I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive.
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Can you read cursive (linked handwriting) fluently? (see thread, and this blog post https://ellanew.com/2026/04/13/ptpl-203-cheap-fountain-pens-mechanical-pencils)
@ellane I'm 42, and I'm out of practice. I can mostly read it just fine, but then the first "e" in "there" gets a bit compacted and suddenly reads like and "i", and that "fair" took a good bit of re-reading. So I suppose it depends?
It might also be a bit harder since english is my second language, and my exposure to english words in cursive is almost non existent, so my ability to fill in the blanks is reduced compared to reading Norwegian in cursive.
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I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
@ellane I'm mom of a college student and longtime classroom volunteer. Young adults and kids flop when they see cursive and think it's cool to push back. When I say its just a different font and I've seen them play with fonts for hours instead of working on homework, they say "Oh. Yeah" and suddenly can read it. They've seen many cursive and decorative fonts.
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I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
@ellane
Very difficult to read. It looks artful, but I struggle to get the meaning. I was trained in school to write cursive, but I never use it. -
I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
I tend to see that example closer to italic than cursive
italic is the older (and more elegant) style based off actual handwriting
cursive is the more modern style, harder to read because of less connection to actual letter shapes, and based off etchings ("copperplate") not writing
Gunnlaugur SE Briem - What exactly is italic?
A modern handwriting style—with heritage Italic is a contemporary version of a style of writing that was popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and is particularly suited to modern writing instruments. The capitals are based on shapes and proportions of classical Roman
(www.briem.net)
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I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
@ellane I can read it, but I'm of an age where I was forced to use nothing but cursive for three years of my schooling. I can see why this handwriting sample might flummox someone without practice reading cursive. There were some places where, without experience and context, I wouldn't have been able to tell where an m, n, i, w, or r made the transition into the neighboring letter.
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I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
@ellane which r is normal, and which is old style?
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@ellane which r is normal, and which is old style?
@leonardof In the photo in the original post, the word "world" has a regular r, while all the other words containing r are written in the old style cursive form.
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I tend to see that example closer to italic than cursive
italic is the older (and more elegant) style based off actual handwriting
cursive is the more modern style, harder to read because of less connection to actual letter shapes, and based off etchings ("copperplate") not writing
Gunnlaugur SE Briem - What exactly is italic?
A modern handwriting style—with heritage Italic is a contemporary version of a style of writing that was popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and is particularly suited to modern writing instruments. The capitals are based on shapes and proportions of classical Roman
(www.briem.net)
@cerement Interesting, I hadn't thought about there being a distinction between italic and cursive. I just write quickly and the shapes go where they want to.
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@ellane
Very difficult to read. It looks artful, but I struggle to get the meaning. I was trained in school to write cursive, but I never use it.@lloydlemons Thank you, that is good feedback to have. The ALT text tells you what it says.
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@ellane I'm mom of a college student and longtime classroom volunteer. Young adults and kids flop when they see cursive and think it's cool to push back. When I say its just a different font and I've seen them play with fonts for hours instead of working on homework, they say "Oh. Yeah" and suddenly can read it. They've seen many cursive and decorative fonts.
@coucou Ah that is fascinating! It's like the legibility of cursive has come full circle from old days to modern.
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@ellane I'm 57. Your handwriting is mostly legible, but in parts I can only read it because I have the skill and practice to infer from the context what letters you are trying to form.
@gcvsa Good to know, thank you. FYI I'm 58 and studied calligraphy in my youth.
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@ellane I can read fine and write fine! But I struggled with your "f"s hehe
@joel Ah yes, the f! I get a bit carried away with those
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I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
How I'd love my cursive to be so legible.
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Can you read cursive (linked handwriting) fluently? (see thread, and this blog post https://ellanew.com/2026/04/13/ptpl-203-cheap-fountain-pens-mechanical-pencils)
@ellane I’m well over 30 and had no problem reading it. Your handwriting is beautiful. I write like a doctor.
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Can you read cursive (linked handwriting) fluently? (see thread, and this blog post https://ellanew.com/2026/04/13/ptpl-203-cheap-fountain-pens-mechanical-pencils)
@ellane Where's the “I'm over 60 and I have trouble reading anything” option?
BTW, I bought a Pentel Kerry on your recommendation. What a jewel of a pencil!
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I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
@ellane That's easy stuff. Here's my handwriting:
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I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive. Is that true? Some have reported scarcely being able to read it at all, which I find hard to believe.
I do my lower case d's like a reversed number 6, and my r's can be normal or old style.
What do you think, oh young person reading this? Can you read my handwriting easily, or is it a bit of a guessing game? (poll in the comments)
@ellane I'm aging now, but reading and writing cursive has never been easy to me.
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@buddhawilliams Thank you for those kind comments. I knew my writing looked nice in the eyes of others, but I'd just recently started considering whether they might be having trouble actually reading it!
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@ellane Where's the “I'm over 60 and I have trouble reading anything” option?
BTW, I bought a Pentel Kerry on your recommendation. What a jewel of a pencil!
@randyridenour Ha, you are still over 30 when you're over 60!! I get what you mean about reading, though (*pushes reading glasses up bridge of nose*).
Isn't the Pentel Kerry lovely!! What colour did you go for?
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@flexnib I'm 2 years or so your senior and had the same experience at school. Handwriting was (and is) important!
Yet another reason I wouldn't want to go completely paperless. Those hand muscles get out of practice, and won't cooperate when you pick up a pen again after years of disuse.
