There are methods of handwriting that allow you to avoid hand cramps. The Palmer method of handwriting, which was popular in America at the turn of the 20th century, emphasized using the whole arm and shoulder to make marks on the page. In order for this method to be effective your wrists must be limp in order for your arms to slide quickly across the page. Instead of consciously "drawing" letters, you build up and use muscle memory to create letters, in the same way you naturally build and use muscle memory when you throw a ball. If you master this method of handwriting, you can write at 60 words per minute, for hours at a time without your hand cramping. Unfortunately, the Palmer Method was abandoned when education reformers in the U.S found it too "difficult", because it requires months of training and practice to become proficient. It also required left-handed students to write with their right hand, because English runs from right to left and this method requires your other hand to manipulate the paper. As a result, generations of Americans have grown up using an inefficient, painful method of writing.
Of course, the manuscript writers needed to draw the letters in a calligraphic style, which necessitated precise wrist motions. So a writing method designed for brisk mark making wouldn't have helped them.
EDIT: I'm not saying that I support forcing left-handed people to write with their right hands. It may be true that the Palmer method (or any right-hand only method) has a history of teachers using corporal punishment to punish mistakes, but corporal punishment is of course not necessary to become proficient.
Eksith, you're right that "drawing" the letters doesn't have anything to do with the speed at which letters are made. The "drawing" comment was made about why many people's cursive handwriting is so poor. When students learn cursive now, too often they are simply copying letters from a book or blackboard ("drawing the letters"), instead of practicing the physical motion. So when students need to write cursive script quickly, they don't have enough time to render each letter correctly and consequently they develop their own methods muscle movements, which usually leads to sloppy handwriting. The same kind of thing can happen when you are taught to type. Correct touch typing teaches you to let your finger return to the home row after pressing a key before you reach for another key. If you aren't taught to do this, you will develop your own muscle movements that are suitable for typing some words, but lead to mistakes in others.
A common error is letting your finger hover near the letter you typed when the same letter is repeated in the word that you are typing. This seems like an "optimization", but it isn't, and causes lots of spelling errors because it can easily mess up your key press timing. Using your own "optimizations" might be able to type as quickly as a touch typist in short stretches, but it is far more likely that you will make more errors.
When I was around 3-4, there was a teacher's assistant at the Montessori school I went to that insisted I write with the right hand. Every time I took the pencil to my left hand, she would grab it from me and stick in in the right hand. I never understood why, until I realized she was trying to get me to start on a variation of the Palmer Method.
Almost 25 years later, I'm still writing with my right hand, but do almost everything else (except cutting with scissors, which was also forced on me) with the left.
The Palmer Method is difficult, pompous, superfluous with motion and overall an unpleasant experience to be imposed on under the best of circumstances.
> Instead of consciously "drawing" letters, you build up and use muscle memory to create letters
You bloody write letters. No one "creates" letters unless it's on stone or wax tablet and no one "draws" it unless it's calligraphy. That's a ridiculous euphemism for forced muscle memory on a medium that requires no such effort to write clearly, efficiently and without pain.
Coming from a family with a very high percentage of left-handers (about 7 out of 10 on my Mother's side)...I can sympathize. The older ones who went through forced "right handed training" struggle with a host of psychological issues as a result of this forced training (not to mention some physical scars as the use of the "sinful" hand was beat out of them). The long-term effects have never been well studied because when the practice was common, there were social pressures not to and now the practice has mostly stopped.
Edit: You have carpal tunnel likely because you're holding the pen/pencil incorrectly and exerting far too much pressure. Drummers have this problem too when they use the tiny muscles in their hand to do the job of the big muscles.
Check if you're holding your writing utensil correctly.
As a left handed person in China, I always get stairs when people see me writing with my left hand (like I was an alien?), and I have trouble eating at tightly packed circular tables.
and my old man was forced to write right handed.. i am not sure what they called the method where the teacher would crack your knuckles with a yard stick if you messed up, but that is how he was taught. most perfect, effortless bloody handwriting of anyone i knew. with either hand.
learning can be painful. not learning might be worse.
