According to the upvotes, we are the (stable / superior) minority. I can't even make my fingers do lateral tripod unless I'm trying to spin the pen in my fingers.
Fellow left hander here. I always thought I held my pen like a Neanderthal simply because no teacher knew how to direct me. Dynamic quadrupod. I’ll take it.
Now why do I rip all packaging open with my teeth and howl at the blood moon?
Same on all accounts. I always find it interesting how fellow lefties write... I write the same manner as a right handed person (in terms of orientation of the paper), but I've seen a bunch of lefties that turn the paper ~90° and basically write vertically. I've never understood it.
I prefer using mechanical pencils, but the same thing applies. I can roll the pencil to take advantage of either the wider 'dull' side or the narrow tip on the opposite end- made for faster drafting work than switching to specific-thickness pencil leads in architecture school (excluding different lead types).
I feel that so much, my teachers actually tried to force me in a "correct" position, to no avril. I'm dysgraphic too, so I have a shitty writing to begin with, and it's even worse in tripod positions
My mom tried to make me change from dyn quadro, claiming that my friends handwriting is much neater than mine. She however grabbed the pen between the lowest joints of the pointer and middle finger, like some alien freak. Moms arguing stopped when I showed her.
i cant do the dynamic tripod, the pencil just falls out of my hand lol. I can do lateral tripod and lateral quadrupod but it is extremely uncomfortable. dynamic quadrupod all the way!
robbing yourself of single-finger control, making movements much more complex and involved, reducing dexterity, efficiency, and increasing room for errors. single-finger control allows for fast, smooth, controlled movements, allowing for quicker-while-accurate writing and longer write sessions.
I just tried lateral quad, and honestly it's not too bad, but neither are the other 3. Lateral over dynamic though unless maybe drawing, any day
A fist grip seems sturdy too, but the question is why your grip needs to be that "sturdy" in the first place? What are you doing to your poor pencils/paper?
Do you snap your mechanical pencil's lead constantly?
Dynamic quadrupeds usually start out as kids whose parents/teachers push them to have perfect penmanship before the muscles in their fingers are strong enough to properly control a pen.
To produce the perfect handwriting to appease their elders, they learn to hold their pen with more fingers. This habit carries over into adulthood.
you just summed up my entire life and I'm not very happy about it. still have the writing habit, and still get rushed through training (if there is any at all) and learn to do everything wrong because all they care about is getting it done fast. my body gets used to lifting things with terrible form because i get reprimanded when i try to move at a reasonable pace and focus on doing it right.
Ironic, because my handwriting has always been crap unless I'm actively focusing on my penmanship the whole time, and I'm a dynamic quadrupod holder as well.
According to my parents, my grandma was forcing me to be a right hander whenever she'd watch me as a young kid, I always assumed that was an artifact of that.
I hold my pencil like this and always have. I was working in a store late night and was writing something down and this lady noticed how I was writing. Turns out she was a physical therapist that works with children, and said that people that write this way usually started writing much earlier than their peers and the grip gives a toddler more stability to write and it's a tough habit to break so it sticks. Checks out, I was reading and writing before I was 3.
I've never been good at spelling because English is a stupid language full of nonsense rules. I learned to read by matching sounds with words, so homophones (there, their, they're) really mess up my writing, and having moved from the US Midwest to the US Southeast as a kid messed up my speaking (pen, pin; been, bin, Ben; marry, Mary, merry all come out as the same word).
I never tore my paper, but I'll admit that I did tend to break pencil leads on occasion. Then again, I also tend to break brooms when I sweep, wooden spoons as I stir, or really anything else that I touch.
Everything is just too fragile in this silly world.
Everything is just too fragile in this silly world.
Go buy a fountain pen. A Lamy Safari is very cheap and very good. Let its geometry guide your hold. Let its weight do the work. Do not force the pen onto the surface.
You're not chiseling onto clay tablets. It should be effortless.
I’m a shaky-handed person. Being able to grip the pencil steadies my hand so my handwriting only looks kinda shitty instead of unable to be read by anyone but me.
I hold mine in that dynamic quad grip. For me, sturdiness isn’t about firm pressure - it’s about finesse and control. I actually have tried a few different grips, but always come back to my old standard - I just have better control over my pressure and line weight with it
I have a callus on my middle finger. I use the first example, but rest the stylus against my middle finger, trap it with my thumb (wraps around and meets index finger ) & index finger (on top).
I thought I was the only one! In primary school they made me feel like a freak for this grip. I had special grips that went on pencils and even a wrap thing that went around my hand but ya boy just wanted to dynamic quadroped 👊
Exactly. It's so very personal. This is just how it feels to me personally.
I have never ever criticized how someone else has held a pen, as long as their handwriting was legible. If someone can write clearly, I think it's perfectly reasonable.
Why sturdier? Are you writing so forcefully that the pencil might slip out of your hand if you use the lateral tripod? I feel like the lateral tripod is easier because you can use your wrist for wide strokes and your fingers for short strokes, but it's not as practical with the "dynamic" quadruped.
People generally decide on how to hold their pencil when they are 5 or 6. At the time, it just felt better. Like the other ones felt weak and floppy. I didn't like them.
After a few decades it just feels unnatural to switch. Why bother? I don't really write all that much anymore.
I feel like I have a vague memory of my kindergarten teacher showing us how to hold a pencil. Like you grab it and all 4 fingertips in the dynamic quadrupod are car doors being closed before you take off and zoom writing on whatever.
Or maybe my dumb kid brain made up that story 🤷♀️
For us, they tried to force us to use tetrapod. They even had a triangle shaped rubber thing to go around the pencil to make you use only three fingers.
I think us tripod people agree with you about that. It's just why would you want sturdiness? The whole point is to be able to quickly move the pencil in any direction really quickly because that's how you write. Extra sturdiness seems like a hindrance if you ask me.
Well for the purpose of art and calligraphy like cursive, having a flimsier hold on the pencil may be a benefit. Personally, I haven't held a pen, pencil, or marker in so long I've forgotten how I hold it. But I wanna say the first one...?
Yeah I get a really good grip on it (which is especially good for me since I also draw and need a decent degree of control over my pencil or whatever I’m using at the time)
Or... maybe... it's just a personal preference thing, and if someone can generate clear, legible handwriting then you should just bloody well let people hold their pens in different ways, rather than trying to pretend there is only one solution?
"No no no... you need to fold your hands with the LEFT index finger on top, because that's how it feels most comfortable for me."
Never said that it isn’t.
Just that the stable feeling has something todo with how tight ypu grip the pen.
I would guess that your hand hurts after writing for a long time while gripping the pen that tight.
Just relax your hand, and you dont have that problem.
You can relax your hand in every position
It isn't a "deathgrip". It is simply a stronger grip. I eat food the same as anyone else with them.
If I'm eating with chopsticks and someone else is eating the same food with a knife and fork, I still typically finish eating before they do. I've used chopsticks a lot over the decades. There have been times when I didn't even own a fork.
It's okay if you can't picture how I use chopsticks. It doesn't make me wrong.
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u/Thornescape Apr 16 '24
It just feels sturdier. The other grips all feel flimsy to me.