I am really enjoying this conversation. Although I prefer writing on a computer, I like the idea of writing by hand. I enjoy doodling. I enjoy making notes to myself and have a marvelous collection of post-it notes that my former partner left me all over the apartment; silly things like "don't forget to take your lecture on a memory stick" Then again, these are idiosyncrasies...
If the truth be known, I can NOT write more than an A4 page by hand. I can't even keep a journal. In 15 years as a journalist, I relied on memory and ghastly scribbled notes. Hence, I preferred to use a tape recorder. I first was given a moleskin notebook by a friend in Central Park in the early 1980s... These days every hipster has one. My take on them is this: 'Well at least it is making more people write!" I don't own any, or maybe there is one lying somewhere - but it contains mainly shopping lists.
There are some "issues" I have with dismissing the need/use of handwriting. I accept the technological progress/advances arguments. Completely. I just don't want to associate myself with the trend (and I am not accusing anyone, here), which suggests something like, "why learn to ride a bicycle when we have motorised bikes". I know that is a poor comparison, but that is what came into my mind....
Another issue, which I wrote on a blog post, is the small irrelevancy of the current generation of teenagers in the US (this is not a scientific poll) who cannot read time on an analogue clock. I was gobsmacked when a kid (13 years old) told me that he couldn't tell the time, and had to look at the digital clock on his cellphone.
During my short and failed career as an academic, I have always had to warn students not to use text-speak in essays. English is my second language, and I try, every day, to improve on it. Although I believe that language is and should be dynamic, I also believe it can be adopted, appropriated and redeployed however people choose to. However, I DO VERY MUCH have a problem with lines like: "We good" "I so heart this song" the incessant use of the word "awesome" in every damn sentence etc etc.
Twitter is also stripping language of nuance and subtlety, but then again, what is more subtle than ... apgz 4 rntng abt use of language :-)
But seriously.... there is a good discussion to be had about the relationship between writing, language, power, history etc. I am sure there are many people on this list who are brighter than me who could discuss this.
Ismail
Ismail Lagardien
Nihil humani a me alienum puto
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