Penmanship, a lost art?
This digital age with all its wonders has also made the human touch to communication a rare commodity.Take handwriting as an example. When's the last time you sat down and wrote somebody a letter? I bet it's been a long while. It's much easier to shoot an email or make a call on your cell phone, isn't it?
One symptom I have found is the deterioration of our handwriting skills. The scribbles I produce today would have resulted in a sharp rapping of the knuckles not so long ago.
Today, though, I stumbled across an interesting website created by the University of Cambridge that is giving me some hope:
www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc
The palaeographic eggheads over there have created an online course to teach anyone with the inclination how to read old handwriting.
Of course, they're focusing on the period between 1500 and 1700, not the modern era.
But, it could be that ye socks may pick up some general deciphering tips to apply to the here and now . . . not to mention genealogical pursuits thru musty old courthouse records . . .
Labels: genealogy, handwriting
posted by wsmv at
9:04 AM
3 Comments:
It's funny that you write about handwriting...I agree, it's a lost art, so to speak. I still write letters and cards to my grandmother (mostly because she doesn't have a computer) but I actually enjoy finding things to send to her via snail mail.
Also, a friend of mine is married to a postal worker, so she vows to continue to send things through the post for her husband's job security. We'd all hate if he went "postal" in the wrong sense!
I know as a kid we used to look forward to the mail everyday, on the off chance we'd find a letter amongst the bills and sales flyers. Nowadays, though, its just that undesirable stuff that shows up. For the most part anyway . . .
My hand now aches after writing just a few short lines of a letter, although I do keep writing. Handwriting these days never quite seems as beautiful as it did years ago.
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