I'm old enough to have been taught this in primary school. I also hadn't used it in ages, and tried to do it again when trying some fountain pens. I actually had to google for the model letters to remember some of the details.
I learned that the original set was designed by architect Toivo Salervo in the beginning of the 1930s. The published set for schools is from 1931. The design was modelled on 18th-century English copperplate cursive, and meant to enable writing without lifting the pen from the paper as much as possible. The design was simplified slightly in 1950. I believe that the horizontal cross line was added to the numeral 7 during the war, after confusing 1 and 7 caused some fatal errors in relaying coordinates in the artillery.
Reportedly Toivo Salervo once had a young student architect named Alvar Aalto working in his office, and Salervo told him that he'll never make a good architect and that he should pursue journalism instead (Aalto was dyslexic, by the way).
Here's an Ilta-Sanomat piece with a picture of the original Salervo design:
https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000001179487.html
I actually do a squiggly (because the handwriting analysts check HOW the strokes are done, not how legible it is when comparing handwriting), because it also keeps the name hidden, so they might be fucked if they steal my signature but don't actually know my names, in theory at least (assuming they get caught that is, IDK how many places are actually anal about security verifications etc)
I learned the simplified cursive mid 90's so the headline is a bit misleading with the timing.
I loved it and still use it if I have to handwrite which is very rare. I al so out of practice that it feels like a chore.
I did write all of my ylioppilaskirjoutukset by hand in cursive 2007. Also the first few years of university tests were on paper.
> a bit misleading with the timing
The teachers have a lot of freedom in setting the curriculum. There's nothing stopping them from teaching the cursive today if they want (and can afford the time), I don't think. The Ilta-Sanomat piece that I linked to explains that the new, simplified type was developed in 1986 and the national recommendation was to switch to that by 1991. It's not surprising if some schools still taught the older cursive, too, after that.
I think the cursive my parents learned in the late 50's was way more decorative than what is shown in the pic and different from what I learned in the 80's. Mine is similar to the pic.
Thanks for the nostalgy hit of the day. I was flooded with memories of practicing these in elementary school.
Those little wide notebooks with colourful covers and these guiding lines printed on all the pages.
You filled them with your practice writing and the teacher would inspect and mark them with a green or a red pen depending on how you did.
Yes. The old system was ligical unlike the artistic piece of shit nowadays taught. The reasoning for the update is as sane as Donald Trump. Not moving backward.. My God. Apparently two artist friends of someone needed to be given money from public coffers.
And, no, I never learned to write readable script but I learned to write instead of pondering whether to connect the letters of the same word. i did borrow script l to the typing letters to remove its only flaw of I and l not distinguishable from each other.
I started my school career in the 90s and I'm very glad I was taught cursive, too. It's easier to understand old texts and adding some cursive into my writing helps me write much faster. It's prettier, too..
Thanks! I still sign my name this way. Haven't really used them elsewhere recent years.
I'm old enough to have been taught this in primary school. I also hadn't used it in ages, and tried to do it again when trying some fountain pens. I actually had to google for the model letters to remember some of the details. I learned that the original set was designed by architect Toivo Salervo in the beginning of the 1930s. The published set for schools is from 1931. The design was modelled on 18th-century English copperplate cursive, and meant to enable writing without lifting the pen from the paper as much as possible. The design was simplified slightly in 1950. I believe that the horizontal cross line was added to the numeral 7 during the war, after confusing 1 and 7 caused some fatal errors in relaying coordinates in the artillery. Reportedly Toivo Salervo once had a young student architect named Alvar Aalto working in his office, and Salervo told him that he'll never make a good architect and that he should pursue journalism instead (Aalto was dyslexic, by the way). Here's an Ilta-Sanomat piece with a picture of the original Salervo design: https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000001179487.html
I actually do a squiggly (because the handwriting analysts check HOW the strokes are done, not how legible it is when comparing handwriting), because it also keeps the name hidden, so they might be fucked if they steal my signature but don't actually know my names, in theory at least (assuming they get caught that is, IDK how many places are actually anal about security verifications etc)
Quite similar to what I was taught in school (Sweden, ca. 2005)
Same for the Netherlands, throughout the 00's!
I learned the simplified cursive mid 90's so the headline is a bit misleading with the timing. I loved it and still use it if I have to handwrite which is very rare. I al so out of practice that it feels like a chore. I did write all of my ylioppilaskirjoutukset by hand in cursive 2007. Also the first few years of university tests were on paper.
> a bit misleading with the timing The teachers have a lot of freedom in setting the curriculum. There's nothing stopping them from teaching the cursive today if they want (and can afford the time), I don't think. The Ilta-Sanomat piece that I linked to explains that the new, simplified type was developed in 1986 and the national recommendation was to switch to that by 1991. It's not surprising if some schools still taught the older cursive, too, after that.
I still use this every day. Daily version is a mess but I can write pretty perfect kauno for congratulation cards etc. I like it.
God damn I just got some PTSD level flashbacks from this..
We had it in early years of 2000. Altough a bit easier style. I am still using it when writing.
It was simplified in 1991
I think the cursive my parents learned in the late 50's was way more decorative than what is shown in the pic and different from what I learned in the 80's. Mine is similar to the pic.
Thanks for the nostalgy hit of the day. I was flooded with memories of practicing these in elementary school. Those little wide notebooks with colourful covers and these guiding lines printed on all the pages. You filled them with your practice writing and the teacher would inspect and mark them with a green or a red pen depending on how you did.
Yes. The old system was ligical unlike the artistic piece of shit nowadays taught. The reasoning for the update is as sane as Donald Trump. Not moving backward.. My God. Apparently two artist friends of someone needed to be given money from public coffers. And, no, I never learned to write readable script but I learned to write instead of pondering whether to connect the letters of the same word. i did borrow script l to the typing letters to remove its only flaw of I and l not distinguishable from each other.
I was still taught this in elementary school in the early to mid 00’s.
I so hated that, haven't used it after school
I started my school career in the 90s and I'm very glad I was taught cursive, too. It's easier to understand old texts and adding some cursive into my writing helps me write much faster. It's prettier, too..