Blogpost # 939    ELUCIDATING THE POINT

It was unfortunate for us, that “penmanship” was included among the graded courses in our early school days, especially, since it was the only, (purported) “academic” subject in which we performed, rather, inadequately. It was the only mandatory course, as contrasted with such, classically, orthodox, academic subjects as, history, English, geography and mathematics, in which, contrary to the ability of the student to understand and absorb an area of knowledge, the student’s inherent, hand skills in, transcribing the letters of the alphabet, usually in phrases, was the salient consideration.

It would seem appropriate, far in excess of one-half Century later, to, at long last, plead our partial defense to the eternally, expressed and empirically, justified, critique of our schoolboy handwriting. Some elucidation of the problem may, perhaps, be realized by a cursory reference to some relevant, historical context.

Beginning in England, the period denominated as the “Industrial Revolution,” (approximately, 1760 to 1860), ushered in a new era, evidenced, by a newly, evolved, economy, capable of efficient manufacturing processes, advanced productive engines for manufacture, agricultural advances, establishment of railroads, energy production and the continuing development of novel industrial procedures, resulting in more efficient production.

In any cursory, examination of the 19^th Century, in England, one can marvel at the development and growth of railroads and, even more, miraculous, the appearance and operation of early renditions of the airplane. The economy was, at such moment in time, fully engaged in the energetic, pursuit of improvement in manufacturing, power generation, communication, travel and trade. This incomparable era of exponential development carried with it a veritably, unlimited rate of ubiquitous changes not alone to commerce but also to the sociological and psychological persona of humankind [ref., Dickens, Marx, Steinbeck, et al.], a comprehensive subject, suitable for other writings.

Returning to our thematic context, it is notable, that, considering the (almost) universal, drive to the improvement of man’s production capabilities, the quintessential subject of writing, as compared, for example, to profit-making manufacture, was, irresponsibly, ignored. The historical, representations of our founders and their contemporaries, (18^th Century) portray them, conspicuously, wearing white powdered wigs, and to the relevant point, employing large bird feathers (usually, goose quills) as writing implements. In order to write, they were required to regularly, and often, dip the point (nib) of their quill into an ink pot.

It is interesting that despite the enormous plethora of ubiquitous, mechanical improvements to manufacturing, commerce, arts and sciences, said drippy, blotting writing instrument of old, was, apparently, neglected, and left to its often occurring, scratchy, and messy, ink blots. It is, in this context, to be strangely, observed and remembered, that the sole writing implement, available in our early childhood school days, remained, basically, unchanged, and “quill-like,”, except for the improvements of a wooden handle, and a metal nib; the latter to be dipped, into a small, lidded metal reservoir, located in the top right corner of the uniform wooden school desk.

Such archaic and predictably, sloppy and inconvenient mode of human transcription was an aggravating problem with our handwriting; however, in the interest of candor, we do not attribute our lack of talent, in the arena of aesthetically, manifested, writing skills, exclusively, to the vagaries of modern history. Setting aside, for the moment, the subject of our personal aptitudes, we would continue to, concisely, refer to the progression of the mechanical (as opposed to “natural”) evolution of writing implements, to their present configuration.

Apparently, it was late in the 19^th Century that a way was devised to manufacture inexpensive cheap steel pen nibs, a solid holder for the nib, and various iterations of an internal rubber ink bladder, filled by various developed techniques, including filling the bladder, by lifting a small lever at the side of the pen’s body or pressing a button, as well as other, archaic means.

Our lifelong, limited heliographic skills did not significantly, improve despite the ongoing progress of the pen’s mechanical evolution to “ballpoint,” then, by degrees, to “roller ball” points. For us, desired relief from the problem of our lifetime of sub-par transcription, happily, arrived in later life, simultaneously, with the development of the ubiquitously, uniform and objectively, unidentifiable, laptop keyboard.

-p.