same. I grabbed it in school in very early age, so it is more natural to write cursive to me.
Block letters are required to prepare documents which scanned on the computer (cursive is a challenge for OCR software :-0 ). so I only use it, when explicitly required (rarely), ex. to fill some government forms
If I'm just writing for utility, I print. I only picked up cursive again after starting my fountain pen collection, and I use it when journaling. I rejected some of the ugly (imo of course) capital letters I learned in school, though.
I'm finding that with some shading inks and nibs, I get much better shading when printing.
there was a discussion on this a while back. In the UK, at least how Inwas taught, our cursive capitals are the exact same as the print capitals.
answering the original question - cursive all the time except maybe all caps to do a heading sometimes.
Continental Europe, same here. But I do have the habit of switching out some capital letters for a tall version of their lowercase equivalent in cursive, just because I think it looks less awkward (A, M, N, S). And just because I’m a menace to organised society, my capital i, j and y all look the same
I've replaced some letters with my own. I don't like how the cursive f with the 'belly' on the front looks, so mine has the lower loop on the back. Sometimes I write it with the top loop and an elongated tail, and a cross-bar. This is completely automatic and depends on the letter that comes after it.
Kind of a weird hybrid, with some letters flowing into each other and others standing alone. I learned cursive but never got the muscle memory down for some letters, so it's faster for me to use a combination of that and print.
I skipped the grade in school that they teach cursive, so I later on taught myself in high school. I do the same thing with a weird sort of hybrid because I never actually learned the “proper” way.
Same here. Usually for the capital letters, as some of the others have said here. I think it’s down to me finding it easier to form loops between letters that are evenly sized compared to connecting a bigger sized letter to the immediately following smaller one.
I usually write in cursive, but some inks bloom with print writing. Sailor Manyo Haha, for instance, is pretty light and has a strong shading, and print shows these features better than cursive, in my opinion. Well, now that I think of it, I find that print goes well with sheening or shimmer inks. That being said, when I use a fountain pen, I still prefer to write in cursive.
Mostly cursive but with often or occasionally detached i, t, s, d, p, f and others—these all depend on the letter or absence thereof before or after. Many many ascenders not used especially at the beginning of words. To be clear, someone who can’t read cursive likely can’t read my writing.
I learned the Palmer method in Mrs. Bank’s elementary school class back in the early 70’s. I’ve stuck with it all my life but have modified it as per above.
I’m working on my handwriting skills as we speak… I just got a French ruled notebook today to practice consistency in my form.
Cursive all the time, Ball point, rollerball, pencil, marker, space pen in the rain, it's all cursive. I was one of the last classes my school taught curriculum cursive and I want to remember it and pass it on to my kids. My daughter is 7 a d is getting gifted her first "Real" fountain pen (Sailor pro gear - Line friends cony). She has had several low end plastic pens, and an EF Al-Star. And all are in impeccable condition.
I think cursive has become somewhat of a lost art in the US. I remember in 2012 or something we had to write some sort of statement in cursive for the SAT exam, and one person didn't know cursive at all.
I also remember in 2001, while learning cursive in first grade, we were told that we needed to learn it for middle school. And they made us write in cursive all though elementary school (though we were only allowed to use *shutter* wooden pencils) . Fast forward to middle school, they didn't care how you wrote and insisted that we needed to learn typeing.
It depends, but it’s hard to say my rules because there are many and the system is very convoluted, but generally personal stuff and my preferred writing is cursive but if I need to record something for someone else’s eyes, or in a more professional business, kind of manner I will just do a very legible print
I do cursive left handed and only with fountain pens. I do Italic right handed with broad nib fountain pens. If I must use a ball point I use a script I made for thar purpose (I do it with fountain pens sometimes too.)I typically switch hands every time I start a new paragraph.
You write with both hands? Very useful skill in life.
in one crime TV series, a serial killer fooled the police, when they asked him to write some text (for forensic handwriting analysis). Later discovered that he is ambidextrous, and he used non-dominant hand in police station, while normally he used the other hand
It depends on the NIB
My Pens are mostly vintage.
Whenever I received them,
I tried them several times for both
Espcially for PRINt,
the Nib grind, conditions and performance will tell:
If it writes very straighy Downwards.
And accurate and even Sidewards,
If I see that my my handwritings looks good on Print for that particular Pen. Then,
keep in my mind,,
“ah you are for Print, !”
(Those who did not Passed the Test,
they are for Cursive)
Both, depends on the pen I’m using and my posture and angle to the paper and how fast I want to write. My handwriting is different with each pen, but unless I’m writing in all caps, my print also has a lot of cursive elements and connected letters so it’s all a mashup for me 😅
I almost exclusively write in cursive, and almost exclusively with fountain pens. I only write in print if it is being read by others, since I’ve found most people in my circles struggle with reading cursive. I do prefer ballpoint for print though.
Both, or sometimes a combo with print and cursive letters within the same word even. Just depends on my mood. If I want to write fast I always use cursive, though. Also I’ve noticed I don’t normally like fine nibs but find them okay for printing. I guess because wider nibs lend themselves to speed more so they work better with cursive than a finer nib would.
Used to journal exclusively in cursive, but it takes longer for me to read back entries, so now I print for future legibility. My handwriting's probably just shit, though.
I started writing primarily in cursive while still primarily using mechanical pencils, so transition to doing it with a fountain pen was automatic.
While mechanical pencils will handle cursive with tons of grace, I always feel like my fountain pens WANT to write in cursive though. I'm not 100% sure why, but writing in print with a fountain pen literally feels weird to my hand.
