AIBU to be a handwriting snob

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Yes, I probably am but this is my first AIBU (in 2 years!) so be gentle

Looking at DD's geography books she has started doing what I call bimbo handwriting - round circles instead of dots above the i's, big massive circle shaped a's, d's and p's etc (wish could articulate what I mean).

She used to have normal handwriting. God knows why she has decided to change it. AIBU to tell her to stop writing like this and go back to normal? (BTW DP has told me to leave her alone and stop being a fussy old mare)

[GoodWitchGlinda]

pointydog - you speak sense.

It is a phase and let me tell you, it is pretty exhausting trying to make all your writing like that so she will lose interest soon enough.

I used to try to do the whole 'type face "a"' thing (you know, where you put the little hook at the top, instead of just a circle and stick) but quickly got bored with it - took ages and sometimes I would forget and have to go back over all my work to make it consistent! Oh, youth...

And gel pens are just pretty, girly, fun. Are you going to stress about her wearing a glittery hair clip next?

[MadamAnt]

lol at bimbo writing

I feel the same way and am planning on encouraging spiky, intellectual feminist handwriting in my DD.

[twoluvlykids]

My DD is 13 and does this! It takes so much longer to form letters, I'm sure it's a "girl" thing.

She also claims her writing only looks "neat" (err, by whose standards, eh ) if she uses a particular pen and no other.

Oh, and it's run out....grrr

[TrillianAstra]

Ahh, I remember gel pens. Sparkly ones and 'scented' ones too

[pointydog]

oh yes, I used to typeface 'a's. And I always wrote capital Rs.

How annoying of me.

[stealthsquiggle]

What do you mean, 'remember', Trillian?



Actually I have moved on and now favour uni-ball fusion pens from paperchase, which have clear ink which turns (in the current instance) purple on contact with paper.

I mean, how cool is that [geek]?

I am sure I tried out all sorts of handwriting as a teenager - in fact, I distinctly remember being accused of copying work when I was actually copying it from "rough" to "neat" because the loathsome bitch teacher in question didn't believe that they were both in my handwriting [still traumatised 25 years later]

[Tinker]

It's a phase, don't they all do it? I did the a like this font for a while as well. And French 7s.

[FairLadyRantALot]

YABU....totally...
as others have said it is a phase and partly to do with expressing themselfs, etc...leave her to it...be glad she can write!

[scaryteacher]

Tell your dd that her handwriting has to be neat and legible for GCSEs as the marker doesn't need to be distracted by 'bimbo' handwriting. Lots are marked online now (I am in the middle of marking at present) and it really puts me off having to decipher handwriting like that.

[GoodWitchGlinda]

Yup, french 7s here too. And capital Es everywhere.

I have a PhD now, OP - and I think my ongoing habit of underlining important words in all different colours (including pink gel) helped me get it

[FairLadyRantALot]

legibility is a whole different issue though scary teacher, isn't it?

[Tinker]

Funny how lots of grown women do still seem to have much rounder handwriting than men though.

[stealthsquiggle]

I still do french 7's - is that really a bimbo writing characteristic ?

[FairLadyRantALot]

what are french 7's, btw?

[stealthsquiggle]

a 7 with a line through it, fair lady. Sort of like this: 7

[Trikken]

is it where you have a line through the middle?

[oneforward20back]

7's with a line through. My handwriting is on a good day probably what you are describing (30yo) and on a bad day completely unreadable. The point is not whether or not it is grown it is more whether or not the examiner can read it.

Holding hand up here i actually wrote in mirror writing in one exam and the examiner refused to mark it. I think circles above i least of your worries boys, drink, etc now those are something to worry about

[Tinker]

It's bimbo when it's and affectation (and combined with circles on the i and typeface a etc) [nervous rictus emoticon]

Actually, one of the very very bightest women I know, late 40s, does do a typeface a and a French 7

[oneforward20back]

opps meant grown up

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Goodness - there's no hope for me then. I use typeface 'a's, medieval 'e's and French 7s!

But I don't put a circle/heart above my 'i's!

[MayorNaze]

i still do french 7s

i used to use roman numerals when writing lists of points in essays as well

but never, never have i dotted an i with a little circle/heart/insert twee small thing here

bici - they also tend to mix up here and hear as well...[extra extra judgey emoticon]

[giraffesCantRunA10k]

I used to write like that - was a phase. I think we are all told how to write when we are learning and then in our teens we realise we can have our own style, except everyone ends up doing bubble writing. Then we start to develop our own handwriting. I know from school some of my jotters were a different style of writing at the satrt and end, if I saw someone write a Y nicely then I would copy it and adopt it as my own

[BitOfFun]

OMG! I was nodding away in agreement with all of this until I read that typeface As and French sevens were bimbo!

I do these and I am a grown-up, it's just how I write!

[pointydog]

but BOF, when did you start doing that? Think now. Were you a teenager?