Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Alan's Pen Grip...


                          "From The Palmer Method of Business Writing (1935)
                       Note that most of the students are using the Spencerian grip."


I was looking through my copy of The Palmer Method of Business Writing (1935) and when I closely examined the classroom illustrations I realized that the students were, for the most part, not using the grip usually taught today (body of pen resting on web between thumb and index finger), but as illustrated in the Spencer book!  I attach one of the illustrations to this e-mail.  Upon carefully reading Palmer's instructions, I saw that he recommended Spencer's grip, but said some people wrote perfectly well with the more modern grip.  Well, I'm working on it and making progress;  a practice of sixty-three years duration is not going to change overnight.                                                                                                                                      ~ Alan

    Try it!  It's a lot lighter on the hand.  I like a good nib with a flowing ink and just wish I could write
    from right to left, being left-handed.  It can be very messy for a left-hander to use ink because one's 
 hand has to cross the area just written upon.  But I once had brown ink, and even a dark blue-green. :-)
                                                                                                                                 ~ listener

9 comments:

  1. Notice that all the students in the drawings out front are right handed?

    My mother was switched from left to right in Catholic school. She always wished she hadn't been. I am the only member of the rest of the family who is left handed, and Mom encouraged me to claim it. I am glad for that. Being the left handed child of a left-handed mother, my brain works differently.

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  2. On Handedness, here's an interesting statement:
    "When people have looked at handedness, it just doesn't follow simple rules. For example, if both parents are right-handed, there is a 1 in 10 chance of having a left-handed child. The same is true if the dad is left-handed. If the mother is left-handed, the odds rise to 2 in 10. And if both parents are left-handed, the child has a 4 in 10 chance of being left-handed."
    http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask116

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  3. My brother is left-handed; probably because of that I never thought anything of drinking from a cup and doing similar things with my left hand, although I am far from ambidextrous. Still, curiously it seemed to me, sometimes people would wonder out loud if I were left-handed.

    BTW, not long ago I read a post by a leftie about why he took up using a fountain pen--precisely because it didn't give him ink or pencil stains on the heel of his left hand. The fountain pen ink is inherently faster drying than ballpoint pen ink, and there are super fast-drying inks as well as nibs that give a very fine line--which also helps. I will see if I can locate that post.

    The defendant in the first case I had in San Diego saw the light and accepted a lesser plea; but the second case is on and I am taking tomorrow (Wednesday) off just as I had planned, as well as Thursday. Much easier... I fly out of Fresno in the evening rather than early morning--also much easier.

    Alan

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  4. That was easy--here is the link, listener. I am experimenting with inexpensive pens, and can vouch for the Pilot Petit1 the fellow mentions; it puts down a fine line. The Pilot Varsity has a similar nib that is good, but a bit too wet for me. The Platinum Preppy puts down an even finer line--but evidently one is well advised to put some clear tape around the end of the cap to prevent cracking.

    Lefty for fountain pens [Click]

    --Alan (Still struggling to learn the new grip, but it is coming along.)

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  5. Thanks, Alan! I hadn't heard of fast-drying inks. That gives me hope. I don't especially like a fine line with a nib, as it so easily can become scratchy, and I cannot abide a scratchy pen. So I would need a very well made nib.

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  6. So glad your travels got easier! Easier is good.

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  7. listener--they even make lubricating inks (intended for piston fillers, but said to make fine nibs smoother to boot). Noodler's Black Eel, for instance. (I have a bottle I will get around to using in time. And:

    Here is yet another grip; it looks promising, and I will try it tomorrow (Wednesday) [Click]

    --Alan

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