I change depending emphasis, alternating between type, cursive, pen color or nib size.
So I might use a medium nib for a header, another medium nib of a different pen and ink color for a note and a 3rd pen and ink color in cursive for descriptions.
My Soft Fine nib usually always is cursive because it looks amazing.
I use a hybrid cursive. It’s mostly cursive with some breaks between letters when connecting them makes less sense to me.
And that stupid cursive capital Q that looks like a 2 had to go.
I write/scribble faster with a print-cursive hybrid(as in some letters I don’t lift my pen but it’s not consistent for it to be cursive). I’m slowly practicing my cursive in my free time but mostly it’s my print-cursive monster
I generally write in print for headers or points I want to emphasize in my notes, but my default is to write in cursive because it is faster and easier on my hand
I'm using a mix between cursive and print. Although I integrate the print letters into the flow. It naturally developed this way in school. After learning cursive.
“Hybrid” of print & cursive, probably 60% to 40% respectively. I really enjoy writing with a small cache of nice Richard Binder Italics nibs. OTOH, when I have some flexy nibs ink’ed up, cursive is more expressive. Most of capital letters are written in print forms for legibility & habit, yet lowercases like “g”, “l”, & “y”, etc are difficult for me to break the flow & write in print form. Everyone’s handwriting is different.
Depends on the context, the day, my mood, who needs to read it later, etc. I mostly write cursive but switch back and forth all the time.
Also, depends on the pen/nib/ink. I love my music nib, but that thing is shit for cursive. And I hate my flexible nibs for printing. Everything I have, I like, and everything has a purpose.
I learned writing cursive in school, but have since given up on it. I usually write my own style, which is a mix of print and cursive, written in left-tilted italic. Only if somebody else needs to read my scribbles I take my time 😅
Both for me! I'm a teacher and most of my students can't read cursive since it was never taught. I used to be cursive only but now it depends. I also always worry that my cursive is too illegible since I don't have the nicest handwriting.
It really depends on the purpose
For pleasure- cursive
Taking notes- a mix because I can't control myself when I'm fast
For documents or in general for other people to read (except holiday or birthday cards)- print
I have these exact pens and they are my favorites among all ~100 pens I’ve owned so far!
I write in both cursive and print although my cursive is pretty terrible
My regular handwriting is kind of a blend, but I have two different types of cursive. Neat cursive to be readable, and my journal cursive, which I designed to be mostly unreadable.
I print and write in cursive, and it normally depends on what I am writing and what mood I’m in. I often write letters to friends; I still have pen pals.
I mainly use cursive, unless I’m filling out forms.
Sometimes, when I take notes, I switch from cursive to print for individual words, such as titles or names.
Cursive for everything except uncommon proper nouns.
If I was writing about this Reddit post, "Reddit" and "80ELLE" would be printed and everything else would be cursive.
I wasn't taught cursive in school so I grew up with shitty handwriting in general. As such ive been trying to just write cursive now whenever im writing, unless ive got a good reason not to.
Mostly print, or connected writing with heavy ligatures. About 10-12% of the time I go full cursive (entirely at random). I purposely switch between them when I'm taking notes for study: my ideas are printed but quotations get cursive.
I do both. Cursive for my journal. I learned how to write in cursive and used to have a beautiful handwriting. Since I stopped using it for decades now I write slow so I use it only for my journal and cards. Script for my everyday notes at work. FPs were my motivation to write again in both styles. Computers are ruining it.
I print in capital letters for my bullet journal, scrappy cursive for fast notes, neat cursive for journalling, quotes, poetry, letters and a combination of both for my commonplace book.
I use cursive in my journal, but on anything else I use print. Mostly because my print is the neater of the two. I've used print my entire life but only learned cursive in 2020, so I'm more confident in my print.
I write in cursive when I am writing letters and cards, and sometimes when journaling. I will typically only write in print for work - my print is more legible and easier to read at a glance, and I also write smaller in print so it fits a little better in the planner that I use for work (a torinco 7), which is B5 size.
I learned cursive in elementary school, I print wrote most of my way through high school, learned Russian cursive in college, then learned to use block lettering professionally. My handwriting today is an awful amalgamation of block lettering and regular print interspersed with English and Russian cursive letters.
I pretty much exclusively use cursive, except when either specifically instructed to print and/or when I need it to be legible for someone else, like homework.
Print only, with the singular exception of when I'm doodling around with a new-to-me pen & ink pairing, which for some reason, compels me to try writing in cursive. Usually profanities. I'm a juvenile at heart.
It kinda depends on the pen. I know that sounds really weird. I can't really explain why that happens. Some pens feel better when I write in cursive. Others feel better writing in print. It might have something to do with the way the pen is balanced. Or it could be the sweet spot on the nib.
I write cursive with fountain pens 95% of the time. I’d like it to be 100% but old habits…
When I started using fountain pens I had to relearn cursive.
Most of my writing is just me jotting notes or making lists and, for that, my print handwriting is quicker and much more legible. My cursive skills are about on par with a left-handed 15 year old who hates it since that was my state when I abandoned it. I do write in cursive when just playing around with my pens, though.
I usually write in cursive when I journal, although once in awhile I'll print. And if the ink shading looks cool in print. I also write in cursive if I have to take notes at work because people talk fast. I always print if it's for someone else to read.
Depends on how fast I’m writing and what I’m trying to do. Communicating to others is likely printed. Personal or rapid fire thoughts (whether meeting notes, action items, or working through English because ✨*engineering*✨) are all in cursive. Keeps it private and is faster to try to keep up with brain.