Your father was abused into better handwriting and I feel sorry for him. Similar or better results can be achieved with patience, a kind word and a good instructor.
Huge public works projects that served a helpful purpose involved the death of countless workers in the past (I.E. the Panama Canal). We're grateful the end product exists, but who would tolerate a lock or dam that consumes that many lives today?
Just because things "were", doesn't mean they should "still".
> Of course, the manuscript writers needed to draw the letters in a calligraphic style, which necessitated precise wrist motions. So a writing method designed for brisk mark making wouldn't have helped them.
I'm hardly an expert, but I took a calligraphy class in college, and the instructor was always getting on our case, telling us "write with your arm, not your wrist/hand"... you weren't supposed to rest your hand on the paper as one typically does when handwriting; rather, you were supposed to use arm/shoulder movements to move your hand, with your wrist kept relatively stiff.
The idea, as I understand it, was that your large arm/shoulder muscles tend to tire much less quickly, and using them makes it much easier to maintain consistent, smooth, controlled movements. Even when fresh, writing with your wrist/fingers tends to be rather different simply due to the highly restricted movement range and the smaller muscles.
Yeah, the edit time limit is often pretty annoying... [Comment before going to bed and didn't notice that typo that completely changes the meaning until the next morning? Too bad! >< ]
I guess there are reasons for it, but it'd be cool if HN, say, increased the edit time limit by 1 minute per 1 point of karma over 500 or something ...
Try writing with your off hand when your coordination isn't fully developed. Even today, after some practice, my right handed writing is no better than a second grader's. Why put someone through that kind of frustration?
Frankly, left handed writers must be taught differently. http://www.musanim.com/mam/lefthand.htm shows some of the challenges. It's more than just switching a hand.
This Palmer Method thing sounded interesting, so I looked into it a bit more, and it doesn't actually look that esoteric, and there are also lefties who can do it:
> I went to Catholic school in the 50's and learned penmanship by the Palmer Method. I am left handed, and to this day, people still say how beautiful my handwriting is....
But my favorite comment is this one:
> Just the sight of this nearly makes me vomit with nervous revulsion......the Palmer Method, Catholic school.....I started in a catholic school in 1960. I endured 6 years of shear hell on earth. Like Holocaust victims I will never forget.....and I will tell my story to all who will listen....catholic school...slapped in the face by nuns, public ridicule was the nuns trademark, told that my Protestant mother could not enter the gates of heaven,....I still have nightmares 50 years later
Finally, I do think that the idea of writing from your arm, shoulder, and back makes intuitive sense. There is a school of piano playing technique that encourages the same thing, and even good typing technique embraces this. Same for many sports.
Of course, the manuscript writers needed to draw the letters in a calligraphic style, which necessitated precise wrist motions. So a writing method designed for brisk mark making wouldn't have helped them.
EDIT: I'm not saying that I support forcing left-handed people to write with their right hands. It may be true that the Palmer method (or any right-hand only method) has a history of teachers using corporal punishment to punish mistakes, but corporal punishment is of course not necessary to become proficient.
Eksith, you're right that "drawing" the letters doesn't have anything to do with the speed at which letters are made. The "drawing" comment was made about why many people's cursive handwriting is so poor. When students learn cursive now, too often they are simply copying letters from a book or blackboard ("drawing the letters"), instead of practicing the physical motion. So when students need to write cursive script quickly, they don't have enough time to render each letter correctly and consequently they develop their own methods muscle movements, which usually leads to sloppy handwriting. The same kind of thing can happen when you are taught to type. Correct touch typing teaches you to let your finger return to the home row after pressing a key before you reach for another key. If you aren't taught to do this, you will develop your own muscle movements that are suitable for typing some words, but lead to mistakes in others.
A common error is letting your finger hover near the letter you typed when the same letter is repeated in the word that you are typing. This seems like an "optimization", but it isn't, and causes lots of spelling errors because it can easily mess up your key press timing. Using your own "optimizations" might be able to type as quickly as a touch typist in short stretches, but it is far more likely that you will make more errors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Method