Society Saturday: Watch Those 'P's' & 'Q's

Editor's note: Today's post was written by Sandra Gardner-Benward

So it is true, when you write a letter, or fill out a resume watch out for someone analysing it and deciding what  type of person you are, what you maybe or may not be capable of doing. But turnaround is fair play.......  what does the handwriting of your ancestors say about them........ did you know that 80% of the French Companies use handwriting as a means of screening potential employees?

Our March Meeting was all about Graphology? But what the heck is that?

Simply put, it is handwriting analysis. What does all those shapes, curves, dots, slants, connects and disconnects mean? Graphology is the study of all graphic movement including handwriting, doodles, drawings, etc. Over 300 traits have been identified in handwriting.

Nancy Douglas presented this very interesting subject  and titled it

"Your Ancestors' Handwriting has a Story to Tell"

Carolee Jones. Program Chair, introducing our speaker Nancy Douglas 

Speaker Nancy Douglas introducing her website 

 

This was the bases for each of us examining our own handwriting

Each of us wrote out this paragraph in cursive writing and Nancy went through her presentation letter by letter, word by word, slants and curves, Cap's, letters above the center (L K H F etc) and below the line (F G P Q Y etc), spacings, margins........... it really is much harder to read the writing than you think. I would think that it would take quite a bit of studying on the subject before you can do an accurate reading. AND it is not just one item it is the whole package.

If you have a document or letter written by an ancestor and want to have it analysed, Nancy can do that for you. Check out her website "Writemeaning.com"




 ..........and for those of you that attended school more than 10 years ago you will remember this exercise. Those attending within the past 10 years may not even be able to read these letters. What a shame. BUT there is hope ........ 2010 the teaching of cursive writing was removed from the common core for education. Since then 7 states (California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Utah) have made it a part of their state requirements and more are doing so.

Doesn't this look familiar!
Wasn't it First Grade/Second Grade when you started learning cursive!
practice, practice, practice!!

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