Is your handwriting a give away?

[Deborah Sullivan]

Have always noticed when receiving Christmas or birthday card that the penmanship of the person really shows the gender. Women have always taken penmanship serious and guys just seem to scribble and have signatures that are unreadable. I have practiced new signatures with my fem name when signing papers now with some satisfaction but still scribble like a guy if I have to write a note. Does anyone else take notice of this?

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Emily, karley delaware, Paula F, Diana W, Stevie65, Kimberly Bee, Gwyneth Simpson, Bridgette VonSmirff, Sa•man•tha, Jamie Taal, Peggy Sue Williams, Wendy Swift, Inga Krasivaya

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[Emily]

I’ve never paid much attention to it, but now that you mention it I do have pretty crappy handwriting. May have to work on that.

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Paula F, Gwyneth Simpson

[Paula F]

I noticed many years ago that my handwriting looked much like it did in high school.   It is definitely a giveaway about ‘his’ side of things.  I found a very good pamphlet on handwriting once.  The most effective way it showed me, was to “just slow down.”.  Also pay more attention to what you are writing, as you are writing it.  Printing slower and more carefully can also help improve your cursive writing.

Everything and everyone is so rushed anymore.  Typing most of our correspondence on the computer is also killing our writing skills.   Slow down a step or two, PRACTICE writing by copying parts of a story or just a paragraph.

We can’t all be doctors.

PaulaF

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Deborah Sullivan, Gwyneth Simpson

[Stevie Steiner]

I hadn’t really thought of this before.  My penmanship ( penwomanship? ) isn’t great like  it used to be, but I’ve have always had a “neat” style and a more erratic half printing/half writing style;  one very neat, one not so much.  Must agree with this since lately I am much more concerned with my cursive writing being legible and neat.

Stevie

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Paula F, Deborah Sullivan

[Stevie65]

I absolutly detest scribble handwriting.

It gets worse when doing family research and the writing is horrendous.

I try and write as neat as possible. When it comes to signatures that is a different story. 

I never considered writing femininly as such. Will have to practice more and see if I can pull it off. 

 

I do know  if I bend my wrist and curl it in, i can make my writing look much different.

 

Stevie

 

 

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Paula F

[Stephanie Green]

I have noticed that women generally have better penmanship than men.  I haven’t considered my own writing while en femme.  I haven’t had to write or sign anything while en femme yet.  If I were to start living as a woman 24/7, I would make the effort to feminize all aspects of my life, including my penmanship.

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Paula F

[Emily Alt]

My handwriting is pretty bad – scribble like an M.D.  I’ve known 2 people that were worse.  Both were girlfriends.

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Paula F, Gwyneth Simpson

[Gwyneth Simpson]

Everything concerning my wife and I are opposites of the norm. When traveling, I love the trip. Take our time. Smell the roses. My wife sets out as early as possible and fights everyone that wants to stop. She has to beat her best time by 5 min. I’m the better cook.

Handwriting, hers is horrible. She always gives me cards to sign for birthdays. But mine isn’t girly. I’m going to work on that.

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Paula F

[Polly Stewart]

As an artist I can change handwriting at will… whether it’s the printed word or cursive. At high school I could imitate my mother’s classic cursive with ease (or so I thought, her ‘r’ was a nightmare to get right).
My father’s handwriting was so bad that he always had to have his signature checked!
I will say the old slate with painted lines, the chalk and the Nun standing over my shoulder was enough to get me going. I still hand write as much as I can and all my annotations are handwritten. The Apple Pencil has been a wonderful tool for me.
As for a previous comment on why men’s handwriting is so squarish… the tenseness in the hand makes complete sense as women always seem to approach physical things with a certain softness and concentration on technique rather than strength.
So, whatever you do… stop printing and use italic or cursive. Practice, practice and practice some more…

xxx Polly

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Paula F, Deborah Sullivan

[Patti James]

I can print but that looks very masculine. My cursive, learned in Catholic elementary school is much more “girly”. When I actually have to write something, cards, notes, etc. I always use cursive 😀

Patti 🥰

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Paula F, Deborah Sullivan

[Maria Pink]

My handwriting is terrible. I blame this condition on the keyboard. I very rarely have to write anymore so I don’t practice any and the pen doesn’t have spell check. 😂

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Paula F

[Kelli Marlowe]

I gave up cursive after college, mine was legible, but barely so.I still prefer printing over cursive, although if I could do cursive as well as the older generation, I would have continued with it.

