I heard recently that young people of today (under 30) have trouble reading linked handwriting, or cursive.
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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.
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@ellane That's easy stuff. Here's my handwriting:

@me Wowza, is that Pitman? 𐑮𐑵𐑒𐑕 𐑣𐑸𐑛𐑼 𐑑 𐑮𐑰𐑛 𐑞𐑨𐑯 ·𐑖𐑱𐑚𐑦𐑩𐑯! (looks harder to read than Shavian)
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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 cannot read it
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@coucou Ah that is fascinating! It's like the legibility of cursive has come full circle from old days to modern.
@ellane that's a good way to think of it. Your handwriting is lovely BTW. Readable yet filled with style and uniqueness.
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic