[-]

sheepsies@reddit

yep. Did not realize that it wasn't considered cursive? but we certainly weren't going to learn Palmer or Spencerian or anything

[-]

I mean, we used that style of paper and learned cursive one letter at a time in elementary school pretty much until you got old enough to write smaller. I never had a clue what the hell it was called or knew it had a name until today. Our teachers did not explain that to us. I’m sure if you ever asked me if we used D’Neilian method to learn cursive, I also would have told you no.

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Outrageous_Bit6946@reddit

I was never allowed to use biro pen. Due to my bad handwriting I at this stage loved my pencil. I found it hard to change over. I can still write this way x a and b annoyed me the most x

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MalWinchester@reddit

Wait. That's not regular cursive? This is all I learned.

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full_of_ghosts@reddit

Looking at this chart, my first thought was "Yes, that looks like the cursive I was taught in elementary school, but I've never heard the word "D'Nealian" before."

So I googled "D'Nealian vs. regular cursive," and found this page, which compares D'Nealian and Zaner-Bloser cursive. This differences are subtle, but Zaner-Bloser is closer to what I remember being taught in grade school.

(Although I've never heard the word "Zaner-Bloser" before, either.)

So, no, I don't think I was ever taught D'Nealian. Never even heard of it until three minutes ago.

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snowboard7621@reddit

Thank you for the links - but this all just seems like “handwriting differences” to me? Like normal variations on cursive.

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nalonrae@reddit

That's basically what it is. Similar to how some fonts have a line on a capital J and some do not. The basic letter shapes stayed the same but the flourishes connecting them changed.

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Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit

Yes thats the one i learned in 3rd/4th. I didnt know there was another cursive

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Mememememememememine@reddit

Same I’m looking at that picture thinking…. What cursive did you learn next??

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VoidOmatic@reddit

Same reaction. "Uh.... isn't that just cursive?!"

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angasaurus@reddit

Same. I thought that WAS cursive. Many of my letters still look like that.

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

It is. They just picked the wrong photo from the Wikipedia article.

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matchstick1029@reddit

Thank you, never seen this in my life

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Flimsy_Goat_8199@reddit

Same. It’s basically regular handwriting with a little flair on the ends of some letters? I guess I don’t understand the need, which is probably why I never saw it in school.

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KinvaraSarinth@reddit

I started printing some letters like this in university, mostly to help differentiate them from numbers and greek letters and such. "+" and "t" can look awfully similar without the little foot on the t. Similarly with i/l/1, x/x (letter/multiplication symbol), s/S/interval sign, etc. I was surprised at how much my writing changed at that point in my life.

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SouthOfTheNorthPole@reddit

My children's Pre-K teachers said it eases them into cursive writing very easily.

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

That's not cursive, that's the manuscript version. Scripts come in two versions, usually: print and cursive. You can see the two versions here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Nealian

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Morriganx3@reddit

I’ve seen this kind of writing on a lot of death certificates from the early 1900s. It always impresses me with its neatness and consistency, but I never realized it was an actual standardized method.

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Fuckoffassholes@reddit

I’ve seen this on death certificates from the early 1900s

You saw something similar, but surely not the actual standardized D'Nealian method, which was developed between 1965 and 1978 by a guy born in 1927.

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SnooLemons2292@reddit

I learned to write this way but I went to Catholic school so might be saying something

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Sirtriplenipple@reddit

It makes sense, I’ve seen old people write like this.

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IWantALargeFarva@reddit

The only reason I’ve seen it is because when I was a first-time mom to a toddler, I was researching how to teach handwriting and this came up. My daughter’s preschool teacher said most schools didn’t use it so I didn’t really need to worry about it.

I’ve also become less obsessive over the years. I really thought my kid was going to get ahead in life by me preemptively teaching this handwriting lol.

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lavasca@reddit

Same

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WhatToDo_WhatToDo2@reddit

Dude really added a lil tail to like 10 letters and now he’s got a Wikipedia page. That’s some low effort bs and I’m hatin lol

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lechero11@reddit

Yes I learned this. Kinder in 86 or so. I thought this was just regular alphabet. When I spell things out for my kindergarten aged child, my print looks like a mixture of straight lines with some D’Nealian flair.

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Chicken_Water@reddit

This is D'Nealian print, not cursive

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I-RegretMyNameChoice@reddit

That was how we learned where I grew up. I feel like they called it something else though…

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C-ute-Thulu@reddit

Ty. I learned this in 1st and 2nd grade. Then we moved to another school where the kids were taught the old timey way to print. The other kids just about had a stroke when I made a lower case i or j.

That's what I blame my horrible handwriting on now

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False-Storm-5794@reddit

Starting to think I'd lost my freaking mind!

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bony-tony@reddit

So, basically italics?

That's dumb. No wonder it didn't stick.

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

Ignore the slant - it’s all about the little tails on the end.

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icy_sylph@reddit

For my teacher, the slant was just as important as the tails. Endless rows of t’s, all slanted at JUST the perfect angle, otherwise points off, or redo.

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majj27@reddit

I was never taught D’Nealian: we just jumped straight into cursive at around 2nd grade and were not allowed to use script anymore afterwards (catholic school - they were... energetically specific about some things).

Ironically, as time went on, my general writing style wound up looking a LOT like D’Nealian purely by chance, and still is to this day.

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moonbunnychan@reddit

My writing is a weird mix of print, D'Nealian, and cursive thanks to learning all 3 within a few years of each other. Now it's just a mashup of all 3 and just a mess.

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IComposeEFlats@reddit

I never heard the name, but there was a point where I was absolutely taught to put tails on letters like a and d

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FormidableMistress@reddit

Ooooooh. Yeah no, I just learned cursive in second grade. I was looking at the first picture like that's just cursive.

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Aquatichive@reddit

thanks i was like "what the hell¨ that IS script

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Wunjo26@reddit

Thank you for pointing that out. I’m downvoting this post because it’s misleading

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Alvintergeise@reddit

Ok wow, original post is worthless

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Fusionbomb@reddit

Born in ‘79. I wish I had learned this first before cursive, which I used through high school, so that my print handwriting wouldn’t look like dog vomit today.

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read-the-directions@reddit

This is definitely the way I was taught to print. And it makes sense because I grew up in the mitten state!

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i_am_roboto@reddit

And isn’t this just “not cursive”? I’m so fucking confused right now. This just looks like not cursive.

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crm006@reddit

It’s the little hook upturn at the end of the letters and more of where you start the writing and finish that makes it easier to transition into the next letter. Print doesn’t have that “upturn” at the end. This is also 30 years ago I was learning this so forgive me for my sins.

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animal_chin9@reddit

My friend is pushing 40 and still does those little swoopies at the end of some of his letters. Makes his handwriting look like a 3rd grader's.

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crm006@reddit

Yeah. It only makes sense to use them when writing cursive. I pretty much exclusively write in cursive though so my print has them by default.

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EkbatDeSabat@reddit

So it's a font.

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IComposeEFlats@reddit

Hand written.

OP said it was something they had to learn before cursive. So instead of making blocky print letters they needed to do this font in their handwriting, and we're being graded on it.

"Sorry, your a is missing the tail, you'll have to write it again."

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sunsetandporches@reddit

I have been writing like this for my daughter. So I must have seen this and learned it. Because it also looked like that’s normal writing. Until the upturn comment.

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ProfessorChaos406@reddit

Before we knew what fonts were (most people anyway)

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seethembreak@reddit

Some have that little swoop but the rest look like regular printed letters to me.

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Jen10292020@reddit

Look at the lower-case h, i, m, n, etc how they has the "tail" so when you learn cursive you already have that flow to connect the letters together. Also the lower case k already has a cursive look to it.

My kids didn't even learn cursive in school :(

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Octavya360@reddit

A lot of districts discovered that’s actually a problem because if you never learn how to write cursive, you don’t know how to read it. Cursive connects us with our past.

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Jen10292020@reddit

So true. I was shocked when my kid couldn't read a cursive note written in a birthday card.

Sad.

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Octavya360@reddit

You might have to teach it to him on your own. I’ve read that many districts across the US have added it back in as a subject.

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Jen10292020@reddit

I hope they are putting it back in schools. I never learned shorthand but I can write things down quickly with cursive, like if I'm on the phone jotting down notes on an upcoming appointment, etc. I think it's useful and beautiful. Penmanship in general feel antiquated with technology.

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Iamthegreenheather@reddit

I know how to write it but I can't read boomers handwriting at all. They're the only people I see using it (at least in my profession).

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Day2205@reddit

Ehh, to be fair, most cursive text of significance from the past still had print captions next to it given cursive has always been harder to read thanks to the varying “flair” in which people write. Also, there’s an app for that.

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midlifesurprise@reddit

Also, the lowercase k has a loop.

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vasthumiliation@reddit

Correct, the commenter to whom you replied made a mistake. Read the actual linked article. The original post shows the cursive script. The commenter added an image of the D’Nealian print or block letters, the non-cursive form used as the base for then teach cursive script.

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Iamthegreenheather@reddit

Some of the letters are at an angle, I guess?

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Ordinary_Taro_9850@reddit

Yeah…. This to me ain’t cursive …

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SilverIrony1056@reddit

I think they confused "cursive" (letters connected to each other) with "hand-written" as opposed to "printed". You can write pretty much anything you want by hand, including imitating printing fonts, it doesn't make it "cursive", and following on that, not all cursive counts as "calligraphy" (we had separate classes for that).

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TotallyNotRobotEvil@reddit

Yes it looks like a print font, unless this is a bad example as well.

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

That’s right - hence the “before cursive” phrase in the post title. It’s adding tails to letters that will connect when you learn cursive, but is much closer to print.

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avalonfaith@reddit

Ooooooooohhhhh, commented too soon. The look familiar as well, but prob was just a small section of one homework page.

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

I did not expect to be the D’Nealian understander today but did learn to write this way around time the fall of the Berlin Wall. Everything was neon and our letters had tails, I don’t know what to tell you.

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

That's because OP has the right version. The image you're responding to is the print version (manuscript). You can learn the difference between the two here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Nealian

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TotallyNotRobotEvil@reddit

Ok well this is kind of important, the OP has the wrong picture. It looks like a fancier print font, like the whole point of cursive is you minimize the time spent lifting the pen from the page. So I’m curious how these letters would connect. For example, hoe does “usc” in “Manuscript” connect together?

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

OP doesn't have the wrong picture. OP is talking about cursive. The image you're talking about is manuscript, which is print. You can see the difference here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Nealian

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

You use a different ‘s’ in cursive that makes it work. This is print that’s a little “fancier” in a way that’s meant to smooth the transition into cursive, but doesn’t change the letters significantly as “S”, “G”, “Q” etc will in the actual cursive alphabet.

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

That's an image of D'Nealian Manuscript (print), not D'Nealian Cursive. Two different scripts.

Here is an image of D'Nealian Cursive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Nealian

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NippleSlipNSlide@reddit

This is what I learned as well. It was first grade though and then cursive in 2nd grade. Born in early 80s in Michigan.

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SpookyHumanJester@reddit

I thought this was Print. These are the only letters I learned before cursive. As I've gotten older I dropped the tail off most of these but that was due to laziness, but still do it if I'm trying to print "nicely."

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BroughtBagLunchSmart@reddit

I wonder if this guy killed himself when they invented ctrl+I

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rharper38@reddit

Never learned this.

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vasthumiliation@reddit

They did not. The photo you’ve attached is captioned D’Nealian print writing (or block letters), which is the opposite of cursive. The original post is correct.

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deserttitan@reddit

So, it’s italics?

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vikingraider27@reddit

lol that's just pretty printing.

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RoutineLingonberry48@reddit

Hah. As I abandoned cursive and went back to printing - this is how I print.

Never taught it. Just picked it up.

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redditshy@reddit

Well isn’t that just a delightful little font.

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Fishbulb2@reddit

Hmmm. If they chose the wrong photo causing them to create mass confusion, then I'm going to have to down vote OP's post. I don't won't to! It's rare. I never do it. But I have no choice.

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digitalgraffiti-ca@reddit

That's just basic printing, but slanted

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Mememememememememine@reddit

Omg thank you. This comment needs to make its way to the very top bc everyone is so confused.

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shaubjohn@reddit

They picked 'the wrong one' for engagement. This shot would have been a bunch of nopes and a short run in the sub.

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ProfessorChaos406@reddit

Thanks for clarifying that. Thought I was having a stroke. Turns out this is the way I write now, but thought I made it up

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frinkhutz@reddit

THIS is what I remember. They don't teach this anymore?

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wesk74@reddit

The D'Nealian I learned has an uppercase Q that looked like a big ass 2.

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MamaMoosicorn@reddit

Thank you. I was confused for a second. We learned D’Nealian in second grade and OPs pic was not it

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ThatInAHat@reddit

That’s just print with extra curves

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

Yup - that’s what D’Nealian is.

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johnb300m@reddit

Ohhh ok, no. We went right to cursive.

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mourning_breath@reddit

Yes. We learned this. I wouldnt have e thougbt it was any diffrent than print tho.

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Corgibutz77@reddit

THIS is why ppl like comic sans...lmfao

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_incredigirl_@reddit

This just looks like printing with a serif font

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Dead_Medic_13@reddit

Oh, so just normal writing

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PotentialSteak6@reddit

Nope never seen that

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Elbobosan@reddit

So printing with a tail on it.

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Annual_Strategy_6206@reddit

Well, for fuckssake! I'm staring at the photo seeing cursive, and they're saying it's D'whatever . This post is annoying. ( and, no. We didnt use D'oh nealuan just block print leading to the cursive we all know and [some] love. Elementary school in the 60s. )

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

It was certainly more of a Xennial thing.

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DripDrop777@reddit

Correct. This is dnealian.

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Funkopedia@reddit

Thank you, I was about to have an existential crisis.

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curtishavak@reddit

AI is the future!!!

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GonnaTry2BeNice@reddit

Thank you! I was like OP when are you going to tell us what it means??

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XBXNinjaMunky@reddit

So...italics?

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

Nope - it’s about the tails on the letters. The slant shown is incidental and not related to D’Nealian.

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Jane__Delawney@reddit

This post brought up a core memory I forgot I had, the name and everything. I’m ‘84, and started learning D’Nealian in ‘89

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stellifer_arts@reddit

this is preppy Girl handwriting

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sassooal@reddit

I think my son is learning this at his school as he writes "fancy Rs."

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Mememememememememine@reddit

Same. And the little kids in my life get mad at me bc they can’t read it. One of their moms told me that it’s like us trying to read Japanese and I simply don’t see how it’s that hard. The letters just connect guys. Figure it out.

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xX_7HR0W-4W4Y_Xx@reddit

I mean... some cursive letters would be totally unidentifiable if you weren't taught what they are. Capital G and lowercase z come to mind

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ApprehensiveAsk1739@reddit

My daughter in Kinder can basically read cursive. I’m sure some of the more weird letters like uppercase G, Q, Z would be difficult, and don’t come across often.

She tries to learn to write it by connecting the print letters with lines.

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Zestforblueskies@reddit

All of my cursive letters look like this, three decades later. lol.

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melanthius@reddit

Damn I feel like my second grade teacher scammed me now

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iLoveYoubutNo@reddit

Zaner-Bloser, usually

Or Palmer but there aren't many people under 40/45 that would have learned this in school, but we may use it if our parents or teachers did... I mean, those that still write in cursive at all.

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SakaWreath@reddit

TLDR: Old font, hard. New font good-er.

Think of it as a slightly different font that they cooked up to get around a lot of the common issues that kids ran into, over and over again.

