Cycling UK Forum

I'd say University ruined my handwriting but since then I've recovered my old handwriting and improved it in the last year or so. My sister and I exchange letters that we hand write, photograph and send by whatsapp. I purchased a couple of fountain pens and some writing paper, it relaxes me to put my thoughts on paper.

TM Jr writes by hand. He's 6 and really needs to practise more. But his interests are elsewhere. Maths and reading and science and natural world. Give him a book on 8000 facts and he'll read it through even though it's a book aimed at kids a lot older. Knowledge is his interests but if you think if handwriting a artistic then of say artistic pursuits isn't his bag man!

However future careers include civil engineer, shop keeper, footballer, scientist, chemist and so on. IIRC nurse or doctor was in there too (as was dog at one stage when a lot younger).

Seriously though, writing is one aspect of his schooling where he's weakest (still as expected but not exceeding expectation like other areas). We do need to work on him a bit. As on the education thread I believe parents should be part of their kids education. My partner believes that the best part of a bright kids education probably comes from home, certainly in primary school level.

It's not just handwriting that people are using less.

What about using paper and pen for addition, subtraction, long multiplication and long division?
Who does these these days?
Blame Sinclair and his calculator!

Arithmetic?
Rarely hear that word these days.

I'm good at math so don't use paper and pen for that.

I love writing with a good fountain pen. In fact I have four fountain pens gathered over the years and still use them all, each has a different colour ink. I am proficient on key board but there is something sensual for me in writing with a pen full of flowing ink. The eldest pen must be about 50 now and the youngest about 22 years, so they have all had and continue to have good useage.

Tangled Metal wrote:I'm good at math so don't use paper and pen for that.

You mean you're good at mental arithmetic methinks.
Not maths ....... and mathematics (note the plural) is a whole collection of stuff.

mathematics |maθ(ə)ˈmatɪks|
pluralnoun [usually treated as singular]
the abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts (pure mathematics), or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering ..................

arithmetic
noun |əˈrɪθmətɪk| [mass noun]
the branch of mathematics dealing with the properties and manipulation of numbers.

You were very calm responding to my deliberate Americanism. Deliberate mistaken missing if the plural.

Fountain pens I love. I own a few but until I got a nice metallic coloured, plastic Lamy safari I never really found one to fit my hand. Even that was a little scratchy at first but like all fountain pens they wear to the user. I once got told to never share your fountain pen (and shoes / boots). The theory is they wear to the way you use them.

The biggest issue with fountain pens and some other types of pen is the wet ink. The ink you often get in branded cartridges can take a while to dry. I'm terrible at smudging the ink with fountain pens in notebooks.

I saw a refill kit for Lamy cartridges and wondered about filling them with a different ink. Perhaps there's a quick drying ink that might eliminate the smudges. Anyone tried a refill kit? It's not the plunger or pump type refillable ink reservoir, it's a larger syringe plus tube that you use to fill empty cartridges. You can cap the syringe off so excess ink doesn't dry out.

Fountain pens? €$!
TM and I are quite different
I love free biros, they write well enough for me
Why, I have some from most of the main political parties, even from parties I have never voted for

Tangled Metal wrote:You were very calm responding to my deliberate Americanism. Deliberate mistaken missing if the plural.

Mick F wrote:

Tangled Metal wrote:You were very calm responding to my deliberate Americanism. Deliberate mistaken missing if the plural.

At the risk of admitting trolling, most disappointing. As someone who is still proud of being what I call a quarter American it amuses me a little when people of forums get het up over Americanisms. That's why I like to drop a few every now and then. It would me a gray day indeed if we all spoke and wrote the same.

Cyril Haearn wrote:Fountain pens? €$!
TM and I are quite different
I love free biros, they write well enough for me
Why, I have some from most of the main political parties, even from parties I have never voted for

Most of my writing is with biros. In fact I was once so close to joining the ratified club of people who have actually used a biro branded pen from start to end of the ink supply! There was no ink showing in the transparent body of the pen when somebody at work nicked it. So annoyed!

Right now I'm isn't a black biro at work and for my own journal I'm using uniball pens from the Mitsubishi pen company (pentel) and berol handwriting pens. I find they're actually a nice writing feel. Especially the berol one but it's too coarse a nib for my liking. My loops tend to fill with it, but it is actually smooth flow.

Until my late 30s (approx. 1984) my handwriting was very good and clear, all joined up unlike modern youth. This was because you had to write legibly for school etc and later on so the typing pool could read it. Then we had early word processors and started typing our own documents and the only writing I did was notes to myself; so provided I could decode it that was enough. Consequently my handwriting went downhill and if I need to write a letter these days I have to make a conscious effort not to scrawl. I still have a number of fountain pens, always preferring them to ballpoint, but in my late working years (this century) I took to modern rollerball pens with 0.5mm tips (Mitsubishi Uniball mentioned above) for convenience.

Tangled Metal wrote: ....... it amuses me a little when people of forums get het up over Americanisms ................

I have no issues with Americanisms for the Americans. I have no issue with a "transatlantic" flow of Americanisms into British English, as language continually evolves and changes.

What I cannot understand, is why mathematics is shortened to math. It's a plural because there many aspects in mathematics. The word is not mathematic, it's mathematics so should be shortened to maths.

That has never bothered me but color is one that does bother me a lot. Grey or gray? A few others too but not math vs maths.