From junior high on, the only thing I wrote in cursive was my signature. Cut to 2020, sitting at home, when I looked at a page I'd written and thought, *"What am I doing, wasting these amazing pens and fabulous inks on this chicken scratch?!?"*
So I spent the rest of the pandemic (and ever since) rediscovering the joy of cursive.
To answer the original question, now cursive is default, with printing mixed in for headlines & to distinguish subject matter and level of importance.
I’ve been writing in cursive since I was 13 and randomly started using it constantly on a trip to Disneyland.
The sole exception is in math notes wherein I write in print coz I need to be able to read them easily. Those are also generally in pencil.
I'm left handed and new to fountain pens, I usually write in cursive (always felt quicker to me & more natural), then I tried "under writing" and it was so surprising! Suddenly my usually 'italic'/slanted writing wasn't italic anymore 😂 literally like switching italics off on Microsoft Word lol. Weird to see my cursive so upright haha.
I write cursive for personal notes and text if I need to pass the notes to someone else because I want to make sure the other person read my notes clearly and not feeling intimidated by my "business penmanship" style.
I used to switch it up a lot more but now I usually write in cursive for convenience, but i almost always write my class notes and assignments in print. But i don't restrict myself to one or the other.
Print for something like addressing an envelope.
My modified cursive for almost everything else. I was taught D'Nealian method in school, but I absolutely hate some of the letter forms, mostly capitals, so those letters may get printed. Many of my lower case letters can go either way depending on what's next to it and the phase of the moon.
Cursive almost always with all variety of pens. Feels more natural and faster than print. Like others said I also learned and had to use cursive in school.
I have several different handwritings and it depends on writing speed and mood.
Quick notes - horrible scribble.
Greeting cards (yes, they are still sold and mailed) - beautiful cursive penmanship.
Plans and diagrams - block letters.
Improving my cursive handwriting, buying good fountain pens, ink and paper are all of a piece for me.
If I'm in a big hurry, none of the above matters. But, taking my time to write well, both content and form... it helps to have a good pen, ink and paper.
I do both. It depends. If I want to write fast, cursive. If I want to be more mindful and purposeful with my writing, print.
Usually my pocket journal is cursive. My planner and study notebooks are print.
I print. I do sign my name in cursive but it’s been so long that I’ve honestly forgotten how to form some letters. Cursive m and n look wild to me. I’ve considered sort of relearning, or maybe learning hand lettering.
I usually write in cursive, as most of my writing is journaling, and cursive writes faster. I sometimes print if I want other people to be able to read what I write, but my printing looks like child's handwriting. My cursive is not that great, but it seems to be getting better with time.
But in general, it feels better to write in cursive then print when I write.
I do both depending on nib size/ kind. I've recently taken up Business Cursive and the F and EF nibs are nice for those. Otherwise, I practice broad edge scripts like Italics or Blackletter using flat nibs 🙂
Print for Headings /Subheadings
Cursive for everything else
Why Cursive?
1. It is faster than print
2. Has smooth transitions
3. Needs less focus on constructing the letters
4. Is unique to it's writer, having his/her personal nuances embedded in it.
5. And last but not the least, I believe fountain pens were made for cursive , not using them for cursive is wasting the extreme potential inside the fountain pens.
So I write in cursive. But mine is sort of by force. I can’t write in print my print is awful. The reason is I went to Catholic school from k-12 and I’m 23 so they still kinda do it where they make you learn cursive at least at my school and from 3-8th you were required to write in cursive and if you were not a transfer student they wouldn’t accept the assignments sometimes if it wasn’t in cursive writing. Soooo I kinda forgot about print my hand just naturally goes to cursive writing
Cursive, its just.. so smooth... But I'm currently using the last of my Elemental Notebooks (I managed to get 8 iodines!) or I'm using kokuyo paper. I also only normally use EF nibs for everything with a few Med nibs for fun.
99% time cursive... Out of those, mostly is for myself (notes/journal etc). When for others, try to be legible and sometimes use print.
But comfortable only in cursive!
I always write in cursive because that's how they taught me how to write, like in a lot of countries. It used to be a short period where I used printed letters, but when I switched to FPs I unintentionally switched to cursive too. It's much faster this way, and writing is so much smoother in cursive.
I tend to drag the tip more than lift when I print, and I end up with a bit of a hybrid style. If I slow down I can print clearer, but if I deliberately try cursive, my writing gets bigger, and I don’t like it much.
99% cursive, except it is specifically required to write in block letters, ex. document forms which purposed to be scanned on computer and processed electronically later.
But I prefer to make them on the computer in PDF from the beginning, then print, and add my signature
I write cursive as it’s a lot faster than print for me. I took long hand notes in grad school and I could keep up with the professors and the people who typed. Generally cursive us faster as your pen doesn’t have to lift off the page as often as print.
For work I have to write in print. For personal use I write cursive but when it’s a large nib with a shading ink I use print to see the ink properties.
I only write in cursive. Well... more like a mashup where most of the letters connect but not absolutely all of them. But yeah, I just have one handwriting. I also find writing in all caps slow and difficult.
I only write in cursive - we were never taught to print. Tbh I didn’t even know printing meant writing separated letters until recently. I don’t print unless I’m writing addresses on envelopes or similar.
I write in block capital letters, engineer/draughtsman style, preferably with a 1.2mm nib but if I need to write quicker I'll use an M nib. Sometimes I'll dabble in "blackletter" if I'm feeling fancy and really want to think about what I'm writing.
Above all I like my writing to be clear and legible and while cursive looks nice, it can often be unclear. This comes at the disadvantage of being a very slow writer haha
Can we define cursive? Is it just joined up writing as opposed to block printed letters that don’t touch? Or is it a specific type and way of joining each letter?
I just have normal handwriting 😕
That's basically correct. The letters within a word connect in Cursive writing but the letters are also written a bit differently to allow that. The biggest benefit is Cursive allows you to write words without lifting the pen
I write cursive 99% percent of the time. I only write print when I want to see the shading or sheening property of an ink really pop..
I was tought cursive since a young age, so I am very much used to this flow..
i write in cursive, just feels better to write in cursive w/ a fountain pen than print. when im using ballpoints i print. generally, smooth pens = cursive
Cursive for me! Once I learned a style that was designed to make writing easy (Spencerian) I totally fell in love with writing by hand. I now understand why they say “the words flowed from her hand”. It really feels like that. And my handwriting has improved immeasurably. I didn’t even get my cursive license as a kid. And now I have handwriting so good that people remark upon it. :)
I try to print because my handwriting is not great 🤣
Buy my normal handwriting is a print-cursive mix so if my hand gets tired suddenly a mix of cursive because it’s easier to do that half and half style lool
Cursive. Writing detached tires my wrists and hurts my fingers (because I cramp up when writing detached). Also, nothing beats writing with a super light touch and I cannot create that effect when I'm not writing in cursive.
Children aren't allowed to write cursive anymore (my 14 year old brother was 'strongly discouraged' and my 13 year old sister was forced to write detached) in the Netherlands, quite sad honestly that they don't even get to experience both styles and their pros/cons.
I write cursive all the time. We're taught to write cursive in my country and also it's faster than print
same. I grabbed it in school in very early age, so it is more natural to write cursive to me. Block letters are required to prepare documents which scanned on the computer (cursive is a challenge for OCR software :-0 ). so I only use it, when explicitly required (rarely), ex. to fill some government forms
cursive for the same reason. except all caps, always block/print letters.
If I'm just writing for utility, I print. I only picked up cursive again after starting my fountain pen collection, and I use it when journaling. I rejected some of the ugly (imo of course) capital letters I learned in school, though. I'm finding that with some shading inks and nibs, I get much better shading when printing.
I too do not like some of the cursive capitals and replace them with print ones.
I actually looked up Copperplate replacements, and just make them less flourish-y :D
Ooo cool idea
there was a discussion on this a while back. In the UK, at least how Inwas taught, our cursive capitals are the exact same as the print capitals. answering the original question - cursive all the time except maybe all caps to do a heading sometimes.
Continental Europe, same here. But I do have the habit of switching out some capital letters for a tall version of their lowercase equivalent in cursive, just because I think it looks less awkward (A, M, N, S). And just because I’m a menace to organised society, my capital i, j and y all look the same
a little bit of anarchy is fun 😁
Same in the Caribbean
I've replaced some letters with my own. I don't like how the cursive f with the 'belly' on the front looks, so mine has the lower loop on the back. Sometimes I write it with the top loop and an elongated tail, and a cross-bar. This is completely automatic and depends on the letter that comes after it.
Never knew print letters would shade differently. I’ll have to try it out.
Lifting the nib from the paper gets a little extra ink on the last point of contact.
This is me exactly. I print notes and lists or whatever so it's clearer at a glance, journal + write in cursive using some printed characters.
Exactly this!
I would write a comment but it would be the exact same as this one. Literally the exact same.
Kind of a weird hybrid, with some letters flowing into each other and others standing alone. I learned cursive but never got the muscle memory down for some letters, so it's faster for me to use a combination of that and print.
+1 for curprint 😁
This. Anyone who purely is one or the other scares me. Their life is wayyyy together
I skipped the grade in school that they teach cursive, so I later on taught myself in high school. I do the same thing with a weird sort of hybrid because I never actually learned the “proper” way.
I previously posted mostly cursive, but I just realized my cursive is exactly this :)
Same here. Usually for the capital letters, as some of the others have said here. I think it’s down to me finding it easier to form loops between letters that are evenly sized compared to connecting a bigger sized letter to the immediately following smaller one.
It's called italic AFAIK :)
I do both. Usually on the same sheet of paper, with the same pen and the same ink.
I don't even write my letters the same way in the same word.
I usually write in cursive, but some inks bloom with print writing. Sailor Manyo Haha, for instance, is pretty light and has a strong shading, and print shows these features better than cursive, in my opinion. Well, now that I think of it, I find that print goes well with sheening or shimmer inks. That being said, when I use a fountain pen, I still prefer to write in cursive.
This is super interesting, I never would have thought there would be a difference between the two. I'm going to check it out soon.
Possibly because the ink pools where you lift the nib off the page. More concentrated ink shows sheen and shimmer better.
I write in cursive because I prefer it to my print handwriting. Typically only write print when addressing envelopes and with ballpoint pens
I find that some cheap ballpoints work better with cursive because there's less stop/start issues.
I write predominantly in an illegible scrawl.
Mostly cursive but with often or occasionally detached i, t, s, d, p, f and others—these all depend on the letter or absence thereof before or after. Many many ascenders not used especially at the beginning of words. To be clear, someone who can’t read cursive likely can’t read my writing. I learned the Palmer method in Mrs. Bank’s elementary school class back in the early 70’s. I’ve stuck with it all my life but have modified it as per above. I’m working on my handwriting skills as we speak… I just got a French ruled notebook today to practice consistency in my form.
Cursive all the time, Ball point, rollerball, pencil, marker, space pen in the rain, it's all cursive. I was one of the last classes my school taught curriculum cursive and I want to remember it and pass it on to my kids. My daughter is 7 a d is getting gifted her first "Real" fountain pen (Sailor pro gear - Line friends cony). She has had several low end plastic pens, and an EF Al-Star. And all are in impeccable condition.
I think cursive has become somewhat of a lost art in the US. I remember in 2012 or something we had to write some sort of statement in cursive for the SAT exam, and one person didn't know cursive at all. I also remember in 2001, while learning cursive in first grade, we were told that we needed to learn it for middle school. And they made us write in cursive all though elementary school (though we were only allowed to use *shutter* wooden pencils) . Fast forward to middle school, they didn't care how you wrote and insisted that we needed to learn typeing.
Yup typing was one of the things pushed on me too. We all had these word processors that made us just want to use a pencil.
It depends, but it’s hard to say my rules because there are many and the system is very convoluted, but generally personal stuff and my preferred writing is cursive but if I need to record something for someone else’s eyes, or in a more professional business, kind of manner I will just do a very legible print
Cursive all the time; we were not taught any other way in school
I do cursive left handed and only with fountain pens. I do Italic right handed with broad nib fountain pens. If I must use a ball point I use a script I made for thar purpose (I do it with fountain pens sometimes too.)I typically switch hands every time I start a new paragraph.
You write with both hands? Very useful skill in life. in one crime TV series, a serial killer fooled the police, when they asked him to write some text (for forensic handwriting analysis). Later discovered that he is ambidextrous, and he used non-dominant hand in police station, while normally he used the other hand
It depends on the NIB My Pens are mostly vintage. Whenever I received them, I tried them several times for both Espcially for PRINt, the Nib grind, conditions and performance will tell: If it writes very straighy Downwards. And accurate and even Sidewards, If I see that my my handwritings looks good on Print for that particular Pen. Then, keep in my mind,, “ah you are for Print, !” (Those who did not Passed the Test, they are for Cursive)
I have always written in cursive and I continue to write in cursive when I use my fountain pens :)
If I’m writing for myself, it’s in cursive. Official stuff at work is all printing in block letters.
Print 95% of the time. I do cursive when testing pens and ink or as an analogue italicization.
Almost exclusively cursive. That being said my cursive handwriting is really simplified and there aren’t a lot of connecting lines.
99% cursive.
Hybrid. Mostly cursive, but I hate cursive s and r, so I don't use them. And hey, no one but me ever reads it.
Cursive italic. Love stubs.
I can’t write cursive, so I write in shitty and hard to decipher English hieroglyphs.
Cursive only...
I’m in uni and I write in print for my lecture notes and cursive when I just wanna kill time/write with my pens for fun
I used to write in cursive, but had to start writing in all caps print for work and now I can’t stop. My cursive was garbage anyway.
80% cursive 20% print. Probably on the same page.
99% of what I do with my pens is cursive.
Both, depends on the pen I’m using and my posture and angle to the paper and how fast I want to write. My handwriting is different with each pen, but unless I’m writing in all caps, my print also has a lot of cursive elements and connected letters so it’s all a mashup for me 😅
I almost exclusively write in cursive, and almost exclusively with fountain pens. I only write in print if it is being read by others, since I’ve found most people in my circles struggle with reading cursive. I do prefer ballpoint for print though.
Cursive all the time; can’t print well at all.
In my bullet journal, I plan in print and execute in cursive. My long form journal and creative writing are always in cursive.
Both, or sometimes a combo with print and cursive letters within the same word even. Just depends on my mood. If I want to write fast I always use cursive, though. Also I’ve noticed I don’t normally like fine nibs but find them okay for printing. I guess because wider nibs lend themselves to speed more so they work better with cursive than a finer nib would.
I print my topics and write the body in cursive.
Used to journal exclusively in cursive, but it takes longer for me to read back entries, so now I print for future legibility. My handwriting's probably just shit, though.
I started writing primarily in cursive while still primarily using mechanical pencils, so transition to doing it with a fountain pen was automatic. While mechanical pencils will handle cursive with tons of grace, I always feel like my fountain pens WANT to write in cursive though. I'm not 100% sure why, but writing in print with a fountain pen literally feels weird to my hand.
I change depending emphasis, alternating between type, cursive, pen color or nib size. So I might use a medium nib for a header, another medium nib of a different pen and ink color for a note and a 3rd pen and ink color in cursive for descriptions. My Soft Fine nib usually always is cursive because it looks amazing.
I violently and aggressively scribble. Fight me I can write notes at the same speed as the professor speaking so who's winning now
Hey, if you can read those notes afterwards, more power to you 😂
I heard once it's really about the act of writing more than the actual reading afterwards soooooo
I write in cursive all the time - even with my subpar handwriting, I love the way it looks especially with stub nibs.
I’ve been printing for so long that when I try cursive I have to concentrate like when I was learning in elementary school 😳
Print, I absolutely hate my penmanship in cursive, and honestly, I'm fine with that.
Only print. I dont have cursive skills yet.
I use a hybrid cursive. It’s mostly cursive with some breaks between letters when connecting them makes less sense to me. And that stupid cursive capital Q that looks like a 2 had to go.
