Sunday, May 17

My most masculine attribute

probably has to by my handwriting/printing. It is just sloppy. I try to make it pretty and round and full but (especially if I'm writing a lot or the word is long) by the end of the word it is just a big jumble of bumps and lines. This is a stereotype attributing poor orthography to males but my experience has backed it up (I work with high school students.....)

Studying for a physiology midterm on Tuesday has caused me to focus on the shapes of my letters more than usual since I'm writing out key points (I just can't learn without writing it out!). Do you ever consciously alter aspects of your handwriting? I remember deciding in 2nd grade that 2's with the curly bottom were prettier and started to write them back. I returned to the less superfluous side back in high school. In university I adopted the flat-topped 3. Right now I'm in the process of assimilating the print-style 'a' (just like that one!). It is just so much more fun. I'm not sure how successful it will be since it is much more common than numbers so I often forget to form the shade-giving portion unless I'm focusing closely.

Maybe someone should have rapped my knuckles with a ruler when I made misshapen letters way back in the day, then others could read my writing now. Then I could read my writing now.

No comments: