How to make handwriting more "manly"?

[Feanor]

Fatti Maschi, Parole Femini. Translates roughly to Manly Deeds, Womanly Words.

 

So that's where "parole" comes from, letting a prisoner out on his/her "word." Interesting. Learn something new every day.

[Hetty]

Hi all,

Time and time again, I have received comments like "hey your handwriting is soo girly". I'm not sure if they mean, neat or simply girly. I write cursive handwriting and try to add in fancy loops sometimes (ex. a cool looking "f", or starting "T" in a sentence with swirls ) . Its hard to explain . . .

 

Q) In your opinion, what does it mean for a handwriting to be "manly" ?

 

- does it have to be NOT neat

- ur thoughts?

 

ATK

 

I have a fairly classic Palmer style handwriting... it is how I was taught back in the stone age in school before ballpoints....

To this day I still have a very neat and, I believe, easy to read classical handwriting.... It is not an exact copy of Palmer, but over the years it is how my handwriting developed..

Take a look... do you consider this girly.... should it be considered girly.... I don't think so.... it is correct for the style that was taught to both boys and girls when I was in elementary school...

People who consider neat and stylish handwriting girly generally do not have great handwriting themselves, but might believe they do...

Want to show them some real MANLY handwriting... get a block of stone and chisel....

I will stay with my handwriting..

 

 

 

What amazingly beautiful handwriting: elegant, distinctive, and characterful. Exquisite!

 

Hetty

[Hetty]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2700/4337662504_514a00b851_o.png

 

This was the handwriting I used when I was told by various people (without asking them or in some cases even without knowing them)

that it looks girly... ("You're writing like a girl!")

 

I think that is very distinctive and elegant handwriting and neither masculine, nor feminine. I wouldn't alter it at all except to change ink colour or nib width, but only if you wanted to,

 

Hetty

[verdiinpink]

My discovery:

 

Incredible!

But how long did it take you to write? I used to know calligraphy styles like the last two but I could never write it that well, or fast at all.

 

5 minutes top for the whole thing maybe because I used to write these from time to time.

 

By the way, it seems to me that sometimes if we just move on and live our lives without thinking too much about what the others might have said about us, life would be simple and worry-free. Speaking of which, everyday I'm still worried if I have enough ink cartridge supply in my bag or not.

<(> <")>

[RitaCarbon]

 

... if we just move on and live our lives without thinking too much about what the others might have said about us, life would be simple and worry-free. Speaking of which, everyday I'm still worried if I have enough ink cartridge supply in my bag or not.

<(> <")>

 

 

 

I have to write this one down in my journal!

[FlexiCat]

Regarding "girly" handwriting, Spencerian script was taught in two forms, the Man's Hand and the Ladies' Hand. I read, I believe it was in Thornton, THE HISTORY OF HANDWRITING IN AMERICA, that when Spencer wrote letters to people important to him, he wrote in the Ladies' Hand because a woman's writing was considered to be from the heart. Broadly, the Victorian attitude toward men and women was that men were bestial and women were spiritual. I would certainly not consider it a matter for concern to have one's handwriting called "girly." Such a comment is more a reflection on the person making the comment than the person commented upon.

 

Palmer, according to Thornton, developed his handwriting method in reaction to Spencer's, which Palmer consider4ed feminine. Palmer was influential at the close of the Victorian Era, which has been called a "feminine" era because of the strong influence of women on the religious life of their families. Where Spencer described his method as suggestive of waving fields of grain, Palmer's emphasized "manliness." The same attitude had been developing in literature during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when there was a movement toward heroes were were physical and active rather than thoughtful.

 

In the area of interior design, at the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, there was a drastic change in design from the highly decorated furniture of the Vicotian Era and Art Nouveau to a severe and unembellished style, for example, Mission furniture.

[Shangas]

My discovery:

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv263/verdiinpink/IMG_7635.jpg

 

19. It came with the pen.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case.

[generalist]

I know~!!! put on your best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, pull out a machete, rocket launcher or even a machine gun, an carve/shoot your name into a solid steel door, mountain side, or back of an enemy. I'd have to say you'd run out of things to write on really soon.

 

Another option is to take the pen and say that a sharpened pen can do a lot of damage to someone. Edge based damage, not simple stabbing damage. Then give the person a demented look, like you have already sharpened the pen.

[generalist]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2700/4337662504_514a00b851_o.png

 

This was the handwriting I used when I was told by various people (without asking them or in some cases even without knowing them)

that it looks girly... ("You're writing like a girl!")

 

Good grief. I suspect that the people making the comments must assume that 'decorative' writing is girly writing. You may be in a can't win situation.

 

Of course, if you went the 'sexist' route and embellished the letters in ways that would make it R or X rated, it might be considered 'manly' writing.

[damienl]

Write with a steak knife dipped in ink. That's what I do. GRRRRAAARRR

 

Seriously though, I immediately read this topic because I've been accused of having girlish handwriting as well. (Although it doesn't bother me that much, if someone's bugging me about it while I'm writing I'll dot the I's with little Hello Kitty heads or hearts or something. )

The only thing I've ever noticed that made a difference in how other people perceived the gender of the writer was how round anything loopy was. A pronounced slant and almost no loopyness in l's and t's seems to look adult and mature (and "manly"), while if you write with no slant and loopy letters it looks childish. (and "girly". Psh, such a sexist world we live in!)

Edited March 5, 2010 by damienl

[Feanor]

Write with a steak knife dipped in ink. That's what I do. GRRRRAAARRR

 

The only way to write properly with a steak knife is with your own blood. The blood of your enemies is also acceptable if there are any around.

[Jeff Gibson]

I wonder whatever happened to the OP...

[Shangas]

Maybe he went to bootcamp?

 

Really though, those who accuse others of 'girly' handwriting probably have serious sexual-identity and/or severe insecurity issues of their own, and as such, their opinions on your hand should be considered valueless and therefore, ignored.

[krandallkraus]

Maybe he went to bootcamp?

 

Really though, those who accuse others of 'girly' handwriting probably have serious sexual-identity and/or severe insecurity issues of their own, and as such, their opinions on your hand should be considered valueless and therefore, ignored.

 

What Shangas said.

[Scrawler]

Maybe he went to bootcamp?

 

Really though, those who accuse others of 'girly' handwriting probably have serious sexual-identity and/or severe insecurity issues of their own, and as such, their opinions on your hand should be considered valueless and therefore, ignored.

Not necessarily. It could also be pre-modern cultural attitudes. There are still cultures around the world that do not regard male and female as of equal worth. Still societies that pay men and women differently for the same work. There are still alive people old enough to have been taught different styles of writing for men and women. The appearance of insecurities about the appearance of masculinity and femininity can be culturally inculcated, and not derived from personal insecurity over actual sexual identity.