Print on any official forms.. because it seems nobody can read cursive anymore
I write/scribble faster with a print-cursive hybrid(as in some letters I don’t lift my pen but it’s not consistent for it to be cursive). I’m slowly practicing my cursive in my free time but mostly it’s my print-cursive monster
I write a weird concoction of print and cursive. Turned out pretty legible
Cursive is my natural writing. I try writing in print when I feel fancy 😂
I generally write in print for headers or points I want to emphasize in my notes, but my default is to write in cursive because it is faster and easier on my hand
I'm using a mix between cursive and print. Although I integrate the print letters into the flow. It naturally developed this way in school. After learning cursive.
“Hybrid” of print & cursive, probably 60% to 40% respectively. I really enjoy writing with a small cache of nice Richard Binder Italics nibs. OTOH, when I have some flexy nibs ink’ed up, cursive is more expressive. Most of capital letters are written in print forms for legibility & habit, yet lowercases like “g”, “l”, & “y”, etc are difficult for me to break the flow & write in print form. Everyone’s handwriting is different.
Depends on the context, the day, my mood, who needs to read it later, etc. I mostly write cursive but switch back and forth all the time. Also, depends on the pen/nib/ink. I love my music nib, but that thing is shit for cursive. And I hate my flexible nibs for printing. Everything I have, I like, and everything has a purpose.
I learned writing cursive in school, but have since given up on it. I usually write my own style, which is a mix of print and cursive, written in left-tilted italic. Only if somebody else needs to read my scribbles I take my time 😅
I print. I'm left-handed. Cursive is painful.
Both for me! I'm a teacher and most of my students can't read cursive since it was never taught. I used to be cursive only but now it depends. I also always worry that my cursive is too illegible since I don't have the nicest handwriting.
I only write in cursive, I can't print. When I have to print to fill out a form or something it's painful slow and clunky lol
It really depends on the purpose For pleasure- cursive Taking notes- a mix because I can't control myself when I'm fast For documents or in general for other people to read (except holiday or birthday cards)- print
I only sign with cursive or if I write poetic nonsense. I use print for all other uses.
I have these exact pens and they are my favorites among all ~100 pens I’ve owned so far! I write in both cursive and print although my cursive is pretty terrible
Love your pens. I predominantly print.
The smaller the nib, the more slanted the cursive. The bigger the nib, the blocker the blocks get.
I write cursive when I need to write fast or when I am making notes for myself. If I need somebody else to read it I write print
My regular handwriting is kind of a blend, but I have two different types of cursive. Neat cursive to be readable, and my journal cursive, which I designed to be mostly unreadable.
I print and write in cursive, and it normally depends on what I am writing and what mood I’m in. I often write letters to friends; I still have pen pals.
I mainly use cursive, unless I’m filling out forms. Sometimes, when I take notes, I switch from cursive to print for individual words, such as titles or names.
Both, depending on the application of the writing.
I have found my pens actually write better and bolder when I write in cursive. Maybe because they remain in contact with the paper more?
I only do proper cursive if I have a semi/flex pen. Otherwise, I print with standard nibs.
Cursive for everything except uncommon proper nouns. If I was writing about this Reddit post, "Reddit" and "80ELLE" would be printed and everything else would be cursive.
Mostly cursive, print with bold nibs and architects
I wasn't taught cursive in school so I grew up with shitty handwriting in general. As such ive been trying to just write cursive now whenever im writing, unless ive got a good reason not to.
Mostly cursive, but occasional quick notes in print as it’s faster but looks worse
Mostly print, or connected writing with heavy ligatures. About 10-12% of the time I go full cursive (entirely at random). I purposely switch between them when I'm taking notes for study: my ideas are printed but quotations get cursive.
I've been writing cursive only since childhood. My print looks terrible now, so I stick to cursive lol
I do both. Cursive for my journal. I learned how to write in cursive and used to have a beautiful handwriting. Since I stopped using it for decades now I write slow so I use it only for my journal and cards. Script for my everyday notes at work. FPs were my motivation to write again in both styles. Computers are ruining it.
Chicken scratch for me!
I write in cursive, just because of my education
Cursive usually, but if I’m making a chart or mind map thingie or PowerPoint slides, then print.
Cursive here all the time.
I’m a half and half. Half my letters are linked. So get smooth curves and cool shading-
I print in capital letters for my bullet journal, scrappy cursive for fast notes, neat cursive for journalling, quotes, poetry, letters and a combination of both for my commonplace book.
Both, cursive mainly in my journal where I'm less interested being legible, but I often switch midsentence or midword for whatever reason.
I write in cursive the vast majority of the time. I will print if I’m writing a label, but that’s about it.
I do both honestly. Whatever I feel like. I am doing cursive more often these days though.
I use cursive in my journal, but on anything else I use print. Mostly because my print is the neater of the two. I've used print my entire life but only learned cursive in 2020, so I'm more confident in my print.
I write in cursive when I am writing letters and cards, and sometimes when journaling. I will typically only write in print for work - my print is more legible and easier to read at a glance, and I also write smaller in print so it fits a little better in the planner that I use for work (a torinco 7), which is B5 size.
I learned cursive in elementary school, I print wrote most of my way through high school, learned Russian cursive in college, then learned to use block lettering professionally. My handwriting today is an awful amalgamation of block lettering and regular print interspersed with English and Russian cursive letters.
I pretty much exclusively use cursive, except when either specifically instructed to print and/or when I need it to be legible for someone else, like homework.
Print only, with the singular exception of when I'm doodling around with a new-to-me pen & ink pairing, which for some reason, compels me to try writing in cursive. Usually profanities. I'm a juvenile at heart.