The formation and flow of the letters makes it easier to connect them together. Which was a big hurdle kids faced when moving from printing each solitary letter on isolation to making letters flow through a word.

The strokes are also designed to be as continuous as possible, where other styles/fonts would have you lift off of the paper and break the flow.

In other forms/fonts, the style was more important than fluidity and ease of writing.

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RogerClyneIsAGod2@reddit

Here's the question someone needs to answer for me because they couldn't answer it in elementary school & it makes zero sense to me:

WHY IS THE CAPITAL LETTER Q A 2?!?!?

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One_Cryptographer940@reddit

I had to learn that weird "2"-looking thing for "Q." Once we were done with learning handwriting, I was relieved to not have to attempt to replicate it anymore. So random.

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RogerClyneIsAGod2@reddit

I haven't made a Q like that since 3rd grade when we learned cursive.

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seethembreak@reddit

Idk but it’s apparently not anymore. It changed in 1996 and now looks like a fancy printed Q.

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RogerClyneIsAGod2@reddit

Thank goodness!

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Ent_Trip_Newer@reddit

Ok thanks I'm not nuts. I grew up in Michigan in the 80s and this is all I learned.

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IKSLukara@reddit

Damn, did I not learn the Secret Second Cursive?

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Day2205@reddit

OP had AP Cursive in 5th grade or some shit 😭😂

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Samwellikki@reddit

This is the base, then some people get real weird with it

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Klutzy-Football-205@reddit

What do you mean there's Advanced Cursive?!

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einTier@reddit

I’m really hoping Spencerian.

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bobfnord@reddit

You don’t connect the letters. It’s a transition from print to cursive.

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Aware_Commission_995@reddit

D’Nealian specifically includes connected letters in its method. The difference between this and other scripts is the transitionary “monkey tail” and some letters designed to be easier to draw.

Compare this to Bickham round hand and you will see the difference.

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One_Cryptographer940@reddit

This is making me wonder if my school/county was a late Palmer-method holdout. Or at least taught some kind of Palmer-Zaner-Bloser hybrid. We learned printing first, no letters were joined up. Only after we mastered print did they begin to teach us cursive. And the Q's I had to learn were definitely the Palmer-method Q's with the little curl at the top.

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veglove@reddit

Thanks; I couldn't really answer the question posed by OP because I don't remember anyone saying what teaching method they were using to teach me cursive. They just taught cursive in class.

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EIO_tripletmom@reddit

Perhaps, but obviously (based on the responses here) many of us were taught to connect the letters, whether that was the original intent or not. We went straight from print to this style in 3rd or 4th grade, but we were taught to connect the letters.

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casdoodle527@reddit

Same. This is how I learned and connected those letters

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ashlyn42@reddit

Yep - I still remember my 3rd grade teacher doing a test 1 on 1 on this type of cursive (but connected) where our pencil could only leave the paper for “spaces between words”

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BayouLuLu@reddit

I remember being amazed when our teacher could tell that someone lifted their pencil and called them out for it.

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casdoodle527@reddit

One of my new coworkers is mind blown when I write in cursive…..he was born in 2001

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EIO_tripletmom@reddit

My children are 12. They were taught cursive in elementary school, but it wasn’t a big deal if they never learned to do it well. Probably 80% of their assignments in middle school are done on MacBooks.

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casdoodle527@reddit

Mine are 5 & 2, so we aren’t there yet, but it surprised me this guy can’t even “sign” his name, it’s printed

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waywardflaneur@reddit

I think it’s possible that we learned the letters first but it was such a short transition that we don’t really remember.

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thagrrrl79@reddit

I distinctly remember my 2nd grade teacher instructing us on how to connect the letters.

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SayItAgainLucas@reddit

Ahhhh

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Mission_Spray@reddit

Is this why I can’t connect my cursive?

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cboogie@reddit

What? That is nonsense. I have never seen this typeface non-connected.

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EMF911@reddit

Well, that defeats the entire purpose of cursive/shorthand

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Czarcastic013@reddit

Sounds like D'Nealian claimed the concept of "practice forming the letters". Actually trying to write like that would defeat the whole point of cursive, which was smooth flow.

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dallyan@reddit

Same. Isn’t this just cursive?

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Curious_Fault607@reddit

OP shared the Cursive version instead of the Print version of D'Nealian writing. Print examples are shared in this thread.

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Individual-Schemes@reddit

So there aren't other cursives?

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Curious_Fault607@reddit

OP asked specifically, "remember learning D'Nealian handwriting BEFORE cursive?" [emphasis added] but attached an image of cursive D'Nealian which is taught AFTER D'Nealian print and does not support the point of the ask.
There are many other cursive styles taught. This Montessori version is designed to be an easy transition.

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Few_Improvement_6357@reddit

It's pretty much the same but you don't connect the letters like you do with cursive. Your pencil comes off the paper for each letter.

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Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit

In my own writing i dont connect all the letters! lol makes me think of movie handwriting experts & serial killers

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FerretAgreeable2520@reddit

We went right to the Palmer Method.

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FerretAgreeable2520@reddit

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ArticulateRhinoceros@reddit

Yeah... at 43 years old I just learned I never learned cursive!

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IvanNemoy@reddit

There's dozens of "cursive" scripts. This is my argument every time some idiot boomers or early X'er says we need to "teach cursive to make sure people can read the Constitution!"

D'Nealian isn't roundhand or copperplate, which are the two scripts that the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are written in. The two are just vaguely similar. Hell, it's not even that similar to Spencerian script which was the standard from the 1830's to the 1930's or so.

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Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit

Ok ive got to check out some others- 30s style being my fav

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IvanNemoy@reddit

The wiki article is legitimately a great starting point. If you run down to the bottom, you've got a lot of script items in the "See Also" section.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive

[-]

HarveysBackupAccount@reddit

I remember learning D'nealian and that screenshot is definitely what I was taught as cursive. D'Nealian is like a simplified version. My memory is hazy but this is close to what I remember

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Warden_lefae@reddit

I learned two different styles. Mostly they were the same, except for like two letters.

This was the second style, I had to learned, and I got so annoyed with it I gave up on cursive altogether.

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DrButtgerms@reddit

I thought that was just what individual cursive letters looked like ...

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corduroytrees@reddit

Same, third grade here and born in ‘77.

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yikesonbikes1230@reddit

Same on a big chief tablet 😂

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b_casaubon@reddit

Woah, that was a lost memory that I could almost smell

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DenvahGothMom@reddit

Sorry to be this way, but since we're discussing the finer points of learning the English language:

*whoa

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KindaKrayz222@reddit

Actually, it could be either spelling.

gif

[-]

DenvahGothMom@reddit

That’s not correct. It’s always been “whoa.”

[-]

KindaKrayz222@reddit

.. "Woah" is an informal, often nonstandard spelling of "whoa," an interjection used to express surprise, amazement, or to command a stop/slow down. While "whoa" is the traditionally accepted spelling, "woah" is frequently used in pop culture and social media to indicate intense reaction or to mean "wow".

gif

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DenvahGothMom@reddit

"Informal," "nonstandard" spelling means incorrect. Like using "plz" for "please."

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b_casaubon@reddit

Ok - no judgment

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yikesonbikes1230@reddit

2 pencils and a big chief and school could commence! 😂

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FaustusRedux@reddit

Sorry - I'm a Son of Big Chief kind of guy.

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yikesonbikes1230@reddit

How dare you sir 🤣

[-]

Bloodbndrr@reddit

Yes!!

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ThisIsADaydream@reddit

Same. I just thought this was cursive!

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ElGuaco@reddit

OP's image is a bit misleading because it doesn't indicate that the letters aren't meant to be connected and are written separately in a manuscript style. The idea that was that it would make it easier to transition to writing cursive style where the letters are connected. The biggest criticism of this is that it creates extra steps for children to learn while they are still developing literacy.

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Curious_Fault607@reddit

OP's image is not the Print version which does not support the point.

[-]

Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit

What other method was there?

This worked for me tho i dont connect everything.

Some letters i do a different style

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whistleridge@reddit

…which is why my cursive still looks like a third grader’s. I never used cursive, not even when teachers docked me points. It was slower, harder to read, and made my hand hurt. And by the time I hit high school, when losing points might have mattered, no one cared.

Fun fact: cursive isn’t faster than print. They’re about the same speed, because speed is mostly based on proficiency. But it’s unquestionably harder to read, in the same way that serif fonts are harder on the eyes than sans serif fonts are.

The purpose of cursive isn’t speed or legibility, it’s to minimize pen lifts for fountain pens, both to keep the ink flowing and to minimize the risk of drips. It’s an entire writing system designed around obsolete writing tools, and has no modern value. And, since none of us use fountain pens anymore, no one aside from a small stubborn core teaches it or uses it anymore.

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On_my_last_spoon@reddit

Thank you for adding this fact to my anti-cursive rant!

My cursive is slower than my printing because I use it less and I need to be more precise for it to be legible. And as a fellow 1977er I definitely had to hand write most of my homework throughout k-12 education!

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

I learned cursive in 2nd grade and we were required by school policy to use it through the rest of grade school. I still use it because it's faster to write.

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FlatSixFun@reddit

Cursive definitely wronged you.

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whistleridge@reddit

Nah. I’ve just been a calligrapher for 20 years now, and know enough to know that cursive is shitty handwriting. Very well-done it can be quite pretty, but by and large it isn’t well-done. So it’s just hard to read, was no faster to produce, is poorly-designed for today’s writing utensils (and so loses most of its potential beauty), and is obnoxious for kids to learn.

It’s past time for it to enter the dustbin of history.

[-]

mandileigh@reddit

You're a calligrapher who doesn't use cursive? I'm curious now. Can you share some of your work?

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whistleridge@reddit

I did a master’s in Byzantine history, that required me to read a bunch of medieval documents. Since the best way to learn to read old handwritings is to learn to write them, I did. From there, it kind of snowballed.

I largely do my work in uncial, Roman Rustic, some Italic and some Batarde. Those are the hands that were used in the periods I studied (I can do gothic and some others not mentioned but I’m not more than day to day competent at them, not really calligraphic at them).

I don’t do round hand scripts (which is what cursive is descended from) because I never studied that period. Also they require different nibs and a pressure-based system for varying between thicks and thins that I just can’t seem to wrap my brain around. At best I’ve dabbled with them.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos easily to hand here at work.

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big_ringer@reddit

There actually is a cognitive benefit to learning cursive; having to connect one letter to another opens up more pathways in your brain.

But, most proponents' reason is usually along the lines of "I had to do it, so should everyone else!"

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whistleridge@reddit

Yes but the pathways it opens are “how do I connect letters together” pathways. There’s not really any evidence that it translates into other improvements elsewhere.

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coarse_glass@reddit

Now I'm curious what other "method" there is. Is this just referring to learning individual letters one at a time or are shapes of letters somehow constructed differently?

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Grendelbeans@reddit

My sister, a true millennial, learned to write like this. I learned to write print, then learned cursive in 4 th grade. My sister never learned to write regular print—the alphabet she was taught looked just like this, and she was not taught to connect the letters until a later grade. It was so weird—like school was telling her to write cursive letters in print. If she had to write in print on a form or something her letters still look like this.

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Active_Yellow_1573@reddit

I'm X, and we learned this is 2nd grade, after learning to print in Kindergarten.

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MysteriousCodo@reddit

Holy shit, this isn’t cursive???? It’s what I was taught as cursive.

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clandahlina_redux@reddit

Thank you! This is the only cursive I learned except for when everyone gets older and lazier with their letters.

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MrMedallion@reddit

Absolutely the same. I'm pretty sure this is just cursive and now I'm afraid to look into it and have my whole world view crumble.

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AlarmedSnek@reddit

There isn’t. D’Nealian is a style of teaching how to transition from block printing to cursive. It’s the method that the name refers to, not the end result. The end result of the D’Nealian method is that you can now write in cursive.

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

Exactly the same with me too.

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honeysnugx@reddit

Man that method was a struggle for real like who even uses cursive anymore smh

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GiaAngel@reddit

Same! This is what I learned and still use to this day. 🤷‍♀️

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Mike_Danton@reddit

There are other cursive scripts, but it’s kind of besides the point. I think the confusion lies in the OP’s picture combined with stating that D’Nealian was taught before cursive.

There are two D’Nealian scripts - print and cursive. In many schools the D’Nealian print was taught as a bridge between “regular” print and “full” cursive.

OP’s picture shows the D’Nealian cursive script, hence the confusion. I’m showing the print script.

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eyesRus@reddit

That pic is D’Nealian cursive. There is also a D’Nealian print alphabet, which is what was used as the step before cursive.

It’s weird they chose that pic instead of the script version, tbh.

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SpaceLemur34@reddit

If you zoom in, some of the letters have green "monkey tails" that are different from standard cursive.

Additionally, there was a "D'Nealian Manuscript" which was an intermediary step between standard print and this form of cursive. It had slanted, slightly rounder letters than standard printing.

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NotAsleep_@reddit

Denealian Manuscript must be the one I was taught. I saw OP's image (presumably from Wikipedia) and wondered why there was a picture of regular-ish cursive for an article about Denealian.

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YcemeteryTreeY@reddit

Nor did I, so here is 6 of them from Google for those interested:

Common Cursive Writing Styles

Spencerian Method: Renowned for its beauty, it was the standard American script from 1850-1925, featuring delicate, slanted, and oval-based letters.

Palmer Method: Created in the early 20th century to be fast and efficient for business, it uses less leg motion and fewer flourishes than Spencerian.

Zaner-Bloser Cursive: A traditional school method that utilizes distinct, sloped connections between letters, often taught in American schools to improve upon printing.

D'Nealian Cursive: A, popular style designed to be easier for children to learn by featuring a consistent slant and connecting tails (leading in/out) similar to its print version.

Italic Cursive: A highly legible, simpler style that often features fewer, if any, loops and focuses on a more upright or gently slanted, natural flow.

New American Cursive: A modern, simplified approach designed for better legibility and faster learning, removing unnecessary, complex, or old-fashioned loops.

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HopeishWanderer@reddit

Same here!

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TiEmEnTi@reddit

Yeah I think we started in 2nd grade, but this is 100% what we learned, there was no next step lol

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TrollBoothBilly@reddit

I remember it being a transition between print and cursive. You don’t connect the D’Nealian letters the way you do with cursive letters. I don’t think the image above actually shows D’Nealian — just plain old cursive. The D’Nealian letters were slightly different, but I can’t explain precisely how… it’s been too long for me to recall exactly.

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UnluckyCardiologist9@reddit

Same. I’m confused now.

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rheasghost@reddit

Same here, no idea this was a particular style of cursive.

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bluewaterpokemon@reddit

It's combining the 'b' and the 'r' that always gets me. ._.

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MeanSam@reddit

This is what I was taught in elementary. If this isn't cursive, what the hell does cursive look like?

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sweatshirtsweatpants@reddit

Same and my thoughts exactly.

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Acrobatic_Ad7061@reddit

It is cursive but a more modern version and it’s easier to read than older cursive.

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SammySamSammerson@reddit

I was a Zaner Bloser girl, but I learned D’Nealian as an adult for a job

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Withnail_I_am_I_am@reddit

I was born in '80 in Houston and we started cursive in 1st grade. I wrote in cursive all through school up until college where my cursive couldn't hack it for notes so moved to the choppy print writing I still use today. I don't recall the D'Nealian method.

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Teckknight@reddit

Yep hated every min of it.

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Maleficent-Adagio150@reddit

I was born in 1967 and this is how we learned cursive. You sure brought back an old memory for me. Big examples of these letters were posted above the chalkboards in our classroom.

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xrelaht@reddit

Yes, though I had entirely forgotten about it until just now! It did not help: cursive was a curse (heh) for me.

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iLoveYoubutNo@reddit

Yes! And I'm a weirdo that still uses it!

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Kiara231@reddit

That’s what I use. My print is such ass

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smolstuffs@reddit

I've never heard of it but it looks like the standard cursive I was taught.

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Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

The photo is. Here’s the D’Nealian we learned, from the same Wikipedia article further down.

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Affectionate-Song230@reddit (OP)

Thanks for that!! Totally posted the wrong pic.

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fuelvolts@reddit

It’s the “easy” cursive. It’s why older handwriting is hard to read to us. I just recently learned this too. This is like Baader Meinhoff seeing this thread.

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Cool_Dark_Place@reddit

The big one that I've run into that predates the method we learned is the "Palmer Penmanship" method... and for whatever reason... that one is way easier for me to read.

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throwawayurwaste@reddit

Here is the palmer penmanship, which looks like the cursive I can't read

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Traditional_Cat_60@reddit

Oh shit, that you Grandma?!???

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butterednoodlelovers@reddit

I remember learning this style only because the look of the capital Q made me irrationally mad but I loved the loopiness of the small z.

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MotherofaPickle@reddit

Why is there an extra E?

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VioletVenable@reddit

Way prettier, too. During covid, I decided to improve my handwriting and used the Palmer Method. Finally mastered a few capitals that had always looked terrible in D’Nealian!

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tivofanatico@reddit

I never liked capital Q.

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Traditional_Cat_60@reddit

To me, capital letters are always written in standard print anyway. Nothing “flows” into it, so who cares. I do about half my writing in cursive, but never cursify a capital.

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adorabledork@reddit

Is it a number? Is it a letter? Wtf are you? Yeah, I hate it too.

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Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit

Agree that i do some capitals different b/c these are not as stylized as the older older stule

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Neither-Mycologist77@reddit

I remember hearing both terms (D'Nealian and Palmer) but couldn't visualize the difference. I just looked up Palmer and my first thought was "Oh, Grandma's handwriting." I should practice it.

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gravteck@reddit

The one older than Palmer is Spencerian. Hang out in the handwriting sub for some fun stuff. My handwriting is a combination of the 3 I guess. I took the plunge into fountain pens to fill out my reading journals, and I learned about these styles as I became comfortable with arm over wrist movement. The final boss is to get calligraphy nibs, and buy a copy of Italic and Copperplate Calligraphy.

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smolstuffs@reddit

I don't generally find it hard to read cursive from my grandma's era, but if you're talking like ye olde calligraphy, then I suppose that's more difficult. Maybe I just got used to reading my grandma's cursive 🤷‍♀️

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MagnumPIsMoustache@reddit

They all wrote really tiny for some reason

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MaterialWillingness2@reddit

To save paper maybe?

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fuelvolts@reddit

I have my grandmother's diaries and her handwriting is darn near impossible to read sometimes. I need to get around to digitizing them and converting them to text.

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mandileigh@reddit

You should check out the citizen archivist materials they need help transcribing. Some of that writing uses "ff" for "s".

https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist

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intensenerd@reddit

Whoa I just learned about that effect yesterday!

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Curious_Fault607@reddit

OP did not attach the print writing the post was about. Montessori D'Nealian Print handwriting designed for easier transition to cursive is what the ask is about but is not represented by the image of the cursive version for older children.

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ImaginaryMastadon@reddit

YES! Public school, St. Louis County, MO - my sister and I both recall this. A lot of times I get blank stares when I bring it up!

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jawshoeaw@reddit

They put the wrong image in.

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carryon4threedays@reddit

The hard because it is cursive

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Affectionate-Song230@reddit (OP)

I did post the wrong picture! Thanks to everyone that pointed that out. The letters have the little tail that “trains” you for cursive.

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huan83@reddit

Wait, this isn't cursive?

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weezie_lou@reddit

I had forgotten all about this! This is actually how I write when I write in “cursive”. Which is basically never.

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Hossflex@reddit

This is the only cursive I know

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ConqueefStador@reddit

TIL my handwriting has a name.

Side note: I was practicing this in second grade. When I showed my teacher she told me to do it again. When I showed her the second practice sheet I asked if it was good and she responded "Well, is it good enough for you?"

At the time I didn't know what a passive aggressive cunt was, but that's how I'll always remember her.

It was a Catholic school Ms. Grundy, every one knew what you were getting up to with father Gary! For shame!

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save_the_wee_turtles@reddit

That is cursive

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MilkSlow6880@reddit

I definitely did this, but wasn’t told where it came from. We just practiced on that very specific, lined/dashed paper.

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lurker512879@reddit

i had not thought about that word in forever, i thought it was Darnealian..

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Tygie19@reddit

No, we ditched that in Australia long before I was in school.

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gimp1615@reddit

Wait this isn’t just cursive, cuz this is how I learned cursive

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ElegantGoose@reddit

Born in 1978 in Michigan. That's exactly how I was taught handwriting/cursive!

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lolabythebay@reddit

I was born in 1986, also in Michigan, and never learned any other kind of printing. It wasn't transitional; D'Nealian manuscript was printing.

Last year I student taught in a first grade class and had to break myself of it, because they don't use it anymore in this district.

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Tall_0rder@reddit

Wait, that isn’t cursive?

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figolan@reddit

I learned Ruth Fagg script which I prefer

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Vlophoto@reddit

Oh yes. 5th grade in 1975

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Overall-Ask-8305@reddit

Yep, we learned it in 3rd grade.

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rampantoctopus@reddit

Yup. That was the standard at my school, K-5 starting in 1983.

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Sea-Substance8762@reddit

Born in 62. That looks very familiar.

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TheLastOuroboros@reddit

Yeah that’s what I learned but want aware it wasn’t traditional cursive.

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Illustrious-Good5086@reddit

This was taught to me as normal cursive in northeast Pennsylvania. I'll never forget the busted ass capital G and Q.

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FX2000@reddit

We used the Palmer method

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firstnfurious@reddit

Yup. To this day I write in a mangled D’Nealian / cursive mashup that rivals doctors for illegibility.

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IDigRollinRockBeer@reddit

Never heard of it

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ShowMeYourHappyTrail@reddit

I don't remember learning a pre-cursive, but I have aphantasia and have a hard time remembering much of my childhood.

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StargazerRex@reddit

That WAS cursive when I was in elementary school and thereafter.

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Zaphod1620@reddit

Yup. With a big ass green pencil the circumference of a quarter, on lined paper that still had chunks of wood in it.

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Curious-Low8087@reddit

Yes. I was in 1st grade in '81-'82. We started learning this method.

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am_i_wrong_dude@reddit

Yep started in first grade!

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xHandelx@reddit

I didn’t know there was anything else! I still write like this.

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Legitimate_You_3474@reddit

Yes and there were those workbooks with each letter of the alphabet as its focus and you would write the letter repeatedly and also in whatever words in the book

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Old-Aardvark-9446@reddit

This is the only cursive. I learned it in 3rd grade in pennsylvania.

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Silvermagi@reddit

I learned this in kindergarten -2nd grade, cursive in 3rd-5th. Then 6-7th they told us to stop using cursive all together.

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taliyasclaws@reddit

I'm also 81 and learned that way (my handwriting is awful but I didn't know there was a connection) A much younger coworker once commented that I was writing cursive letters but not connecting them and I said "that's how they taught us to write in the 80s".

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save_the_manatees@reddit

Yes! My f's and k's still look like that

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MotherofaPickle@reddit

We learned straight cursive in 2nd grade.

I don’t understand most of r/cursive, either. My 7yo, who can’t print for shit (hypermobility due to ASD), can read most cursive. No, I don’t know how. I write mostly in print with a fuckton of Greek letters and he can still read most of my handwriting.

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theeewizzard@reddit

Yep! Went to a little Episcopal school. Was so stoked when they FINALLY let us write in cursive.

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pushdose@reddit

Yes and I was terrible at it and it was a huge source of stress for me in grades 2-4. I don’t remember much from that time, but I recall getting scolded for my cursive on several occasions.

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turrican4@reddit

Same here. I remember our teacher told us we will be learning cursive and she made it sound like this big important thing that we absolutely had to do and get it right. Why did they say these things to innocent kids? I asked my mum if I could just stay home for the whole term because I didn't wanna learn it, I was actually scared.

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RoxyLA95@reddit

I remember getting a U in penmanship in 2nd grade. I was crushed.

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Astrohumper@reddit

Was my worst subject. Pretty sure it’s because I didn’t see a practical use for it. It my mind it wasn’t important.

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Grilled0ctopus@reddit

Totally learned this in like second grade or thereabouts. Born in 1980.

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Miserable-Okra-8787@reddit

This is the only cursive I was taught to write. I always wonder, though, what the hell the nuns did to the generations that taught cursive to look like it was from the Renaissance.

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RoxyLA95@reddit

At my Catholic school, the 3rd-grade teacher, Mrs. Rullo, used a ruler to smack students' hands.

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vthemechanicv@reddit

I went to Catholic school for 4th grade (they didn't open for 5th). I don't remember the sisters doing anything except look menacing with the rulers.

I do remember we were making mother's day cards. The teacher looked at mine and said she didn't like how I slanted my letters. I'm left handed so that's just how I wrote. I did it again, deliberately slanting them the other way. Nope, do it again. I did it a third time slanting them back, I might have tried to have no slant at all, but I told her I wasn't doing it again. I could tell she wasn't happy, lol, but she left it at that. I know she really wanted me to do it with my right hand, but she couldn't say it. Would have been around 1986 or 87.

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RoxyLA95@reddit

I remember Sister Michelle washing a girl's mouth out with soap in the restroom. She also pulled ears.

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

I lived in an area where there weren't really alternative schools, but Catholic schools were free for Catholics, so ironically, it's where discipline problem kids tended to go.

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kiomansu@reddit

Former student of Sister Ignatius reporting in.

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jawshoeaw@reddit

That’s because the image is regular cursive

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pogulup@reddit

Say what you will but they fought the good fight against left-handers. Now look at us, we just let lefties walk around in broad daylight with no shame!

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observant_hobo@reddit

Also the only cursive I ever learned to write. And I'm glad about that, as I learned standard print from my parents and never had a need for anything else. Meanwhile, I'm also super thankful that my school taught touch typing even before reading, starting in kindergarten, which must have been pretty rare in the 1980s. I have colleagues at a F100 company that still hunt and peck, which is a bit mind boggling to be honest.

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Cinderhazed15@reddit

And Gen Z who mostly grew up with phone/tablet instead of computers went back to hunt and peck

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observant_hobo@reddit

It’s such a huge handicap to type at 20-30 WPM versus 80-100 for your entire career. I guess with LLMs these days people get them to do their writing instead.

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sircastor@reddit

Don't you still have to type in the prompt though?

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gabbadabbahey@reddit

Now there are accurate speech to text programs that people use for speaking to their AI programs. A friend has been using one called Whisper apparently

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tugonhiswinkie@reddit

This is how literacy rates are plummeting

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gabbadabbahey@reddit

The threat to critical thinking skills from AI actually scares me as much or more, but yeah :-/

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clutzycook@reddit

Yes! I learned how to type in 8th and 9th grade and my wpm is still in the high 80s. My GenZ/Alpha kids are all hunt and peckers. If the focus is going to be on computer instead of paper, I don't understand why they haven't taught them how to type properly.

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owlthebeer97@reddit

Hit them on the knuckles with metal lined rulers

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mamawantsallama@reddit

I have one of these rulers from my mother-in-law......long story....BUT it has staples stapled into the end of the ruler too!

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strippersandcocaine@reddit

JFC.

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bobfnord@reddit

You don’t connect the letters. It’s a transition from print to cursive.

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Icy-Repeat-2843@reddit

Yes you do. What’s the green for on the lowercase letters if you don’t.

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Miserable-Okra-8787@reddit

I guess they skipped the not joining the letters part for the kids born in 1983.

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ElegantGoose@reddit

'78 here. We learned this and then learned to join the letters.

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randomwords83@reddit

‘78 for me and same!

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garnetglitter@reddit

Palmer method.

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DeadpoolAndFriends@reddit

This is what I remember D'Nealian hand writing looking like. It looked more like regular letters but will little tails and everything what slightly slanted to the left. I remember being a pre-teen and being told about italics and going, "oh you mean D'Nealian?".

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guiltypleasures82@reddit

Yup, this. I remember liking that certain letters had a little flourish.

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JoudiniJoker@reddit

Thanks for posting that. Hope it gets to the top.

Giving op the benefit of the doubt, the pic they posted was unintentionally misleading because it happens to include an image of “real” cursive.

30 years ago I taught D’Nealian script to third graders and so to this day write lower-case k with that extra loop.

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M00seNuts@reddit

Yeah, the picture in the post is just regular cursive. Your picture is what I remember learning as D'Nealian.

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west-egg@reddit

They’re both D’Nelian. The image just above is what younger kids are taught when they learn to print. The extra flourishes (on the lowercase d or n, for example) are meant to ease the transition when they learn cursive D’Nelian a few years later.

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NymphaeAvernales@reddit

This is d'nealian. OP posted actual cursive, but as individual letters. I don't understand why I had to scroll so far down before I found someone calling out the mistake.

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PicklesAndRyeOhMy@reddit

I remember this! ‘82 here. This is how we learned to write. Then went into cursive.

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Top-Wolverine-8684@reddit

Agreed... We also learned D'Nealian, and the letters looked standard aside from little "hooks" at the end of some letters (like your photo). The photo in OP's post just looks like standard cursive, not D'Nealian. I still write in D'Nealian, and so does my mom. (I assumed she picked it up from teaching 5 kids.)

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guiltypleasures82@reddit

Yup, I remember that. '82 here

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FoppyRETURNS@reddit

Yes, before I realized that cursive varies in style depending upon the writer.

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Barnitch@reddit

I absolutely loved learning cursive! It felt like learning a secret code. I was very diligent about getting the slant just right and practicing how to write unique letter pairing correctly, like "ox" or "yr."

I think the writing that OP is showing must have been taught in previous generations. I remember seeing adults' handwriting that looked like that. I liked it so much that I went ahead and taught myself how to write in that neat, cursive / print style. I still write that way sometimes and handwriting fascinates me.

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anniemdi@reddit

I remember being taught another kind of manuscript alphabet in the 2nd half of first grade, moving school districts, having to teach myself D'Nealian Manuscript the summer before 2nd grade just to learn D'Nealian cursive during 2nd grade. For the next five years my cursive was better than my printing and to this day I write in uppercase block letters and D'Nealian cursive.

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165averagebowler@reddit

I’m young Gen X and learned it in kindergarten, but then changed schools to where we didn’t.

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OvenFriendly1818@reddit

This is how I learned cursive writing.

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CheesyRomantic@reddit

When I learned cursive, the Ms and Ws and part of the Gs were kinda pointy. I remember losing marks all the time because I couldn't get it as perfect as the examples.

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WilliamGrantham80@reddit

Learned via the same method in Colorado, born in 1980.

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Orbital_Vagabond@reddit

You know... I really can't find any fucks to give about the likelihood that my kid probably won't learn cursive.

To answer the question, I've never heard of D'Nealian cursive,

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noonesaidityet@reddit

Yes, that's what we learned. I never understood the point of cursive. I've never gotten a letter or note from someone written in cursive that I was glad I had to translate, cause it just made things harder to read. Three letters would become just a single line for most people. It wasn't useful at all, IMHO. It seems like the people complaining that it's not being taught in school anymore just want something to complain about, and it's usually a very specific demo.

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eggs_erroneous@reddit

Shit. Let me get out my Big Chief paper and lets do some D'Nealian.

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jgnp@reddit

Mom was an educator and talked about it, but I never saw it in school.

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Top-Caregiver-6266@reddit

Yes, I remember that! I am on the older end of GenX (1969)

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Antique-Ant5557@reddit

Rizzuto

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rileykill@reddit

Yeah I learned this first, then how to connect them into words later

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gotbock@reddit

That's cursive. It's just a different method for learning cursive.

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lathamfalls@reddit

Wait This *isn't * cursive?

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marmaladetuxedo@reddit

TIL what I was taught in school wasn't plain ol' cursive. (Gen Xer here.)

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Virlutris@reddit

Yep, that's me.

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IsraelZulu@reddit

This isn't cursive? Then, what is? I'm pretty sure this is the only cursive alphabet I learned, and I think all requirements for me to use it were gone by high school. The only thing I continued to use it for daily was my signature, and now even that looks like doctor's scratch.

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Almostasleeprightnow@reddit

I dropped it like a lit bomb the very second my teachers stopped caring

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AndroidAtWork@reddit

Same. Then when I was around 30/31 (2015 or so), I took the MCAT. Had to write some statement about not cheating in cursive and sign my name to it. The proctor said cursive was required. It had been probably 20 years since I had written anything in cursive. It literally took me like 5 minutes to write some 5 sentence statement because I had to try and remember what the letters looked like in cursive, and then actually write them. I still don't know why I couldn't just write the statement in normal script.

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SomeoneGMForMe@reddit

When I used to write things by hand, cursive was faster so I'd do cursive, but typing's so much faster that I've basically lost all ability to handwrite except for very basic looking printing...

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IsraelZulu@reddit

Same. It's so rare that I have to hand-write anything anymore, other than my name, the current date, and some numbers.

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baalroo@reddit

We were required by teachers to "drop it."

After elementary school, we were never allowed to turn in anything written in cursive again because it's messy and hard to read.

(I graduated in 1998)

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yellowlinedpaper@reddit

Yep, mine still looks like a 5th grader’s because that’s when I stopped! For my signature I just use my 3 initials lol

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Almostasleeprightnow@reddit

i just kind of think about my name as i move my the pen across the line

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Aware_Commission_995@reddit

It is a form of cursive writing. OP is misunderstanding the term cursive. It doesn’t refer to one particular style standard.

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changleosingha@reddit

I know “damn” and “hell”

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

It's similar but the letters don't connect.

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rinky79@reddit

Isn't that just learning cursive one letter at a time? We never wrote it disconnected except when practicing letters.

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

Yes. It may be that schools connected the letters even though that was not the intent while Spencerian script was totally abandoned in the 4th grade.

If you look at older peoples' handwriting, those in their 70s and above, they write in a very elegant cursive. That is Spencerian or a form of it and wasn't learned until 4th grade.

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pregnantandsober@reddit

So Zaner-Bloser is what I learned.

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

I learned D'Nealian and then learned to connect them. Besides the connections, the biggest tell is the differences in the Q. D'Nealian had a strange Q.

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pregnantandsober@reddit

I am so confused now. When I look at images on Google for "zaner bloser vs d'nealian" there doesn't seem to be a consensus on which is which, except Zaner Bloser seems to be more italicized.

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

Definitely. The issue is they are very close and teachers bridged the gap by making connections and italicizing.

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IsraelZulu@reddit

How did I not notice the Q, here? I guess I didn't learn this one at all then, since I can't ever remember seeing a capital Q like that.

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truckthecat@reddit

Yes. But that’s the point, you learned the rounded, fluid letters, but they didn’t connect. THEN they introduced how to connect them, and that was officially cursive

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Groovychick1978@reddit

Yes, this is exactly how cursive looks. They are just showing each letter individually, but when you script them together, they all connect.

I'm not sure what people are talking about. You don't write in cursive unless the letters connect.

You just learn each letter one at a time.

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IsraelZulu@reddit

r/UsernamesYouCanHear

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BigBoxOfGooglyEyes@reddit

I definitely learned this style connected. We may have practiced the individual letters separately, but we were expected to write whole words strung together.

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

Likewise. But it was not designed for practical use. A different form of cursive was supposed to be taught in the 4th grade but that was abandoned for this simpler type of cursive (why teach two cursives?).

You'll find students in the late 90s and early 2000s using this form and NOT connecting them.

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Aware_Commission_995@reddit

Wrong.

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Acrobatic_Ad7061@reddit

They do connect.

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Coldnorthcountry@reddit

There is a printing style of D’Nealian, the OP posted the cursive version.

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mcjon77@reddit

Yep. I remember that. It seemed fairly useless to me. It would have made more sense just to go directly to cursive.

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mostlygray@reddit

My brother had to do that. In 4th grade, we were expected to write everything in cursive by mid-year. They took down the cheat sheets on the wall midway through the year. After that, if you didn't remember how to write a Q then you were done and you'd fail your assignment.

It was a bit obsessive. Honestly, cursive was invented for quill pens. We haven't used quill pens for 100 years. It's no longer necessary. Yes, I can still write in cursive. No, I do not do so.

My grandma used to write in perfect, readable, cursive when she'd send me a letter. Of course, she'd been a grammar school teacher in the '30's and had excellent hand writing.

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AngryCustomerService@reddit

Yes, that's it. No one ever seems to recognize my cursive capital Ts and Fs, even in the 90s. Eventually I stopped using them.

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Rolenalong@reddit

apparently D'nealian is the only way I know of. the alternative option had strange differences

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scarlet-begonia-9@reddit

My mom taught 2nd grade and taught D’Nealian print. I went to school in a different district and wasn’t taught it.

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RaisedByBooksNTV@reddit

Isn't that picture the cursive letters? I don't understand.

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207247@reddit

Oh my gosh, yes, I remember this! I feel like these worksheets are embedded in my cellular memory!

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projectkennedymonkey@reddit

I now can't remember which cursive I learned because the main differences seem to be in the capital F and both look strange to me... I'm 40+

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Dogrel@reddit

That’s all I ever learned.

It was just “cursive” to me.

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Tecumseh119@reddit

K-2nd grade, then onto cursive, which was no more by the time I graduated.

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Wunjo26@reddit

TIL I never learned proper “cursive” and instead learned D’Nealian. I always thought the lowercase m was so dumb

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Alvintergeise@reddit

Born in '83 and that's how I learned. Mostly write in cursive to this day

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rylasorta@reddit

The D'Nealian capital F can go F itself. I just do a bigger lowercase one. Also the G. Holy crap is that a garbo letter.

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BeenisHat@reddit

'82 here and I remember. In fact, that's the only one I really remember.

I didn't learn a different script until I picked up calligraphy as a hobby.

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SouthOfTheNorthPole@reddit

It's what my children learned in pre-school for exactly the reason it was developed. 1999-2002

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ToraRyeder@reddit

I didn't realize there were other forms of cursive. We learned this in third grade, I think? And had to write only in cursive up through fifth grade.

Middle school had us printing everything, so there went that lol (I'm 32)

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CheckTheBlotter@reddit

This is still my handwriting ….

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longhwy18@reddit

Born in ‘82. Learned this system in 1st/2nd grade. Lots of flair on those letters 🤣

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unique_user43@reddit

it is cursive

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avalonfaith@reddit

'81er here and yeah! For sure did this. Didn't know it had a name it just makes sense that that's how one would learn cursive, right? Are they expecting kiddos to just bust out with attaching letters from nothing but block letters?

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meggsovereasy@reddit

Yes! First grade. I went to parochial school. It’s funny my sister was sent to a different school for first grade and we write completely different.

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notedrive@reddit

Wow, that’s what I learned in school in the mid 80s

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Verbull710@reddit

This was the only one, yes

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vthemechanicv@reddit

Never knew it was called that, I just learned it as cursive. Mid-to-late 80's.

It suddenly occurs to me that people complaining that they couldn't read my handwriting may simply be because they couldn't read cursive. I mostly print these days, but my writing is still pretty cursive-y.

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iLikeToChewOnStraws@reddit

....this is cursive.

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dime5150@reddit

If you want to know what you learned and how yours is, write a few things in cursive. Take a picture, upload to Gemini, and it will tell you.

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bookoocash@reddit

This is the “cursive” I know.

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Jpkmets7@reddit

This is what I learned for printing. I guess they were priming us for cursive - but what else would a print alphabet look like for the lower case?

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IllStatistician5741@reddit

we used to call it 'running handwriting' and i still love it

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Icyotters@reddit

I’m 2010…this is also what I was taught…

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mexter@reddit

This is almost exactly what I learned, but I recall the cursive style being called "McClain" or something like that. In fact, my father was a teacher and when I visited last summer he still had the book I used.

It's virtually identical to what you have here.

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justheretobrowse1887@reddit

Yeah…there’s another cursive?!

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paperdolldiva@reddit

This is the cursive we were taught. I was born in ‘67 though.

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RaccoonObjective5674@reddit

I remember D’Nealian. Could never quite master those upper case Gs!

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MicMacMagoo82@reddit

Pssh, “D’Nealian”. Us cool kids learned “Palmer Method.” Spoiler: it looked exactly the same.

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the-sleepy-mystic@reddit

This is just what I was taught as "Cursive" in 1st or 2nd grade (2001-2002) - what does actual cursive look like then?

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remybanjo@reddit

I thought this was cursive

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aenflex@reddit

This is what we learned as cursive.

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pinchenombre@reddit

Why is the capital Q so freaking weird? Always bothered me. Q deserves more.

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Poor-Queequeg@reddit

I remember actively resisting this nonsense when we did it in first and second grade in 89-91. I absolutely did not want to put "tails" on my lower case I and lower case L. I loved learning proper cursive in third grade but I hated the D'Nealian. I think it's because my mom was a teacher and taught me to write when I was 3 to 4 years old, just standard print, and this just seemed unnecessary.

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hilhilbean@reddit

Well that's a core memory unlocked.

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erindreg@reddit

Yes, I learned to print D’Nealian first although I didn’t know the name. The teachers even explained it was to transition to cursive. I still write my q and probably some others like that. Born in ‘82.

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JoeBwanKenobski@reddit

Well, this explains a lot about my terrible handwriting.

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poppyvue@reddit

When I was student teaching in the early ‘80s that’s what was taught, kinda faded away

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hostess_cupcake@reddit

This is what we learned in 2nd and 3rd grade. I remember telling my teacher how stupid the capital “Q” was and refusing to write it that way. My teacher was not amused.

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huskerpatriot1977@reddit

Yes - did you grow up in NJ?

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Kind-Setting-6318@reddit

I was born in 77. My class was a pilot group, (maybe around 1st or 2nd grade) to learn it. It didn’t take off so other grades never learned. I still write like that today. My husband calls it fancy printing.

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vikingraider27@reddit

This IS the cursive I was taught and use in 3rd and 4th grade in the 70's. It also is the cursive my son was briefly taught before they axed it.

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Cashewkaas@reddit

It looks very similar to what I’ve been taught, some letters are different, the G and Q.

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ilovecostcohotdog@reddit

I grew up in Michigan and we were definitely taught this.

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MajorFox2720@reddit

This is the Palmer cursive method. D'Nealian looks like italic print.

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earpain2@reddit

Am I the only one who used to turn an uppercase S into a duck?

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Tenchi2020@reddit

That's how I learned how to write cursive but I never knew it was called that

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les_dents_de_la_mer@reddit

Nope. I learnt linked script in the mid 80s which was very basic compared to this. South Australia.

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FelixMcGill@reddit

This isnt just the cursive? Theres other types?

Damn. Guess I learned one new thing today.

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BoredOfReposts@reddit

Yeah we did that too. Complete waste of time. Write legibly but do it in this unnecessarily complex font please, and we will judge you if any of the subtly curved lines are not artistically perfect.

Basically a filter for who had artistic talent and who didn’t, and a way to shame those who didn’t have it. Turns out, nobody gives a shit if your U’s have little curls on them.

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Comfortable-nerve78@reddit

Nope my mother taught me how to print when I was 3 by the time I entered kindergarten I could write perfectly in cursive. I am left handed and my mother wanted me to stay a true lefty. So she taught me how to write at a very young age. My homework used to get hung in the office for neat penmanship through kindergarten to third grade. I got pretty writing to this day and get paid for it. Thanks Mom!

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digitalgraffiti-ca@reddit

Nope. We went straight from printing to Zaner-Blosser. I was shit at both. Recently got into fountain pens and teaching myself to write properly, and I find that I prefer none of the popular, commonly used styles.

I'm aiming for a variant of Spencerian. But fuck lowercase b. What a stupid way to draw that letter.

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sator-2D-rotas@reddit

That was definitely the method used when I learned. Right down to the ‘monkey tail’ listed in the Wiki page.

Never liked how my cursive was different than say my grandparent’s cursive. As a teenager/adult, I altered several of the capital letters.

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Sandy233@reddit

I did. We practiced this daily in 3-5 grade. Why is the capital "Q" a "2" with this system?

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JaSONJayhawk@reddit

Holy cow -- I grew up thinking it was called "Macmillan Handwriting" because that's what I thought I heard my teachers saying, and I attributed it to the "Macmillan Publishers" as the publisher of the handwriting books. I recall 15-30 minutes allocated several times a week for "handwriting practice", and taking home homework to practice this exact style of cursive writing. Now it dawns on me that I think the teacher(s) were saying "D'Nealian", but I was somehow losing the "D" sound in the prefix.

Anyhow, this was the exact style of handwriting we were taught in the midwest, and I recall writing on recycled paper with stoplights (red , yellow, and green lines) that were handed out, with the red being the "place where you stop your pencil".

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DidelphisGinny@reddit

DoEs AnYoNe ElSe ReMeMbEr….no we’ve all died and NO ONE ON EARTH remembers this.

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Sketchylefty11@reddit

I was taught the original way to write cursive in 4th or 5th grade

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ShiftNStabilize@reddit

learned it in 3rd grade in late 80's in minnesota

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amnicr@reddit

That’s the only way I know!

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Damnation77@reddit

Yes. And, as a left-hander, this image makes me naseous.

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baloney_dog@reddit

Yep, that's how I learned!

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Strong-Log-7095@reddit

This is how I would write letters in cursive when I was learning (maybe 2nd or 3rd grade) in the 80's. It was taught as a transition, you would learn a letter in this format then the "script" way. I guess it made it easier but for me I ended up adopting some of these as my "script" version. So when I write cursive it looks like 10% block, 30% this stuff, and 60% actual cursive.

Its still legible and understandable, at least to me.

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Competitive-Pop-390@reddit

Taught and hated D’Nealian

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midnight-dour@reddit

This is how I was taught. Thought it was just plain old cursive.

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eddo2k@reddit

Same here, TIL

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DripDrop777@reddit

This is cursive. They picked the wrong image to show d’nealian.

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ArchitectVandelay@reddit

We had the letters above the chalk board, as like a border printed on paperboard. Both capital and lower case. So we were kind of always learning the letters subconsciously.

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jawshoeaw@reddit

I guess I’m like a lot of people who thought this was cursive . Still use some of these

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Aerocat08@reddit

I still print in D’Nealian and write that style of cursive

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Darthpater@reddit

Wait!!! That’s not cursive? That’s what I learned was cursive.

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PintoOct24@reddit

Yes! Second grade.

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Only-Inspector-7077@reddit

I learned this as cursive and was taught the precursor was D'Nealian. ie letters more round than block letters with the "tails" added. Basically, this but without the leading swoops and loops.

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ruffian89@reddit

That upper case Q

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NFL_MVP_Kevin_White@reddit

Did anyone notice they changed the capital Q in cursive to look like an actual Q? My daughter came home with a writing guide and I was supposed to see they ditched the “fancy 2 as Q” approach

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Halo6819@reddit

My kids had to learn it, frustrated my wife and I as the kid was just learning how to properly print and then had to start all over again

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GaetanDugas@reddit

Yes. I'm 40 and when I write it's this weird half cursive chicken scratch people can barely read.

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SoBeDragon0@reddit

Isn’t this cursive?

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JohnAlexGrimm@reddit

Nope my school went straight to cursive in the 2nd grade...... then we never used it again

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thebeejofAR558@reddit

I never learned it but this is how I have come to write print! I prefer cursive but nobody can read it so writing print quickly looks like this. I can tell my handwriting from afar because of the little k's.

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pantsfreecayse@reddit

I work in an elementary school and these kids can't even write legiblly in block lettering by 5th grade ughhhhhhh helpppppp tech is killing these kids ability to write (or think). Sigh the wonderful world we could have made with technology, instead it's gestures at everything burning this. But also, yes I did learn this! I still use this style today, but I think it's more out of laziness but still having the muscle memory of cursive drilled into my brain. Along with the weird finger bump from my pencil that kids today won't ever have. My 10 year old was like MOM WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR FINGER listen child....

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jmosher12@reddit

for some perspective, i was born in 1999 and by 3rd grade teaching this form of cursive was phased out of classrooms. my 3rd grade teacher was super old school (the only teacher who still used a chalk board instead of a white board) and she insisted we still learn cursive and used it for some writing assignments. every once in a while i bust it out to see if i still remember, and writing my name this way is probably the closest i’ll ever get to a proper “signature”

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HalfCareless3347@reddit

learned in 4th grade(1996). never used again and I write a bunch.

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often_awkward@reddit

Zaner-Bloser - it was the universal default in Catholic school back then. To this day I can still tell if a person went to Catholic school or not by their handwriting. Also a major clue is that they are an atheist. 😂

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west-egg@reddit

My Catholic school taught D’Nelian.

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arcxjo@reddit

I had to look that up and can't see any difference from OP's picture

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often_awkward@reddit

Probably no nuns to beat it into you.

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pregnantandsober@reddit

In OP's picture, the ends of letters aren't long enough to connect to the next letter.

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WannabeCanadian1738@reddit

Born in ‘81, was also taught D’Nealian printing and cursive.

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stoned_seahorse@reddit

I did, but it was called pre-cursive in my curriculum.

The actual cursive I learned after that was British cursive. (I'm American and was homeschooled.)

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GlitteringHotMess@reddit

Absolutely. Starting in 2nd grade. Maybe 3rd?

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roerd@reddit

In Germany, we started with cursive right away. There was no time when we were expected to write print. (Well, we actually started with something called "Schwungübungen" (swing exercises), which were exercise sheets on which we were training the basic shapes which make up cursive letters.)

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EdwardFoxhole@reddit

I do now.

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Mindless-Shirt-2030@reddit

Omg! I learned this in Michigan and moved to Texas they wanted to hold me back they said I was completely unable to write because it was something they never heard of. That was like 1984ish.

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Brilliant_Addendum56@reddit

Rirruto?

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MMAHipster@reddit

Is this not just cursive?

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Moof_the_cyclist@reddit

Nope. You learned to write nearly cursive letters, but to not link them together, which was an awkward half step. We wrote a lot in D’nealian in 3rd grade, laying down tracks in your little growing brain. The idea was to teach the muscle memory of the letters so that supposedly cursive would be easy the next year. Only for me the lifting of my pencil after every letter was part of muscle memory and it was very hard to unlearn without mayhem ensuing, constant niggles in my head distracting me from the smooth flowing cursive and interrupting my train of thought. I ended up writing a lot of stuff out in print, then going back to rewrite in cursive so I was only fighting one thing at a time.

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MMAHipster@reddit

Nope, I definitely learned to link all of my letters. Not sure what you’re talking about.

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takeyoufergranite@reddit

LMNOP2RS

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basiden@reddit

I just went down a rabbit hole. The key difference is that d'nealian teaches print lettering that looks like spaced out cursive, so it acts as a bridge between learning to write your letters as a kid, and connected cursive. Instead of learning a whole new lettering system with letter shapes looking quite different (eg printed g vs cursive ornate g), it's a way of training the skill in linearly until you can connect with speed.

And then there's some other stuff like slants and tail endings which seem less pressing.

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queueueuewhee@reddit

Yes, learned this in first grade in Minneapolis on 1986. Moved to Wisconsin, it wasn't taught there.

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Starbreiz@reddit

I didn't know this had a name but it's the sign we had in my second grade classroom when we learned cursive.

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Weavercat@reddit

Wait that's not cursive-cursive?

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smoothAsH20@reddit

Sure do

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SnorkBorkGnork@reddit

This is what I learned.

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zaerya@reddit

I'm pretty sure this was second grade for me. I remember my teacher being picky about *where* I started my capital I (my capital I flourish has also always been rounded instead of that curve into the point.

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CatManDo206@reddit

It is just a font

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jenniferjuniper16@reddit

This is definitely what we learned in third grade

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purplegrog@reddit

It's how I learned and I'm teaching it to my kid now.

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Iamthegreenheather@reddit

I'm '81 too and I've never heard of this.

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mina-ann@reddit

I never learned that Q as a 2, so I don't think I ever learned this.

Cursive was just different than print. Now what little I do write is sort of a mix of both.

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pink_pelican@reddit

Also ‘81 born. Grew up in the nyc suburbs and we learned D’nealean. The letters are a bit curved which helps you learn how to “connect” the letters in script/cursive.

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Tacrolimus005@reddit

Looks like cursive to me. Don't know who the d'nealian dude is, but that's how we learned how to write cursive.

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ApolloGR3@reddit

That’s not cursive? I’m from Michigan and this style was posted above our chalk boards.

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feverdog257@reddit

Yes! I moved states (Kentucky to Georgia) after finishing second grade in the summer of 1990. In Kentucky, we were taught cursive in second grade. In Georgia, cursive was taught in third grade, but students had been taught to write in D'Nealian at some point before that. I had never heard of D'Nealian, didn't understand what it was, and thought it was a weird-sounding word.

My teacher told me to stop writing in cursive so I could re-learn it with the rest of the class and to 'print.' So I printed, which to me was how I wrote before cursive, with stick straight letters. I was then told to try to 'print' in D'Nealian. It was confusing and dumb because I already knew cursive.

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Apprehensive_End_697@reddit

Yup

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StephInTheLaw@reddit

No, but my kids did.

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Coldnorthcountry@reddit

Yes! Born in ‘83, this was the printing style I was taught in public school 1990-93!

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WarpedCore@reddit

This was the style of cursive I grew up on. There are others?

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Wat3rM3L0NB3AR@reddit

It's been awhile (i'm in my 40's) are they still teaching kids to write in cursive?

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ThatInAHat@reddit

How is this different than regular cursive?

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Feisty_Water_3164@reddit

I taught it

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Confident-Whole-4368@reddit

Yep. That's my writing

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curlyhairweirdo@reddit

This is the only cursive I learned. Didn't know there was another type of cursive.

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No_Macaron_5029@reddit

I attended a religious school that was older-fashioned and we used Zaner-Bloser. I've always naturally written with a leftward slant, however, and found the rightward slant uncomfortable.

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midlifesurprise@reddit

I was taught D’Nealian. Wrote in that print style for years, well into my twenties. Over time, my handwriting has evolved to get rid of many of those tails and other D’Nealian idiosyncrasies. Like many people our age, I don’t write in cursive very often.

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QuaffableBut@reddit

Wait that's not cursive?

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missgiddy@reddit

We learned something called Duvall. Then cursive when I was older. I feel like they introduced cursive too late (sixth grade).

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Rogerdodger1946@reddit

My mother, born in 1923, learned the Palmer Method. I have her text book. She had beautiful cursive handwriting. It is similar to what I learned in the 1950s.

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Jintokunogekido@reddit

This is the kind I learned. I didn't know there were different ones...

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Edgecrusher2140@reddit

Wow this unlocked a long buried memory. I went to elementary school in the early 90’s in California. We did use D’Nealian and if I’m remembering correctly, we did spell it “Denealian”; I mostly remember drawing the little tails on the L and I.

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Think-Ad-5840@reddit

I remember learning this in 2nd grade, born in ‘82!

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btwrenn@reddit

Wait... that's not cursive?

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jaskmackey@reddit

I’m still so mad about what they did to the capital G, S, and Q. The G should look like the little g, just bigger. The Q should be shaped almost like the block Q, not a frickin 2. The S should look like a big elegant S with some pizzazz, not a sailboat. Ridiculous!!!

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Private_Kyle@reddit

I understood it and created my own cursive

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TheJesterofPurple33@reddit

ummm ok, early 30 something here... turns out grammy and aunty taught me this, not cursive. for years i struggled with reading modern cursive. was told some letters i wrote where wrong. my mother also writes this way. thank you sooo much, im not insane or dumb. thank you.v

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Lumpy-Entertainer-75@reddit

Born in 78. I remember these worksheets

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OkSet1048@reddit

raises hand

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Fair_Road8843@reddit

Yes

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pizza-regret@reddit

My wife and I were just talking about this. This is all we learned!

[-]

Marquis_Marx@reddit

I was told this was cursive. Looking back, it didn't match the older folks cursive AT ALL.

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BornAd7924@reddit

Wait this isn’t cursive? Wtf

[-]

MuffStuff3000@reddit

Yes, it is very annoyingly still taught in school. Just write legibly FFS.

[-]

Skipper0463@reddit

No, we went straight to cursive in 3rd grade.

[-]

keto_and_me@reddit

1st “C” I ever got was in handwriting in the 4th grade. My loops didn’t stay precisely in the lines 🙄

[-]

lexi_prop@reddit

Yes

[-]

xandour01@reddit

I read Donald and every synapse in my brain started firing

[-]

kjm16216@reddit

For everyone who is confused that there are other cursives, contrast this with Palmer method. Which is what my books said we were using.

[-]

PhTea@reddit

I thought this WAS cursive. This is the only non-print style we learned in school.

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StarshipCaterprise@reddit

This is how I was taught to write

[-]

JHogMakerOfVlogs@reddit

To me this is just cursive

[-]

Smorsdoeuvres@reddit

Is that what this was? I absolutely remember these

[-]

Ambitious_Jelly8783@reddit

Arent those just the letter in cursive that you then tie together....?

[-]

CplHicks_LV426@reddit

This isn't cursive?

[-]

DStippick@reddit

...are you saying this isn't cursive...?

[-]

WitchyTwitchyItchy@reddit

This is what we learned in 3rd grade, I totally thought this was cursive. If I write in cursive now, this is what I do still. I’m living in a house of lies.

[-]

firehawk2324@reddit

Gonna be honest, I thought that was cursive. But, the teachers never really told us what we were doing back then, they just taught and we did our best to learn.

[-]

Diseman81@reddit

Yup, but I didn’t know it had a name other than just cursive.

[-]

ImpossibleJob5788@reddit

I do. I remember learning to write this on the "hamburger" paper they state gave us. It really improves my printing but I never was much for cursive.

[-]

nushustu@reddit

born in 75, I learned this in 2nd grade. Even then I remember letters such as both Z's, capital-G, Q, and S being dumb as hell and just writing them the normal way. I got into an argument with my teacher about it. In retrospect I think I was an annoying prick when I was young. In anterospect I think I might be an annoying person all the time.

[-]

midazolamjesus@reddit

Yes. I didn't know there was another way?

[-]

BunkerBuster420@reddit

I’m from the Netherlands and this looks exactly like what we were taught in school. We weren’t even allowed to write in cursive up until high school. And we were also only allowed to use a fountain pen.

[-]

drewcandraw@reddit

Born in 77. The elementary school I attended in first and second grade taught D'Nealian.

That summer, we moved a few blocks north which was the next town over, and into Palmer Method country. Even then, I thought the curlycues at the beginnings and ends of capital letters were old-fashioned and fussy, while the D'Nealian cursive I just preferred for its spartan modernity.

And also because I felt like I'd already learned how to do it that way and didn't want to do it again. It mattered not a lick to my teachers, although sometimes I'd get papers back that were graded by classmates that would add the curlycues in with red ink. Petty bitches all of them.

[-]

Shankar_0@reddit

This is how I learned to write cursive, but we just called it cursive.

[-]

Mach5Driver@reddit

I thought that WAS cursive??

[-]

Deep_Combination6420@reddit

Well damn, haven't heard THAT term in AGES

[-]

RedSolez@reddit

Yes, we learned this! Basically if you connect Dnealian letters it is cursive lol

[-]

AffectionateBite3827@reddit

Yep learned this in first grade. We learned cursive in second grade.

[-]

Liathano_Fire@reddit

Is that not cursive in the picture?

[-]

Jdemen9911@reddit

I thought that was cursive.

[-]

blackgarbage@reddit

That’s what I learned

[-]

ODeasOfYore@reddit

I don’t understand…. That’s cursive…

[-]

Ordinary_Taro_9850@reddit

Italian here. This is what I learned. That’s cursive for me… elementary school cursive!

[-]

General_Chain_4531@reddit

I learned that, too. 1981

[-]

PrometheusMMIV@reddit

So, it's just cursive, except the letters are separated? Why?

[-]

dizzy_rhythm@reddit

I thought this WAS cursive…

[-]

SignificantApricot69@reddit

Not really but my kids did. Specifically my daughter born in 2007. I think it was in her 1st or 2nd grade curriculum, probably still have some books around.

[-]

CapsFanHere@reddit

That's not how we learned upper case Q, but everything else looks familiar. And no chance I'm forgetting something decades ago.

[-]

readcz@reddit

wait..this isn't cursive?

[-]

Cody-512@reddit

We just called this cursive in TX, lol. I still use this as my cursive foundation now. Guess I never took the plunge into full blown cursive, and I’m okay with that

gif

[-]

engco431@reddit

Rizzuto

I hate cursive and I hate all of you!

[-]

nefarious_angel_666@reddit

Is this not standard cursive?

[-]

jplank1983@reddit

I thought this was normal cursive

[-]

JustCallMeYogurt@reddit

I resemble that remark.

[-]

Acrobatic_Ad7061@reddit

Haven’t you seen an old person (older than us) write in cursive? Looks more beautiful and is a lot harder to read than this one.

[-]

Miss-Construe-@reddit

I'd like to see am example because I don't think I've ever run across cursive I couldn't read

[-]

prentiss29@reddit

Same

[-]

CaptinEmergency@reddit

The decoration of independence is a good example imo. I can read it but not as easily.

[-]

CaptinEmergency@reddit

Yes, my grandma’s old recipe book has beautiful handwriting that is barely legible to me.

[-]

cybah@reddit

No, we went directly to cursive (elder Xennial here.. '77).

The confusing part was in 1st and second grade we used ice cream paper to learn how to write print and cursive. Switched schools and there was no ice cream paper. I swear ice cream paper was a CT school system thing.

[-]

PeanutTimely6846@reddit

I Learned this simply as cursive. I never knew it as anything else.

[-]

pmo0710@reddit

Yeah this was how I was taught to write. Super fun with dysgraphia….

[-]

deathcabscutie@reddit

This is what I learned, but I thought it was regular cursive. I didn’t know there were different cursive forms.

[-]

Klutzy_Way994@reddit

I still use most of it today. My son is 12 and he can barely write print. I thought about teaching him cursive. Really no point as most things are typed out.

[-]

B0NESAWisRRREADY@reddit

Me before looking at this post: the fuck is D'Nealian handwriting

Me after: the fuck is cursive?

[-]

Sindorella@reddit

This is the cursive I was taught, too. Didn’t know it had a specific name, though.

[-]

Due-Explanation-7560@reddit

I barely remember learning cursive to be honest

[-]

Sunsfever83@reddit

Yeah, I remember that. I still write like that today. It's cursive.

[-]

Seymour---Butz@reddit

That’s what my cursive has always been looked like?

[-]

SalukiKnightX@reddit

I remember getting taught this end of 1st (same year they taught us how to use a typewriter) and 2nd grade. Seeing this and the D’Nealian name just was like that odd trigger (I wanted to go by my middle name because I hate my first name so I signed with an initial for my first name and wrote the rest out, my teachers used to mark me and I lose points every time. It wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that I went back to going by my middle name, not like medical and federal care).

[-]

Just_Me_79@reddit

Sure, we learned the print style in first and started learning the cursive version in 2nd. My writing. Ow is a hybrid of that and I’m not sure what/where else I got it lol

[-]

Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit

I remember thinking the "Q" looking like a number 2 was so strange.

[-]

AlienDelarge@reddit

Never heard of it.

[-]

AggressiveSherbetty@reddit

Yes and I have an education degree and one of my professors that did her doctorate thesis on handwriting made us learn it (if we hadn’t already) and design a lesson around teaching it

[-]

Sassy_Velvet2@reddit

Yes, and I remember explicitly REFUSING to do an uppercase Q that way on the basis that it resembled more of the number 2 than a Q. My handwriting was (and still is) almost identical to D'Nealian cursive but my teacher was pissed I would draw a line through the O and call it a Q.

[-]

Electronic-Ride-564@reddit

I remember seeing the name D'Nealian at the time we were learning it and thinking it was a dumb name. Sorry, not sorry. lol

[-]

ArrowTechIV@reddit

I did this.

[-]

GreekGoddessOfNight@reddit

Now I have to lookup other types of cursive bc I don’t think this is the one I learned.

[-]

Rum_Running_Sailor@reddit

Never heard of it by that name. That's what I learned as cursive. What did you learn as cursive?

[-]

Curious_Fault607@reddit

That IS cursive in OP. "D'Nealian cursive writing" right on your posted example.
The point you're making is the D'Nealian PRINT writing which you do not even show to explain your point. Attached is the Montessori Chart. D'Nealian print is slanted and incorporates tails on printed letters.
Instead of relearning a whole set of letter formations for cursive writing, the D'Nealian print method simplifies the transition with fewer changes.

[-]

angelwolf71885@reddit

I remember learning this script and also it being useless in middle school and not used at all in high school and no jobs required it and other then reading fancy letters and old letters from history it had no value

[-]

Potent-Voice212@reddit

I'm pretty sure this is just the cursive we learned not the precursor to another cursive.

[-]

itsnotanemergencybut@reddit

Yes Catholic school circa 1994-1998 it was taught and heavily enforced. It’s why my handwriting is so pretty and I’m a guy. 👯‍♀️💅

[-]

fargoLEVY13@reddit

Haven’t heard/seen/thought that word since the mid 80s. Talk about a trip into the distant past. Ohhhhh but the memory remains.

[-]

WaitUntilTheHighway@reddit

Yeah I thikn this is what we learned as well, like separate cursive-y letters (my school called it cursive italic), but the point was you could write each letter separately, didn't have to connect them all. As an adult I sometimes write in connected letters and sometimes not, it's weird

[-]

ErnieBochII@reddit

Ok, everybody. Thank you for listening to my presentation. Any questions aside from why I, Donald Thurber, call it "D'Nealian"?

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MrPlowThatsTheName@reddit

D’Nealian Method sounds like a guy who plays left tackle for the Jets.

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xtlhogciao@reddit

“D’nealian Method. University of Michigan”

[-]

Glittering-Most-9535@reddit

Def an East/West Bowl name.

[-]

arcxjo@reddit

Blocking for the running back, LeBrarean Booker.

[-]

graveybrains@reddit

Just one, D. Neal Thurber... why would you ask if we had any more questions?

[-]

ArchitectVandelay@reddit

“I’m going to make cursive easier to learn using a method that is impossible for the learner to pronounce.”

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Glittering-Most-9535@reddit

I'm going to guess the N in Donald N Thurber is short for "Neal"?

[-]

SomeoneGMForMe@reddit

Wait, what's the difference between that and regular cursive? That looks like the "cursive" I learned in school... are you telling me there's some kind of super-secret-ultra-cursive?

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JoeNoble1973@reddit

This is what we were taught; when i bother with cursive, this is what it looks like. 👍 (I’m 52)

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ET__@reddit

Yea that’s cursive. Isn’t it?

[-]

Equivalent-Excuse-80@reddit

Just seems like an extra, superfluous step. I learned cursive in 3rd grade and there were no issues in transitioning. It was just a continuation of what was being taught with block script.

[-]

marcella_coco@reddit

Yes!!!!!

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i_am_roboto@reddit

I’m sorry isn’t this just cursive?

[-]

Zezu@reddit

People here think this is just cursive. It’s not.

I was taught this crap instead of standard writing with the idea that I’d then get into cursive and never write standard again.

What really happened is that I transitioned to typing. So I type super fast but my hand writing never progressed past like 3rd grade.

D’Nealian ruined my handwriting. Such a piece of shit.

[-]

Clawman1701@reddit

That’s what I learned in 1st and 2nd grade in 1991-92. I didn’t know there was more than one type of cursive writing.

[-]

AlbertTheHorse@reddit

Absolutely. I was on the cursive sub and people were completely baffled by capital Q.

Like really? That's what it is?

[-]

wheres_the_revolt@reddit

I write in d’nealian still lol

[-]

PickledPixie83@reddit

This is how I learned to write, then switched schools to one that used the Palmer method in the middle of learning cursive so…. My handwriting is odd.

[-]

blue-marmot@reddit

Yes

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Restart_from_Zero@reddit

That just looks like cursive, though.

So, cursive but without joining the letter?

[-]

denotsmai83@reddit

Is this not just cursive?

[-]

lonewolfncub3k@reddit

I did not know this started in Michigan, which is why I learned this method, I just assumed that's how everyone did it.

[-]

JanxAngel@reddit

Nope. We went straight to cursive. The D'Nealian cursive letter alphabet was above the chalkboard though.

[-]

Warm-Spite9678@reddit

There is another kind?

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Hungry-Bug-6104@reddit

My kid learns it at private school here in kinder/1st grade.

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Prestigious_Air_2493@reddit

Yup, I learned under the same method!

[-]

dungeonsandducks@reddit

What other cursive did people learn????

[-]

carrierael77@reddit

Anyone remember Duvall handwriting? In 3rd grade we learned cursive, then in 5th grade our district decided cursive was no good anymore, and Duvall was the wave of the future. Made us learn and use.

As an adult I now realize, it was all a way to funnel $ and we were used. District or government got kick backs for buying all the materials to teach this crap.

Pretty sure exact same thing happened with common core math with my kids. Ain't no way DOE pushing common core math wasn't because they were profiting off it.

[-]

buzzbash@reddit

Everyone, please take out your ZANER-BLOSER paper...

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AnUdderDay@reddit

This looks like the letters above the chalkboard.

Is there another cursive?

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PlentyRemarkable393@reddit

That is cursive writing.

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Donald_Epstein69@reddit

I’m confused…isn’t this just cursive? This is what I learned.

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graveybrains@reddit

Monkey tails!

[-]

tommy0guns@reddit

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somuchbeer@reddit

Got any more brain busters?

[-]

Ok_Perception_2707@reddit

Rirruto?

[-]

RockShowSparky@reddit

I’m not one of those people that thinks everything I learned in school was a waste of time. I’m glad I learned math and science, history, read classics, etc. This was the one thing I have to say was truly utterly useless. They made us learn it, use it exclusively for like two years, and then most teachers forbade us from ever using it again.

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Holmes221bBSt@reddit

Wait there’s another cursive? The one pictured was the only one I learned & it was just called cursive

[-]

disneyplusser@reddit

This is what I learnt!

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tarepanda303@reddit

I remember being a very angry second grader who already knew how to write the alphabet perfectly fine and did not need to learn how to write it again. We were expected to write all our assignments like this (letters separated not connected) as a different version of printed letters. We didn't connect them until later. I don't remember what grade that was.

[-]

RalphMacchio404@reddit

There's other types of cursive?

[-]

Acrobatic-Key-127@reddit

LMNOP2RS, yep definitely the start of my algebra anxiety.

[-]

sarahcasarah@reddit

I learned Palmer Method. I’m trying to teach this method to my students.

[-]

Flashy_City_9016@reddit

Yes, I was taught cursive writing that way.

[-]

aytchdave@reddit

Interesting. I remember learning to write letters this way when learning cursive in 3rd grade.

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AccomplishedLine9351@reddit

This is what we taught to my kids. It's so easy to learn.

[-]

armageddonbadger@reddit

Yes, this was how I learned to write in print and cursive. Still have some remnants of the style in my print today and my cursive is a wonky D’nealean.

[-]

bluejane@reddit

This is what I learned, I never knew it had a name. Thanks!

[-]

Friggle26@reddit

Yes! Learned in 3rd grade. I thought this was cursive?!

[-]

RememberCakeFarts@reddit

Today I learned that I know D'Nealian

[-]

Butt_Sex_And_Tacos@reddit

I remember it. If only anyone who still writes in cursive could write it this elegantly. Cursive needs to die. So many office boomers thinking no one younger than them knows how to read and write cursive, but refuse to use anything else when they write memos on sticky notes. We learned it, but what they write is more scrawl and lazy scribble than anything else. Also wish they’d stop using sticky notes and IM or email people. Yep.

[-]

h4nd@reddit

Didn’t call it that, but definitely still remember all those shapes. This guy is the reason adults don’t k ow wtf my “Q”s and “S”s were supposed to be for a few years.

[-]

The_Real_Tom_Selleck@reddit

Well fuck me I thought this was cursive

[-]

Svinlem@reddit

Yes it’s beautiful!

[-]

MrsKaich@reddit

Oh that fricking 2-looking ass mf “Q”. Yes, this is the version I learned in 1992

[-]

IchibanChef@reddit

Yep. Started learning it in 2nd grade iirc.

[-]

caseythebuffalo@reddit

I just thought this was cursive

[-]

carryon4threedays@reddit

That is cursive. This was the D’Nealian alphabet.

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WickedKoala@reddit

I thought this was normal cursive. This is what I learned.

[-]

DooficusIdjit@reddit

Forgot about that

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One-Ad-8009@reddit

I learned that too. We had the cursive alphabet along the top edge of the chalk board (yes chalk). I didn't know it as anything other than cursive though. You learn something new everyday.

[-]

JeffTS@reddit

We just called it cursive in school. I didn't know there was a per-cursor to cursive or that it had a specific name. Most of those letters are similar to what I learned.

I'm surprised they no longer teach cursive in school anymore. How do the younger generations sign checks, contracts, and other documents?

[-]

Kitchen-Square-3577@reddit

1986 here. This is the cursive I was taught in maybe 2nd grade. By the time 4th grade hit, we were taught to not raise the pencil until the word was complete. Some kids took that to heart and didn't raise the pencil until the line was complete.

[-]

Addamall@reddit

The most illegible type of writing I can still somewhat make out.

[-]

Dizzy-Ad1673@reddit

Yes, but the photo isn’t really the D’Nealian you leaned before cursive. If you continue in the Wikipedia article, it does have the correct letters later on.

[-]

samoanking951@reddit

I was recently very surprised when a Gen Z coworker of mine couldn’t read what I wrote in cursive.

[-]

Congregator@reddit

Yes, and this is one of the reasons I’m such an awesome writer (not to toot my own horn), lol.

This method of writing helps people develop their own technique while building upon foundational technique for quicker writing and more practical writing than print.

[-]

sicksixgamer@reddit

Isn't that cursive?

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HandWashing2020@reddit

We learned the example in your screenshot but I don’t get how it’s transitional. That’s the cursive alphabet. We didn’t learn the printed letters version on the article.

[-]

oddball_ocelot@reddit

I always though that was cursive. Huh.

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sundayfunday78@reddit

I didn’t know what it was called but I remember learning cursive this way. Grade three I think. I’m in BC, Canada.

[-]

taptaptippytoo@reddit

That just looks like cursive to me?

[-]

deltadawn6@reddit

Yes

[-]

Active_Yellow_1573@reddit

I thought that WAS cursive 🤔

[-]

RealityOk9823@reddit

I refuse to write a Q as a 2.

[-]

LissyLTA@reddit

I still write like this. My current hand writing writing is a combination of this and print.

[-]

actualelainebenes@reddit

Same here!

[-]

opelaceles@reddit

Same here, I basically designed my own mix in grade four and kept it up for the rest of my life lol

[-]

SeriousFun_and_Games@reddit

Same!!

[-]

Mortal-Instrument@reddit

Visiting from all, born 2001(Germany), and even I learned this as "cursive" back in elementary school - just to immediately stop using it in highschool as soon as possible.

[-]

BobLoblawBlahB@reddit

lol gtfo OP. There is no other type of cursive that you learn "after" this. This IS the cursive everyone was taught in school. It's just that no one knew it had a name "D'Nealian". OP is trying to gaslight y'all. (seriously though, this is some high quality shitposting!)

[-]

debellocam@reddit

Yup, in fact, in my signature, my first name starts with T and last name A. I write both those letters this way.

[-]

Squish_Miss@reddit

Yep, 2nd grade. I think 🤔

[-]

caldy2313@reddit

That is what I learned

[-]

LasagnahogXRP@reddit

Yes and every time I bring it up NO one else remembers.

[-]

actualelainebenes@reddit

I remember learning this in 3rd grade but my teacher always called it cursive…we just called it “writing in script”

[-]

shatnershairpiece@reddit

I DO!!!!! People think I hallucinated this! I feel so seen right now. I learned in the 2nd grade, maybe in 1987?

I remember we were told to “draw the tails” on our letters when learning D’Nealian.

NGL my penmanship is terrible in spite of having learned this method of cursive training wheels.

[-]

litchick@reddit

This is what we learned for cursive in second grade. Still love those Qs!

[-]

SayItAgainLucas@reddit

So you’re saying it took 3 grades to learn to connect the dots?

[-]

OlTwoFingerEldenLord@reddit

Oddly enough, we learned this at a very young age (kindergarten). I moved to a different state where they taught "block print." I had absolutely no clue what i was doing and ended up needing to go to pre-first rather than first grade.

[-]

ThisIsAWeapon@reddit

I have a twin sister and she makes fun of my m’s and n’s. She learned it, too!! We’re 1980s babies.

[-]

bsg_80@reddit

I though this was cursive??

[-]

elphaba00@reddit

My mom got a letter home from my teacher because I had been taught the "ball and stick" method before I went to school when the school was trying to teach me D’Nealian.

Teacher: She's not doing it right!

Mom: Is she writing something?

Teacher: Well, yes

Mom: Then what's the problem?

[-]

Ok_Egg332@reddit

Thats grandma's bday card writing

[-]

GreaseNut@reddit

Yes, I too, learned this writing style

[-]

Bassettoast@reddit

Isn’t this just cursive? I’m confused

[-]

monji_cat@reddit

Theres a name to this?? I just thought it was part of learning how to write process

[-]

External_Muffin2039@reddit

Yes AND my kids learn it now too! When they showed me in kinder how their teacher was having them form their letters I suddenly had a rush of memories and d’nelian. They actually teach cursive still at our local public school starting in second so it makes sense. It actually has made my kids’ writing very neat.

[-]

taleofbenji@reddit

It rings a bell for sure, but I never realized it was a separate thing from cursive.

[-]

derfzinkerbelle@reddit

My kids had to learn this instead of cursive.

[-]

birdnumbers@reddit

I learned D'Nealian starting in 2nd grade (changed schools).

[-]

YinzaJagoff@reddit

That’s how I write in cursive

[-]

Chito17@reddit

N O P 2 R

[-]

melhunny@reddit

This is definitely what I learned as cursive ('84). Ultimately, I now write a combination of print and cursive with these letters.

[-]

ImaginarySelection91@reddit

This chart is the only cursive I've ever known.

[-]

Usual_Ice636@reddit

Thats the cursive I learned.

[-]

DickJonesPuppet@reddit

I'm still mad about the r and the s.

[-]

GreenLurka@reddit

Oooh. That's why I write like this

[-]

PH_Jones@reddit

"You'll need to be able to write cursive in university, they won't accept anything else!" Turns out elementary school is the only place in the world where they give a shit. Everyone learns it in the Netherlands, nobody uses it past the age of 12, no exceptions.

[-]

Awkwardpanda75@reddit

My 18yo step son recieves cards and letters from his gram and great aunt in cursive. He always brings them to me to decipher them like Im reading ancient hieroglyphics.

Penmanship is also one I've had to focus on with him because everything is done on a tablet or digitally.

Soon, people will be replacing signatires with thumbprint or something.

[-]

tettoffensive@reddit

I did this when I moved to Austin, Texas. I later found out as an adult that they thought I had dyslexia and then decided I didn’t. I remember being changed into another class that used this method. I had no idea I was in a dyslexic class and thought I just happened to be amazing at reading out loud compared to everyone else.

[-]

churroattack@reddit

Yep, complete waste of time! I hated it! 😆

[-]

Bastranz@reddit

Yes indeed - wow memory unlocked, I forgot this is what this was called.

[-]

manthursaday@reddit

Capital A and Q are not the way I learned them for cursive. But everything else looks the same.

[-]

bananabastard@reddit

I never graduated beyond print. I struggle to read cursive, why would I bother learning to write it.

[-]

RaspberryBeret121234@reddit

I totally remember this as a precursor to cursive and what it was called. You aren’t the only one!

[-]

truffles76@reddit

That upper-case Q is such bullshit

[-]

OnlySezBeautiful@reddit

Q >> 2. Totally remember having a meltdown over that.

[-]

johnnyclash42@reddit

this was the cursive I learned

[-]

mack_dd@reddit

Except for the captial Q looking like a 2, and the z looking like a 2 with whatever that thing was, yeah, pretty much.

I had an older English teacher who did the Qs like a 2, I thought it was just an old person (or a her) thing.

[-]

ineffable_my_dear@reddit

I didn’t learn D’Nealian but my kids (26 & 14) did. I learned Zaner-Bloser.

Ironically I write in what looks somewhat like D’Nealian print. Slanted but not always connected. My family call my handwriting italics.

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blackhawksq@reddit

I didn't even learn this. Don't get me wrong, they taught it. But I'm dyslexic and have horrible handwriting. My teachers decided it was so bad that they wanted me to do all my homework on a typewriter or computer instead of on paper. My poor classmates couldn't play Where in the "World in the world is Carmen Sandiego", or "Oregon Trail" because I was on there doing my work.

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jestingvixen@reddit

I.... thought this was just how you learned to make the letters before connecting them into script. A form of drawing words. Neat! And yes, yes I learned this.

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Different-Train9316@reddit

Yes, me. It was very practical. My hand hurts more when I print write now

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CrazySporkDude@reddit

This is exactly what I was taught in elementary school in the mid-80s. I always thought this WAS cursive. TIL.

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SelectionEarly2792@reddit

The original creative writing.

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Turtlegirl1977@reddit

I hated that Q then and I still hate it now

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Escape_Force@reddit

There is a D'Nealian print and D'Nealian cursive. Both have loopedy-loops and monkey tails. I think the comments show how unpopular D'Nealian print was or how seamlessly learning D'Nealian print flowed into learning D'Nealian cursive. I know I learned the cursive in 3rd grade but then learned Palmer in 5th grade because it looks cleaner.

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JHBlancs@reddit

This is largely the reason my hand writing is awful. My third or fourth, or whatever grade learns how to write, started learning this garbage writing style, and halfway thru the semester the powers that be decided that needed to stop. So, the curriculum was stopped, and we were taught to sign our name and that was it. The jumble of it all meant i never really learned how to write, like in the mechanical, holding my pencil and pencil strokes way. My hand always cramps when I write, and I can only kind of scratch the letters out.

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nola_mike@reddit

This was always taught to us as just cursive. I didn't know there was another version.

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Moof_the_cyclist@reddit

Yeah, I blame this dumb half step for my terrible cursive later on. My brain learned D’nealian, then just sort of refused to unlearn it enough to link together properly for true cursive. So my cursive was just a hot mess and I learned to hate writing in general because I was constantly told my penmanship was poor first and foremost.

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meatsnake@reddit

This was cursive.

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rand0fand0@reddit

I thought I learned cursive

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karatechop97@reddit

Yes that’s just the cursive I learned. What else is there?

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MtnDewCodeRedFreak@reddit

I did in elementary school!

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Mission_Spray@reddit

Wait, do what’s the “real” cursive I should have learned?

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HogwartsTraveler@reddit

Wait, is that not cursive?? This is what I was taught in school.

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barefootincozumel@reddit

Does anyone else still write almost exclusively in cursive? Even my print isn’t really print, and I have to concentrate on not to switch into cursive when print is required. I wonder if that’s generational? Or just a me thing? It blows my mind that there is a piece of the population that can’t decipher my writing at all.

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Last_Pick_2169@reddit

Yes but we moved out of MI and my new school principal insisted that I was making it up!! I shit you not. SMH.

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Vectors2_Final@reddit

Yeah, and that poster and/or banner was in every classroom from K to like sixth grade.

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theloop82@reddit

Yes and it totally screwed up my handwriting for all time

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LeCamelia@reddit

I didn't remember D'Nealian was a separate thing from cursive, but I remember learning it. Obviously my memory of kid stuff isn't perfect but I think they had us just learn to write D'Nealian cursive style all in one go in 3rd grade. And I'm a Millenial who got shown this post by the algorithm, I'm not in this sub.

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Retro_Hoard@reddit

I have some old notebooks with this and wondered why it looked different from regular penmanship, I thought it was due to being younger.

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EL3MENTALIST@reddit

… Twooowenton and Jolly…. Errr

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Abeefrog@reddit

There are more cursive handwriting?!

God, I HATE cursive

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big_ringer@reddit

I thought this was cursive.

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Preparation-Logical@reddit

Is that not...cursive? Have I been lying to myself thinking I know how to write in cursive all this time?

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socialcommentary2000@reddit

Yes, I did many, many of those workbooks. That inset image is triggering me.

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barefootincozumel@reddit

Yes. This is how I learned, but my handwriting has evolved. My daughter learned to write in Mexico, so hers is quite different as well. She started cursive in kindergarten and it never looked like this. I was born in 82 btw, youngest in my class so likely learned the same year as you

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Pseudobrilliance@reddit

Absolutely! I’m in California. Was it a California thing?

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Top-Wolverine-8684@reddit

I'm also a Californian, and this was taught throughout our district.

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truckthecat@reddit

No, we had it in Georgia

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Important_Sound_8718@reddit

Sorry to burst your "California-is-extra-special" bubble.... but you're not that special.

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Pseudobrilliance@reddit

Since this experience is uneven across people roughly the same age, as evidenced by this thread, geography seemed like a good place to start to think about why that is. If that is not a good place to start, where do you recommend?

Glad I gave a data point to reinforce what you already think about Californians. I think that says more about you than about me.

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Suitable-Echo-3359@reddit

100% yes, starting in 1st grade in 1986.

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Ivy7424@reddit

I remember this but I remember it being late in 2nd grade and then we learned cursive in 3rd

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Rich-Yogurtcloset715@reddit

I was always getting in trouble for poor penmanship in elementary school. I hated the D’Nealian method.

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Wolf_Parade@reddit

The only detentions of my life were from refusing to practice letters I could already draw.

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napalmnacey@reddit

I wouldn’t mind so much but it’s so ugly. As a calligraphy nerd it makes me cry.

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theCaityCat@reddit

3rd/4th grade, and I had to sit at my desk redoing it after lunch while the other kids sat on the floor around the teacher listening to her read.

My handwriting is still atrocious.

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elisabethzero@reddit

The image is what I was taught as cursive around fourth grade. My younger brother around first grade was taught something between this and standard printing that I remember being called D'Nealian--he has no recollection of this at all. But it didn't look like that example, it was more like printing that leaned to the right, almost like italics.

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j7style@reddit

Wait....isn't this how you learn cursive? I know I'm old but like, pretty sure that was how I was taught it.

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QuietNene@reddit

Isn’t that cursive? Isn’t the only difference that cursive is connected?

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truckthecat@reddit

Yes, but keeping them unconnected was an important transition step between regular printing and full connected cursive. Especially for reading — seeing all the connected letters in someone’s handwriting made it really hard to read until I’d learned D’Nealian. I wonder if this is part of why younger generations struggle to read cursive now? (Not saying it’s necessary but just that if you never got instruction in this in-between way, jumping to reading cursive would be harder)

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QuietNene@reddit

So they’re not taught unconnected cursive? How does that even work?

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truckthecat@reddit

They’re taught ‘print’ like with just straight lines, right angles, but not the slanted, flowy script way to write.

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Acrobatic_Ad7061@reddit

Yes this is cursive but an easier version than previous generations were taught.

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LaLa_820@reddit

I still write like this. Taught my son this cursive.

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VeeVeeDiaboli@reddit

This is exactly how I learned it

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Diavolodentro@reddit

Wait…. There’s a different type of cursive than this?

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Single-Yam-9791@reddit

Catholic School

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Economy-Cookie-4724@reddit

We didn't but I remember by bro complaining about it, he was born in 77

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HermioneMarch@reddit

Yes. That’s what I learned to write with.

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SnooCats7584@reddit

Yes, we learned to write D’Nealian in 1st and 2nd grade (1990) although it looked a little different, more print-y. It was this print version. My sister and best friend still print like that, while my handwriting fell off as soon as I wasn’t being graded on it, and then I redeveloped it for cartography and math and teaching later on.

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VioletVenable@reddit

Yup! It was basically just printing with little tails to “prepare” us for cursive. Started in 1st grade, graduated to cursive in 3rd.

My penmanship was rubbish back then, which sucked for an anxious girl who always wanted everything to look pretty. But it’s actually gotten better in adulthood and I use cursive almost daily at work!

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froebull@reddit

That's actually the only style I remember learning? I still write in that, if I take the time to do something in cursive.

I was born in 1971 for reference.

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VonBrewskie@reddit

....is this not cursive? This is the only one I learned I think.

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VironicHero@reddit

My mom hates that they taught us this. She says “you had great hand writing until they taught you that crap in 3rd grade!”

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PersonalityAlive6475@reddit

Retconning “cursive” to mean something other than this… get out of here, Wikipedia.

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Emotional_Boat_8332@reddit

That’s what I learned in 3rd grade

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Azuras_Star8@reddit

I always got points off on upper case Q because I refused to write it as a 2, but as a big O whose squiggly goes on. I would connect the 2 to the base and not be a lazy asshole. I got into an argument with a teacher, "who isnt going to understand that a big Q is a capital Q?"

It was only my 3rd grade teacher from 1988 that took points off.

Fuck you Ms Cook.

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lemmylemonlemming@reddit

I was taught this. We didn't use a pen and paper. We used a red plastic stick and we wrote on a sheet of plastic over a black wax and after the teacher checked our writing you pulled the plastic off of the wax to erase your writing.

Someone please tell me this isn't a false memory. I feel weird explaining it.

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beerdeer101@reddit

I had toys that did that so I believe it

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rebelangel@reddit

Yep, I remember learning it in either 2nd or 3rd grade.

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Environmental_Ant268@reddit

I learned this too, and I'm from Saudi Arabia

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cdizzle6@reddit

Haha. Memory unlocked. Went to a Montessori grade school. Definitely learned this method.

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Kyriana1812@reddit

We learned & practiced writing 1 letter at a time in 3rd grade. Once we learned 2+ we would learn how to connect them. In 4th grade, cursive was expected & depending on the teacher, if you printed, you did not get credit for the assignment.

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molotovv3@reddit

I just thought this was cursive lol

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BishlovesSquish@reddit

Ah yes, “modern” cursive. A huge part of why kids are struggling to learn is because they’re not being taught proper grammar or penmanship.

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Own_Professional_730@reddit

Yes!!! In the late 80s, I think. 1989?

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lalacourtney@reddit

Yes—is there another cursive in the US?

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Weekly-Bill-1354@reddit

I learned it in second grade and that was the only cursive we had.

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HighSeasArchivist@reddit

This is a form of cursive. My problem is my handwriting looks like I did it with my feet.

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beerdeer101@reddit

I learned it in my first and second grade, and then the school I went to for third on used a different system. I consistently got bad handwriting grades as a result.

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clutzycook@reddit

I learned Zaner-Blosser from kindergarten through 3rd grade for printing and cursive. Then suddenly in 4th grade, they made us start learning this. My handwriting was already questionable, but this made it even weirder.

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Time_Ad_9647@reddit

I did this in 1st grade.

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veglove@reddit

This is the only type of cursive I learned, but no one told me the name of it; or if they did, the name didn't stick in my memory.

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thecicilala@reddit

This is the cursive I learned and I am teaching it to our kids,now.

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Ryclea@reddit

My cursive looks like that today, just like a 4th grader wrote it.

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tenderHG@reddit

I started with D'Nealian and Palmer and then moved up to Spencerian around 6th grade or so. Currently, my cursive is a mix of all that.

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clrlmiller@reddit

Born in '68 and can confirm THIS is the 'cursive' handwriting we were taught in school. Though they just called it "cursive" and I'd NEVER heard of the other name until this post.

I have frequent battles with my (now 82 year old) Mother-In-Law wherein she expounds that teaching cursive needs to return to school curriculum. I'm a proponent of "It's DEAD, teach keyboarding skills instead". NEVER in my nearly 40 years of a career has anyone asked for a sample of my penmanship. But it is required that I enter stuff in quickly on a computer.

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Fillmore80@reddit

We weren't told the name of the method, that doesn't mean that we didn't use it....

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Obsidianrunner@reddit

gif

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bamaford@reddit

I learned this in Catholic school in the Chicago suburbs in the 80s!

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Typical_Barracuda234@reddit

This is what I was right in the early 80s.

However;

Our class room had not only this posted on the wall but 2 other styles. We didn't have to learn them (but I was a nerd and copied them anyways) but the teacher me ruined that there were several different styles that existed.

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BoomTschak@reddit

Yep we were taught to write by Denelian and to read by Lindamood-Bell. I am surprised any of us can spell or write after that crap.

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Disastrous_Living890@reddit

I wish they still taught this style. My oldest daughter was taught a stick and ball method that makes the transition to cursive ridiculously difficult.

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Top-Wolverine-8684@reddit

Yep, that's how I learned to write!

