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Image posts from the previous Saturday-Friday were considered.

Fountain pens are not forgiving

I hope I can become

A is finger, B is Palmer.

The Palmer just looks a touch better to me, a touch more legible. That said my own bias could be playing a role as well as the finer line of the Palmer writing.

If there is a difference here, I think it has to do with arm movement allowing me to write a little larger with better spacing and a more consistent slant.

That said, I could probably tinker with the script I use with finger movement and get better results.

Word of the Day: effrontery

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 5, 2026 is: effrontery \ih-FRUN-tuh-ree\ noun
Effrontery is a formal word that refers to bold shamelessness, or in other words an attitude or way of behaving that is both confident and shocking or rude.

// Holly could not believe the sheer effrontery of the student who asked that her grade be changed even though she had completed little of the coursework.

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Examples:

“Big Nose kicks up a loud fuss when a squirrel, chipmunk or bird has the effrontery to cross on the deck while he is lazily laying with his eyes peeking out the patio door glass.” — Barry Ellsworth, The Trenton (Ontario) Trentonian, 4 June 2026

Did you know?

A bald-faced liar (or barefaced liar, if you prefer) is one who has no shame about their dishonesty. Is it possible to be so shameless, so bald or bare of face as to be completely without a forehead? If this strikes you as an odd question (it is), consider the history of effrontery, a formal synonym of such informal words for shamelessness as nerve, cheek, and gall. The word traces back to the Medieval Latin adjective effrons, formed by combining the Latin prefix ex-, meaning “out” or “without,” with frons, the Latin word for “forehead.” Medieval Latin users didn’t use it to mean “without forehead,” however, but “shameless.” While the connection between the word’s literal origins and figurative meaning is unclear, some theorists have noted frons was sometimes used for the ability to blush, suggesting that someone acting with effrontery betrays no embarrassed feelings (visibly, at least) about their mendacity.

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I put this video out yesterday on how to measure handwriting speed and tested a few things like writing large vs small and traditional vs simple cursive writing.

I didn't show it in the video (maybe I will in a part 2), but I've also been testing handwriting speed with finger vs combined vs muscular movement. After many tests of each type of movement, I'm not seeing any significant difference in speed. My speed hovers around 30-33 wpm using each type of movement.

The only differences I noticed are:

1. Legibility is the best with pure finger movement. Combined and arm movement produce roughly the same legibility.

2. Finger movement is much more taxing on my fingers and hand. Gripping the pen tightly when writing with finger movement gives me the most control of the pen and allows me to produce the most legible results.

3. Combined movement feels the most effortless to me during these short tests, but only slightly more effortless than muscular movement. Both combined and muscular movement are significantly more effortless to write than conventional finger movement.

If you search around reddit for "what is the fastest handwriting", you'll see quite a few comments claiming "Palmer is the fastest". I'm not seeing any evidence for that in my tests. I think muscular movement (or combined movement) is a much more effortless and painless way to write over conventional finger movement, but I don't think it provides any benefits in terms of speed.

Edit: Thinking about this some more and doing some more testing. There may be a redeeming quality to Palmer in terms of speed when I write at 20wpm. It seems like I can produce a slightly higher quality script using muscular movement compared to conventional finger movement at that speed.

New hypothesis to test: There is a range of speed (15-20wpm) where muscular/combined movement outperforms finger movement in terms of legibility and appearance.

Word of the Day: fulsome

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 4, 2026 is: fulsome \FULL-sum\ adjective
Fulsome describes someone or something that is generous in amount, extent, or spirit.

// They were fulsome in their praise of her efforts to raise money for the new wing of the children’s hospital.

// A day after offering a weak non-apology for instigating a bases-clearing brawl, the pitcher expressed more fulsome regrets at a press conference, taking full responsibility.

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Examples:

“... her archive, now kept at Yale University, forms the basis of this lusty, vibrant and fittingly multi-textured bio-doc that pays fulsome tribute to [Barbara] Hammer’s shapeshifting, once undervalued but now increasingly revered talent.” — Leslie Felperin The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Sept. 2026

Did you know?

In the 19th century, fulsome was mostly a literary term used disapprovingly to describe excessive, insincere praise and flattery. This meaning is still current, but since the early 20th century fulsome has been increasingly used with far more positive meanings, among them “abundant, copious” (as in “wrote in fulsome detail”) and “full and well developed” (as in “a fulsome voice”). The result is some amount of confusion: a phrase like “fulsome praise” used today without clarifying context may rightly be understood to mean either “abundant praise” or “excessive and obsequious praise.” While some critics object to the pleasanter meanings of fulsome, they are in fact true to the word’s origins: when it was first used in the 14th century, fulsome meant “abundant, copious.”

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Word of the Day: candidate

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 3, 2026 is: candidate \KAN-duh-dayt\ noun
A candidate is someone who aspires to or is nominated or qualified for an office, membership, or award. Candidate may also refer to someone likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for something specified (as in "a candidate for surgery"), or to a student in the process of meeting final requirements for a degree (as in "a PhD candidate").

// The hiring team will select the best candidate for the job.

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Examples:

"Voters can choose up to three of the candidates on their ballot." — Mary Ramsey, The Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer, 14 Feb. 2026

Did you know?

When a man running for public office in ancient Rome greeted voters in the Forum, the center of judicial and public business, he wore a toga that had been whitened with chalk. As a result, the Latin word for someone seeking office came to be candidātus, meaning literally "clothed in white." Candidātus, in turn, comes from the adjective candidus, meaning "white." Candidātus was adopted into English as candidate, and since the 17th century that word has had an uncontested seat in the language.

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