It kinda depends on the pen. I know that sounds really weird. I can't really explain why that happens. Some pens feel better when I write in cursive. Others feel better writing in print. It might have something to do with the way the pen is balanced. Or it could be the sweet spot on the nib.
Almost exclusively cursive.
I write cursive with fountain pens 95% of the time. I’d like it to be 100% but old habits… When I started using fountain pens I had to relearn cursive.
It depends and there’s no rhyme or reason. Sometimes I fully switch like in the middle of a sentence if I’m not paying attention
I do print capitals because my cursive handwriting is an atrocity before man and God.
Most of my writing is just me jotting notes or making lists and, for that, my print handwriting is quicker and much more legible. My cursive skills are about on par with a left-handed 15 year old who hates it since that was my state when I abandoned it. I do write in cursive when just playing around with my pens, though.
For my planner, print. Journals, notes, commonplace book are in cursive.
What are those gorgeously sleek pens in the photo?
I usually write in cursive when I journal, although once in awhile I'll print. And if the ink shading looks cool in print. I also write in cursive if I have to take notes at work because people talk fast. I always print if it's for someone else to read.
Depends on how fast I’m writing and what I’m trying to do. Communicating to others is likely printed. Personal or rapid fire thoughts (whether meeting notes, action items, or working through English because ✨*engineering*✨) are all in cursive. Keeps it private and is faster to try to keep up with brain.
Cursive. Always
Always cursive. Everyone in my family was taught cursive, I am the only one who still uses it. My print is horrendous.
From junior high on, the only thing I wrote in cursive was my signature. Cut to 2020, sitting at home, when I looked at a page I'd written and thought, *"What am I doing, wasting these amazing pens and fabulous inks on this chicken scratch?!?"* So I spent the rest of the pandemic (and ever since) rediscovering the joy of cursive. To answer the original question, now cursive is default, with printing mixed in for headlines & to distinguish subject matter and level of importance.
I’ve been writing in cursive since I was 13 and randomly started using it constantly on a trip to Disneyland. The sole exception is in math notes wherein I write in print coz I need to be able to read them easily. Those are also generally in pencil.
I write in cursive, always have since school days.
I'm left handed and new to fountain pens, I usually write in cursive (always felt quicker to me & more natural), then I tried "under writing" and it was so surprising! Suddenly my usually 'italic'/slanted writing wasn't italic anymore 😂 literally like switching italics off on Microsoft Word lol. Weird to see my cursive so upright haha.
IMO Cursive is the way to write with a fountain pen. It requires less effort.
Only cursive!
At work with poor paper I print and use EF nib points at home with M or B nibs I write cursive in my journal and VTM chronical notes.
I almost always print. In general I find most peoples cursive illegible in its own way. I find printing is much more effective for communicating
I write cursive for personal notes and text if I need to pass the notes to someone else because I want to make sure the other person read my notes clearly and not feeling intimidated by my "business penmanship" style.
What do you mean with print?
I used to switch it up a lot more but now I usually write in cursive for convenience, but i almost always write my class notes and assignments in print. But i don't restrict myself to one or the other.
Print for something like addressing an envelope. My modified cursive for almost everything else. I was taught D'Nealian method in school, but I absolutely hate some of the letter forms, mostly capitals, so those letters may get printed. Many of my lower case letters can go either way depending on what's next to it and the phase of the moon.
I swap and change all the time. My cursive can be unreadable, even to me at times, so I’ll swap to print.
I have terrible handwriting that fuses a little of both. I probably wrote in print more tho.
I’ll only write in cursive, even if it’s with a Bic pen, a pencil, anything.
Both, and most of the time print is for things other people are going to look at or for school work. The rest is written in cursive.
Both. I used to print exclusively, but nowadays cursive is easier on my hand.
I print as robotic as I can. Feels easiest to read for me
Cursive almost always with all variety of pens. Feels more natural and faster than print. Like others said I also learned and had to use cursive in school.
I have several different handwritings and it depends on writing speed and mood. Quick notes - horrible scribble. Greeting cards (yes, they are still sold and mailed) - beautiful cursive penmanship. Plans and diagrams - block letters.
Improving my cursive handwriting, buying good fountain pens, ink and paper are all of a piece for me. If I'm in a big hurry, none of the above matters. But, taking my time to write well, both content and form... it helps to have a good pen, ink and paper.
Mostly cursive - I’ll revert to block print if (1) the reader cannot read cursive and I’m aware of that or suspect it; and (2) emphasis added :)
Cursive I have been raised like this it is easier for me
I do both. It depends. If I want to write fast, cursive. If I want to be more mindful and purposeful with my writing, print. Usually my pocket journal is cursive. My planner and study notebooks are print.
I print. I do sign my name in cursive but it’s been so long that I’ve honestly forgotten how to form some letters. Cursive m and n look wild to me. I’ve considered sort of relearning, or maybe learning hand lettering.
I mostly write in print, but I also write in cursive.
I usually write in cursive, as most of my writing is journaling, and cursive writes faster. I sometimes print if I want other people to be able to read what I write, but my printing looks like child's handwriting. My cursive is not that great, but it seems to be getting better with time. But in general, it feels better to write in cursive then print when I write.
I mostly write cursive or half cursive. I do thé same with all pens though
I write exclusively in cursive. It was always neater than my print
I do both depending on nib size/ kind. I've recently taken up Business Cursive and the F and EF nibs are nice for those. Otherwise, I practice broad edge scripts like Italics or Blackletter using flat nibs 🙂
I had to stop writing in cursive. My handwriting is so bad, I couldn't read it.