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speece75@reddit

Yup! This was what i learned as a kiddo

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MrJohnMurdoch@reddit

I remember doing this but do not remember the upper case Q looking like a 2

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jacobonia@reddit

Didn't know it was called that, but yeah! I think we called it pre-cursive.

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DestinyRamen@reddit

What was the next step? I only learned this one.

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Disastrous_Living890@reddit

D'Nealian is not a style of cursive... it's a style of print that allows for an easier transition into cursive.

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ZoeyZoZo@reddit

About 15 years ago, our school district taught this to the kids and it was a flop because they didn't really transition to cursive. I was taught strictly cursive

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MonchichiSalt@reddit

This is the only method I am aware of.

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Brendy171@reddit

Totally. According to my mother that’s why I have horrible handwriting lol

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lfergy@reddit

I did this for sure. I was born in ‘88 though.

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Lughaidh_@reddit

1981, South Florida, this was the only cursive we were taught. Straight into connecting letters and this being the one and only Cursive. Are you saying they eventually transitioned you to a different method altogether?

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Roobix9@reddit

Wait. There's another cursive??

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Voronthered@reddit

Wait....I vaguely remember learning this like a half forgotten memory "fnord"

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sircastor@reddit

Is this I am looking at this and thinking "Is that not cursive?" And if it isn't... did I ever learn cursive?

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PilotC150@reddit

This looks exactly like my mom writes, and she certainly learned to write cursive before 1965.

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RenaissanceGuy86@reddit

I still write like this lol

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Hynch@reddit

This is the cursive I learned. I didn't know there was another version after this.

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desertdweller2011@reddit

also how i was taught. i broke my arm in 3rd grade and my older sister would have me sit in her lap and she’d do my cursive homework in these books- where you start off tracing the letter then write rows of them yourself. she had my put my hand on top of hers as if that would help me learn the motions, but i would just flail my arm and make her mess up 😂

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Substantial_Bus6615@reddit

I learned this in 2nd grade however it was from a first year teacher (bc this was being newly taught) every subsequent year my older teachers used to correct my cursive bc they thought I made up letters.... Example Q is so much different

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Page300and904@reddit

We learned the Palmer method. Then in middle school, you learned Spencerian if you took the Art class elective. The method actually helps with drawing. Something about better motor control especially with small details.

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SunTzuMachiavelli@reddit

I learned D'Nealian as a kid and just a few years ago Spencerian Script

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Lisa100176@reddit

Today I learned there are different types of cursive..... and yes, this is what I was taught.

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Impressive-Cod-7103@reddit

Yeah. That capital Q still pisses me off.

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TigerIll6480@reddit

Yeah, my school did this. Learning cursive was just connecting these letters.

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Prestigious_Soil_392@reddit

I was born in 1980, definitely have very vivid memories of this format. The old 2 for a Q thing still gets me, lol.

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MulberryEastern5010@reddit

Never heard of D'Nealian, nor was I officially taught it, but I do recall a lot of my classmates having a handwriting that more closely resembled that style than cursive. Whereas I spent the better part of my school years trying my best to adhere to the principles of cursive, and my handwriting was still chicken scratch! LOL.

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Far-Plum1850@reddit

So randomly and only in the last half hour I was thinking of all the ways my mother has made excuses for my eff up of a brother and she will still die on the hill that “in year 3 they changed to Victorian Modern Cursive and he never adapted”.

Jaysus Ma, come on. Also, is reddit now reading thoughts?

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lindsaygeektron@reddit

I still write like this

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CZall23@reddit

...this wasn't actually cursive?

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MartokSonofUrthog@reddit

Yep, that's what I learned in the early 80s

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BrisketWrench@reddit

I was always jealous of people who had a name that started with a J. My name started with a D and i thought D, S, and G in this form of cursive looked like fucking dog shit.

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Entire-Order3464@reddit

Yessss

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FalseVeterinarian881@reddit

No. it was always called cursive in my sphere.

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scipio0421@reddit

I didn't know there was another one after this. This is what I learned back in the early-mid 90s and have never used since.

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eyelers@reddit

That’s cursive. Haha. You telling me I’m 42 and I should have known that isn’t the “real” cursive?

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Allureme@reddit

Just looks like cursive to me

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TheLastGenXer@reddit

everything made sense to me except the z

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earthtobobby@reddit

I was taught this in third grade, but the teacher just called it cursive.

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bokatan778@reddit

I never did this, but actually my son was taught this method in his 1st grade class several years ago!

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missdawn1970@reddit

I've never heard of this (but I'm Gen X). To me it looks exactly the same as the cursive I learned, but it was just called cursive.

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WheelLeast1873@reddit

I just assumed that was cursive. So there is something different?

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FinancialCry4651@reddit

Yes, and it was specifically marketed to us as D'Nealian, though I don't think I've ever seen it spelled before! We copied letters on worksheets made on the ditto machine.

We also learned phonics.

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sykojaz@reddit

Wife and I both learned that version in the PNW at different schools about 40 miles apart. I failed horribly at handwriting, so I learned to type 80-90 wpm to compensate.

I've asked people if they remember D'nealian, and they look at me like I grew antennae

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mbleyle@reddit

Remember the special 3-stick chalk holder so you could draw 3 parallel lines across the blackboard so the entire class could laugh at you while you practiced your cursive writing? Good times.

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BigBoxOfGooglyEyes@reddit

I learned it in kindergarten. We moved to another state when I was in 3rd grade and I blew my classmate's minds when I was already writing in cursive because they were just learning it.

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PeaOui1@reddit

I remember! I still use this today. My teacher called it Denealian. This was in 3rd grade I believe. I thought this was normal cursive. The only difference I can spot is the “A”?

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NoGoat3930@reddit

I was born 5y before you and taught this in 2nd grade. I thought that the pic you posted was cursive, but your telling me it's D'Nealian?

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hurricanemitch@reddit

This is the same cursive the Elf on The Shelf used. For some crazy reason

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Dense-Competition-51@reddit

I absolutely was taught this, and I’ve never run into anyone else that’s heard of it. I feel seen!

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effigyoma@reddit

I learned this in 1st grade then moved schools in 2nd grade and had to switch to the Palmer method.

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Fun-Preparation-4253@reddit

Yeah, and people look at me like I'm crazy when people see how I make my letters!

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XennialQueen@reddit

Yes! I just thought that it was cursive lol

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ABH1979@reddit

I’m almost positive that I was taught to add a little loop at the top of the upper-case “Q,” but other than that, this was the only cursive I learned.

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GristleMcThornbody1@reddit

I never heard it called that but that's the one they taught me

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Rombonius@reddit

but it IS cursive

but yes, it looks familiar to how I learned in two languages

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Jolly_Law_7973@reddit

Wait, that's not cursive?

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Eric848448@reddit

I think this is what I learned. I didn’t realize there was even more to potentially waste years of education on.

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MMAHipster@reddit

Also - can we see some of your AP Cursive work?

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swarthyspaniard74@reddit

The Q was stupid.

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SharMarali@reddit

Yes, I remember this. My recollection is that we had to write letters with “tails” in the first grade and it made zero sense to me at the time, then around grade 3-4 they taught us to connect the letters.

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nwbrown@reddit

Wait, how is that different from cursive?

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NoLimitHonky@reddit

Is this NOT cursive?? Lol

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Merkela22@reddit

This is the only type of cursive I learned, and it's the only type my kids learned. And my parents too, I think.

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Relevant_Outside2781@reddit

Oh wow, had no clue it had a name past cursive

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WhysAVariable@reddit

I feel like I'm relearning ancient hieroglyphics looking at this. My handwriting has always been bad so the only thing I use it for is my signature. I didn't remember how to write some of the letters until I look at this. I normally have to print to make my writing legible to other people AND myself.

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Forever_Queued@reddit

Didn’t know it had a name, but yeah— remember that clearly.

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Forever_Queued@reddit

Interesting! My cursive today seems to be a blend of all of these.

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davwad2@reddit

TIL this had a name. Also, what's the other cursive? This was taught to me as "cursive."

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ShortBrownAndUgly@reddit

Yes, in first grade. When I moved to a new school halfway through the year, people had never heard of it and they thought my handwriting was weird

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BijouWilliams@reddit

I hated this shit. Was taught how to write at all in 1st grade using the D'Nealian print/cursive hybrid alphabet.

I was SO HAPPY to get to high school where I was finally allowed to write my letters like the ones in books.

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Lastofthehaters@reddit

Fuck those chalkboards, fuck cursive, and fuck that guy. Sincerely a guy with learning disabilities.

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Shoulda_Ben_Aborted@reddit

Which turned out to be useless cause I write in ALL CAPS LIKE MY DAD DOES

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teenbean12@reddit

I don’t remember the Q being a 2.

I used to write the cursive uppercase T when signing my name but people always thought it was a J, so I switched to a more Italicized printed T

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PeachesCream24@reddit

The only way I learned it too. I remember fighting for my life to get the Z and the Q right 🫠🫠

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scoot2006@reddit

We didn’t learn this way. I’m wondering why we learned cursive at all, though. It’s completely deprecated at this point.

Though, we could always use it to write “secret” messages the kids couldn’t read lol

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DuckTalesOohOoh@reddit

Handwriting and how the brain learns is deeply connected. Cursive is a way to focus that skill and why many schools restored it as part of their curriculum. Sweden is now bringing back real textbooks and eliminating computers from the classroom.

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scoot2006@reddit

So it’s helpful for development. That makes sense, thank you!

And I 1000% support removing most tech from classrooms. And no kid should have a phone in school. Nor should phones work in cars (beyond navigation) but that’s an entirely separate issue.

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Informal-Abalone-271@reddit

Ah, the joy of writing in my niece’s bday/holiday cards in cursive and watching them practice deciphering the message! 🥰

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bigred1978@reddit

I learned this in school in Canada but we didn't give ti a proper name other than just "cursive".

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Savings_Can7292@reddit

2nd grade. California. Pain in the ass. It was a year wasted when they could've just had us write in cursive.

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comoEstas714@reddit

This is how I write and how I was taught. It's like they were teaching us cursive without ever connecting the letters.

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Rob_Bligidy@reddit

TIL that’s the only ‘cursive’ I know

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KellyAnn3106@reddit

I definitely remember this from 1st and 2nd grade. Unfortunately, we moved states a few times when I was in elementary school so I had the "learn to make the letters" lessons but not the "here's how you connect them" part as the curriculum was different. I had the worst handwriting until I decided I wanted that girly bubble writing some of my friends had.

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TragicaDeSpell@reddit

Learned this in first grade as an old Xennial.

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shouldernauts@reddit

Yes! My mom was an elementary school teacher when this was being used, and I went to the school where she taught so I had extra practice learning it. She explained that the idea behind it was that the lowercase, and as many uppercase as possible, letters had leading and ending tails. This taught students to learn the feel of the letters flowing into the next one so that it was easier when they start connecting them. It seemed like a great idea.

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sjd208@reddit

This is the only cursive I learned I learned in 2nd grade because I was in a 2/3 mixed grade class. I still write in cursive all the time, when I have to print it feels bizarre and I have to concentrate to not switch my accident. I still take notes frequently by hand in meetings. My childhood handwriting is recognizability the same as my current handwriting, though I have moved closer to print for many capital letters. My signature is still the classic capitals though, SJD are my initials.

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Amazing-Basket-136@reddit

We should have been taught cursive before print.

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KoRaZee@reddit

This is what we learned in elementary school

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somecoolname42@reddit

No we did Zaner-Bloser, went straight into connecting letters.

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Nipplasia2@reddit

There is a difference?

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Oldpuzzlehead@reddit

No. I learned to connect the letters right from the start.

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RoundTheBend6@reddit

Interesting... now I know why my mom's handwriting looks just like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Method

After a Wikipedia black hole lol.

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fromthedarqwaves@reddit

Except for that Z that’s how I write cursive. Maybe I did learn that.

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sureal42@reddit

I grew up in Michigan. Born 79. I was just taught this as cursive, never heard it called anything different.

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imissthecomfortinn@reddit

Yeah! I started writing with my left hand and was told to use my right hand. I was given D’Nealian work books to ‘help’ my handwriting transition from left to right.

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Mick_Limerick@reddit

That's fucked up

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Unlikely-Collar4088@reddit

Looks the same as what I learned except for the lower case “z”, which I learned from Billy Madison.

“Would you like to try the word ‘buzz?’”

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Fine_Caterpillar_280@reddit

Yes, and I couldn’t for the life of me write the T properly which was a bummer since it was the letter of my first name 😂 later on I devolved my own way of writing a T and needless to say I’ve never correctly been able to write the T.

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Groovychick1978@reddit

This is just regular cursive. The letters are only separated so that you can learn them individually, but when you write a whole word, each letter is connected to the next.

What other cursive are you talking about?

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just-the-teep@reddit

Yes and it ruined my ability to write cleanly.

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lukin5@reddit

This the only cursive I ever learned…there’s something else after this?

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atomicbunny@reddit

anyone got a link to another form of cursive? this is what i was taught in 3rd grade. (born in '83)

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Reynold1@reddit

I was taught this in Kindergarten through 4th grade with full workbooks and everything in CT. I still put the little tails and everything on regular writing because of it

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partycanstartnow@reddit

I have never heard this term but I absolutely learned this in elementary school. We just called it cursive/script. Previous to this we learned our print letters the same way.

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DonutosGames@reddit

86'er here. Yup.

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tres-vip@reddit

This is what I was taught when learning cursive in the 2nd grade. I still write in this script, lol (I take notes and journal by hand).

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Informal-Abalone-271@reddit

I only write in cursive. If I try to print it looks horrible, but my handwriting is neat and beautiful in cursive. I think it has to do with ADD, cursive is the only thing that keeps up with my the speed of my brain!

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quantumsparq@reddit

I thought this was cursive.

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laSeekr@reddit

This is what I was taught, never knew it had a specific name.
Born in 1971 - spent my early education in the boonies of Coloradaaa

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pink_faerie_kitten@reddit

No. I was taught the extra loopy kind.

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Sebastian_dudette@reddit

That's what they taught us in 3rd grade as cursive.
Did not teach us to print like this.

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Wrenshimmers@reddit

This is so ingrained in me I still do this when I'm bored. I plan on teaching my kiddo cursive and this is the only way I know how to teach it.

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OskeyBug@reddit

I learned it in kindergarten and then I switched schools for first grade and I got my ass chewed out for "putting tails" on my letters.

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arc_prime@reddit

The capital G is probably the weirdest letter of the bunch. Like what the hell even is that? even with the most generous interpretation it's still backwards. Anyway, also confirming that this is the cursive I learned in school.

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Jupiter68128@reddit

One of the reasons that Korean kids kick American kids’ asses academically is because Korean kids don’t waste time on cursive. Fuck cursive.

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Meatball-Alfredo-Mom@reddit

We learned this as cursive. I hated it and still do. I have horrible handwriting lol

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rinky79@reddit

Isn't that just...cursive? That's the only cursive I ever learned.

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stoneworther@reddit

Poking around, it seems like D'Nealian cursive is considered it's own kind of cursive. It has mostly small differences from the other main kind of cursive, Zaner-Bloser. Stuff like the slant is like 7 degrees different, and a D'Nealian cursive lower-case 'a' starts from the baseline while the other kind starts at the top.

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KneelB4Z0d@reddit

Those are Zs

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caffeinatedangel@reddit

I thought this WAS cursive!

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polygonalopportunist@reddit

Also, can help dyslexic learners fyi. If youre kids are struggling with decoding, teaching them this could help. Its pretty much considered auxiliary to common core in 3rd/4th.

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