know why, but while under the influence of pot, I want to write, I mean, handwrite. I often wonder if it's because as a teen when I first smoked pot, we didn't have computers like now, so everything was handwritten, and so it's a state-dependent learning thing.

:shrug:

That's the only thing I can think of. But it's consistently true for me.

[Berserker]

48. When I was stoned

I don't know why, but while under the influence of pot, I

[Duer 157099]

53. ...forgot what you were gonna say?

LOL

[Missy Vixen]

36. I wrote a fan letter two years ago

The recipient of my letter didn't acknowledge it.

Other than thank-you notes, it's the only letter I've written to anyone in probably ten years.

:woohoo:

[tammywammy]

38. Christmas Thank You cards

Thank you cards are always hand written.

[Solly Mack]

39. All the time. Cards and letters to my family & 'Thank You' notes...all the time.

Hand written, in cursive. Not just signed either - always an update included. I send emails for the time sensitive but I still write letters.

[Greybnk48]

40. All the time here too. Cards, letters notes etc. for holidays

birthdays, and other events. We're the only ones in the family that write individual holiday greetings instead of one of those horrid brag letters.

[Brickbat]

43. Three days ago.

[RagAss]

44. Today. Sympathy card.

[TampaAnimus2010]

45. Its useless - Nostalgia is the only thing propping it up

Toss it, its not needed anymore.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

46. Last week, but I am old school

[kestrel91316]

49. I quit writing in cursive and went back to a printed scrawl in 1970,

in junior high, because after 3rd grade my cursive never improved. My dad's writing was the same.

But everything now is typed and either emailed or printed out and signed and snailmailed. Except cards, where I scrawl notes inside.

[kentauros]

51. I've handwritten letters and thank-you notes this year, but not in cursive.

I'm a draftsman (designer, really) so for the last 30 or so years, I've printed. The only cursive I remember is my signature. I got some good replies from my family this year when I used note cards with seeds embedded in them. My handwriting will be planted!

I suppose if I have to have something written cursive-like, I can always do it in calligraphy :)

[Hardrada]

54. Last fall. Long letter to an Old Flame along with a book of poems.

Old Time's Sake. My handwriting is not good so when I add notes to business stuff I print in caps.

[NYC Liberal]

55. For some. For me, getting a letter is no more or less important than getting an email.

I couldn't care less about the medium, I care about the content.

[MilesColtrane]

56. Two weeks ago.

...to my 83 year old aunt.

She is online, but this was a thank you letter.

[Maru Kitteh]

57. About 3 months ago.

[Warren DeMontague]

58. Just yesterday. It said "Hi. How are you? I'm fine. Boy, this sure is a pain in the ass!

Regards,

Warren DeMontague."

[Raine]

59. Christmas when I sent out cards, I put

notes in some of them. :-)

[REP]

60. Yesterday. On 100% cotton paper, too. (Really!)

I have a paper problem. I also have beautiful handwriting (not much to be proud of, but there you go).

[cherokeeprogressive]

62. Cursive will die the same slow death lots of other things have...

In the 60's, it was already on its way out. I remember the example cards stapled around the perimeter of the classrooms, but cannot for the life of me remember having to practice writing in cursive like I've heard from other people older than me.

can you guess what's the next thing to disappear? capital letters at the beginning of sentences. with the advent of email, people tend to write to each other in a less formal manner than before. soon, it's going to creep into every day life, just like lots of other things have. i mean, think about it... when was the last time you saw someone indenting the first line of paragraphs? and what's the point of capitalizing the first letter of a sentence anyway? didn't you notice the period, exclamation point, or question mark at the end of the last one? do you need end of sentence punctuation to be followed by a capital letter for the next sentence to make sense?

change is a comin'. lead, follow, or step aside...

[sinkingfeeling]

70. So is the age of ignorance.

[Dorian Gray]

63. I write thank you notes

in cursive all the time.

[Tailormyst]

64. Last year

I wrote a letter to the President regarding equal rights. I thought a hand written letter might get read. I will add that I had to start over a few times because I was SO out of practice.

[Paper Roses]

67. Write a letter? No, but I do write personal notes on occasion.

Thank you notes and Christmas Cards.

My handwriting has become so illegible that it bothers me.

In school, a million years ago, we had lessons on penmanship. Those lessons have faded with age.

[NuttyFluffers]

68. like mailed multi-page letter, thank you card, or what?

last mailed multi-page letter was i believe a few years ago. last handwritten cards was the previous holidays. and i'll be doing thank you notes by the end of this week. and that's just stamped stuff.

there's also diary writing, notes in class, and just regular jotted notes when discussing stuff with others or getting info off the computer/tv/radio/thought in my head.

writing a multi-page handwritten letter is actually a very intimate thing. being a child of phone and email i thought it was pointless, but after doing it for friends in the military or keeping in touch with old classmates, it really feels different. i was surprised how there's something special about the written word versus typed font. it comes back to me when i think about Heian Japan where stationary, handwriting, and envelope all gave an intimate, often secret, meaning into the letter.

it sounds silly, but i know that i still keep my letters. i try to keep some of my favorite emails, but there's still something disposable about them no matter the import or tone it conveys from the writer. something about writing and selected materials gives handwritten letters an almost relic-like quality. i know that i favor and cherish the handwritten works of my deceased grandparents, whereas i don't feel as strong a connection to their typed works. but then it also works that i cherish the recorded voice of someone versus just their written word. i think something of the human being is imparted on media, and that the more inflection and nuance that is recorded, the more intimate the work.

[Lyric]

69. I have psoriatic arthritis, so writing by hand is painful and difficult for me.

I can't even take my own notes in my college classes. Rhythm makes it a point to take as many classes with me as she can so that she can take notes for me, and when she can't, I take the laptop to class because I can two-finger type faster and with much less pain than hand writing.