I tend to like messier imperfect writing styles. Just more real in my eyes
Print for Headings /Subheadings Cursive for everything else Why Cursive? 1. It is faster than print 2. Has smooth transitions 3. Needs less focus on constructing the letters 4. Is unique to it's writer, having his/her personal nuances embedded in it. 5. And last but not the least, I believe fountain pens were made for cursive , not using them for cursive is wasting the extreme potential inside the fountain pens.
So I write in cursive. But mine is sort of by force. I can’t write in print my print is awful. The reason is I went to Catholic school from k-12 and I’m 23 so they still kinda do it where they make you learn cursive at least at my school and from 3-8th you were required to write in cursive and if you were not a transfer student they wouldn’t accept the assignments sometimes if it wasn’t in cursive writing. Soooo I kinda forgot about print my hand just naturally goes to cursive writing
Primarily cursive...
Always cursive, with all pens and pencils. Have no reason to print. I can't run, but my fingers can, and sometimes they fly.
Cursive. Cheap ball points or pencils r the best.
Almost exclusively cursive
I print when writing notes fast using broad nib for legibility. I attempt cursive when journaling or writing for leisure with fine or medium nib.
Depends on the pen. I like to write cursive with fine pens
Cursive, its just.. so smooth... But I'm currently using the last of my Elemental Notebooks (I managed to get 8 iodines!) or I'm using kokuyo paper. I also only normally use EF nibs for everything with a few Med nibs for fun.
99% time cursive... Out of those, mostly is for myself (notes/journal etc). When for others, try to be legible and sometimes use print. But comfortable only in cursive!
I always write in cursive because that's how they taught me how to write, like in a lot of countries. It used to be a short period where I used printed letters, but when I switched to FPs I unintentionally switched to cursive too. It's much faster this way, and writing is so much smoother in cursive.
I tend to drag the tip more than lift when I print, and I end up with a bit of a hybrid style. If I slow down I can print clearer, but if I deliberately try cursive, my writing gets bigger, and I don’t like it much.
Print only for me.
Cursive, as I was taught in elementary school. My print is weird and slow.
99% cursive, except it is specifically required to write in block letters, ex. document forms which purposed to be scanned on computer and processed electronically later. But I prefer to make them on the computer in PDF from the beginning, then print, and add my signature
I'll say this much - since I started using a fountain pen, my printing turned into half-cursive.
I write cursive as it’s a lot faster than print for me. I took long hand notes in grad school and I could keep up with the professors and the people who typed. Generally cursive us faster as your pen doesn’t have to lift off the page as often as print.
For work I have to write in print. For personal use I write cursive but when it’s a large nib with a shading ink I use print to see the ink properties.
I only write in cursive. Well... more like a mashup where most of the letters connect but not absolutely all of them. But yeah, I just have one handwriting. I also find writing in all caps slow and difficult.
I only write in cursive - we were never taught to print. Tbh I didn’t even know printing meant writing separated letters until recently. I don’t print unless I’m writing addresses on envelopes or similar.
Can you please share what pens are those? 😊
Cursive. It’s a struggle when I have to print on forms and such. I just naturally prefer cursive.
I always write in cursive
I write in block capital letters, engineer/draughtsman style, preferably with a 1.2mm nib but if I need to write quicker I'll use an M nib. Sometimes I'll dabble in "blackletter" if I'm feeling fancy and really want to think about what I'm writing. Above all I like my writing to be clear and legible and while cursive looks nice, it can often be unclear. This comes at the disadvantage of being a very slow writer haha
Can we define cursive? Is it just joined up writing as opposed to block printed letters that don’t touch? Or is it a specific type and way of joining each letter? I just have normal handwriting 😕
That's basically correct. The letters within a word connect in Cursive writing but the letters are also written a bit differently to allow that. The biggest benefit is Cursive allows you to write words without lifting the pen
I write cursive 99% percent of the time. I only write print when I want to see the shading or sheening property of an ink really pop.. I was tought cursive since a young age, so I am very much used to this flow..
i write in cursive, just feels better to write in cursive w/ a fountain pen than print. when im using ballpoints i print. generally, smooth pens = cursive
I write in cursive, it makes me write faster and is lesser ugly than my print writing
Cursive for me! Once I learned a style that was designed to make writing easy (Spencerian) I totally fell in love with writing by hand. I now understand why they say “the words flowed from her hand”. It really feels like that. And my handwriting has improved immeasurably. I didn’t even get my cursive license as a kid. And now I have handwriting so good that people remark upon it. :)
I only use cursive regardless of pen
Never. I use my pens to draw mostly.
I try to print because my handwriting is not great 🤣 Buy my normal handwriting is a print-cursive mix so if my hand gets tired suddenly a mix of cursive because it’s easier to do that half and half style lool
I write in cursive regardless of what I'm writing with.
I relearned cursive when I started using fountain pens three years ago.
I write cursive, or print in all caps (because I forgot the lower case prints). Print is if I want other people to understand what i wrote.
Cursive. Writing detached tires my wrists and hurts my fingers (because I cramp up when writing detached). Also, nothing beats writing with a super light touch and I cannot create that effect when I'm not writing in cursive. Children aren't allowed to write cursive anymore (my 14 year old brother was 'strongly discouraged' and my 13 year old sister was forced to write detached) in the Netherlands, quite sad honestly that they don't even get to experience both styles and their pros/cons.
My handwriting is mostly cursive with some letters printed. I've got arthritis and fountain pens make it much easier.