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Paula F

[Anonymous]

Defiinitely nothing feminine about my handwriting.It’s atrocious.My poor penmanship is partly down to the way I hold a pen,my grip is too tight.When I worked at my office job my poor handwriting skills were ridiculed by my colleagues which was a bit hurtful.I got the same flack in school.I definitely think that part of the problem with my handwriting might be because I may be suffering from a mild form of dyspraxia which is a condition where sufferers have poor motor skills.I have taken a couple of online tests but the conclusion was that I may not be dyspraxic.But I certainly fit the profile in some repects.Always had poor co-ordination when playing sport,couldn’t bounce a ball properly.I can’t use a hammer to knock nails in.Luckily none of this affects me in my to day life.It’s nothing to be ashamed of.The only time my bad penmanship does affect me is when I have to fill in a paper form in front of someone. which is not very often these days.My handwriting gets progressively worse and I get very nervous.

 

 

 

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Paula F

[Caty Ryan]

My hand writing has always been terrible.. So I would not know how to do it any other way.

I’ve always blamed it on one of my primary school teachers who quoted the famous Australian poet “Banjo Patterson” thus..

“And I think the same was written with a thumbnail dipped in tar”

Been “traumatised” ever since..

LOL

Caty

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Paula F

[Angela Booth]

I have doubts that there is a definitive handwriting for males or females. It is dependent on how you are taught maybe and how often you need to write.

I had a job where I had to write up reports a lot prior to computers and tablets taking over. I always had complements on my handwriting and I do recall a couple of times a supervisor thought it was in a feminine style.

To answer Deborahs observations I will say that I have changed my style a bit which I feel is more feminine. That being my own open style with a little flourish.

 

 

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Paula F

[Jamie Taal]

I agree although most of my older peers in my design profession all have unique and beautiful handwriting. I learned and used cursive/Palmer Method ip to high school though I favored printing. During high school and later college I learned mechanical drafting/printing. During my initial years of my design profession I was trained to letter a very specific way. Since the advent of computer drafting I have strayed away from that since it is not required but mine is still rooted in it but more “creative”. Now it is a blend of mechanical drafting with a more creative/“feminine” flair. It’s fun!

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Paula F, Deborah Sullivan, Gwyneth Simpson, Bridgette VonSmirff

[Inga Krasivaya]

What a fascinating question!  Yes, I’ve often noticed that GG’s writing often looks more… well, sorry to say this, feminine.  I’ve tried to alter my own handwriting but have never been able to make it look any better than having had a spider crawl across the page.  On the other hand, I have to occasionally write in a non-Latin script and find my writing to be not only far better but far less obviously male;  I put this down to having learned it later in life, when I had come to know my female side a little better.  I suppose the only answer is to always write in another script – but that would mean that everyone would find me incomprehensible, rather than just half the population!

Thanks for this one, Deborah:  anyone got any tips on how to write more like a GG?  Kisses to you all:  Inga.

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Paula F, Gwyneth Simpson, Polly Stewart, Bridgette VonSmirff, Deborah Sullivan

[Wendy Swift]

I think so, but I don’t believe it is always the case.

I stop writing cursive years ago and I just print words now.  Sometimes it is legible; on the other hand my wife’s handwriting is border line chicken scratch, as I constantly ask her what she wrote.

 

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Paula F, Gwyneth Simpson, Bridgette VonSmirff, Jamie Taal

[Author]

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