Johnson & Johnson new logo because people can't read

[Aerides]

How do young people that don't know cursive do their signature? I realize many signatures take allowance from strict cursive writing, and are not really legible, but they are based on cursive.

Cursive is not exactly global, or even the same in English speaking countries. I never learned Cursive as I came to the US from the UK in the 7th grade. Too late, and the version I had already learned was far less formal. Some letters were downright decipherable for me to read in cursive at first.

I made my own not-remotely-cursive signature when I was 11. Not based on anything but how I wanted to write it.

 

[razztazz]

Yesterday's ? I stopped getting sliced deli meat at my local Safeway because they can't comprehend what I want when I ask for 1/3 or 1/4 pound of sliced roast beef. I've resorted to asking for .33 of a pound, but no go. They look at me like a deer in headlights when I tell them no, I didn't want a pound, but a third of a pound.

So how are all the other customers buying deli meats? Everybody always just buys 1 pound and walks away?

 

[TrvlBug]

My store has older workers in the deli so I do not have this problem.... but what I would say is give me 4 slices (or whatever you think you need)...


I hope they can count to 4....

I usually get my deli at a local neighborhood grocery store now that they carry the same Boar Head's brand that Safeway does. They understand 1/3 of a pound!!! Asking for 4 slices or so is a great idea.

 

[harley]

I made my own not-remotely-cursive signature when I was 11. Not based on anything but how I wanted to write it.

I used to laboriously sign my entire name whenever I had to. Then a few decades ago I was working with a bunch of people from India. I noticed that they signed their names with just a couple of squiggles, sometimes with a dot above part of it. But no discernable letters. So I started just doing the first letter of my first name in cursive, followed by a wavy line. It's worked just fine on every document I've signed for over 30 years.

I'm agnostic on the need for cursive in schools. I'll be happy enough if they can read and do some basic math. Fractions would be nice. And judging by the articles I've been reading on the web, writing is already a lost art.

 

[Spock]

...

I hope they can count to 4....

Depends on how many times they had OSHA violations cleaning the meat slicer...

 

[disneysteve]

Checks maybe but hardly anyone writes checks.

Many younger people don’t even have checks anymore. They simply have no need for them.

 

[Spock]

Well, when signing a document on a pad, which is most common anymore, they really don't give a r@t's @ss what it looks like. A straight line is fine. Signatures, as a personal documentation of your existence, have gone away. If the chip in the card works, that's fine. There might as well just be a "next" button.

I'm not saying I am happy about this, but that is where we are.

Yup. With the signature pads (with your finger) I've gone back to "make your mark" and put an 'X'.

 

[Koolau]

Is it though? What real purpose does cursive serve? The vast majority of communication today is electronic. Email, text, messenger. Or printed out. There’s nothing you actually need cursive for that you can’t do just as well with printing. Maybe spending hours and hours teaching kids cursive isn’t the best use of school time.

I haven't figured out what they're teaching them INSTEAD of cursive. We spent a small fortune to get our kids into the "best" schools. They didn't teach cursive. But they didn't teach them American History either. Or Civics. Or World History. Or "basic survival" (you know, like how to use a check book.) Or economics. Or...

Math and Science, baby, math and science. That's what they taught. Oh, and key-boarding. YMMV

 

[dmpi]

They're changing the logo to try to get the talcum power lawsuit behind them. Like Datsun turning into Nissan.

 

[youbet]

Asking for 4 slices or so is a great idea.

Of course the weight can vary significantly up or down depending on the thickness you prefer........ Buying by the slice isn't a very precise indicator of the quantity of product you are going to receive.

 

[TrvlBug]

Of course the weight can vary significantly up or down depending on the thickness you prefer........ Buying by the slice isn't a very precise indicator of the quantity of product you are going to receive.

That's true, but close enough. 4 sandwich thickness slices is pretty close to .25lb. Until they got to know my habits, the corner grocery deli clerks would say that .25 is only 4 slices and I'd respond with a that's good. Depending on how many wraps DH eats in the next week, I either go an get some more deli or throw the excess out. Works for me. Safeway cuts and pre-packages some of it's deli meats daily. That worked for me when their package was somewhat less than .5lbs. but they are now close to 1lb and that's way too much deli meat for us for the week.

 

[TrvlBug]

So how are all the other customers buying deli meats? Everybody always just buys 1 pound and walks away?

That's what has me perplexed. They slice and pre-package their most popular meats and cheeses daily and until those packages got to be too close to 1lb. that's what I used to buy. No need to wait at the deli counter. Perhaps most people also buy their sliced meats that way? I'm sure some of it an ESL problem, but you'd think they would be trained a bit better since amount of product is such a critical component. The last time was unbelievable...she tried to give me 1 lb. and I could not make her understand I wanted less than that.

 

[6miths]

My 9-year old granddaughter is taught cursive at her school.

Teaching cursive became optional in our schools in 2006 but has become mandatory again starting this year. Based on research that shows that 'fluent handwriting provides students with more opportunities to express their thinking, and helps to develop fine motor skills, increases word retention and a child's ability to understand words.'

 

[Koolau]

Teaching cursive became optional in our schools in 2006 but has become mandatory again starting this year. Based on research that shows that 'fluent handwriting provides students with more opportunities to express their thinking, and helps to develop fine motor skills, increases word retention and a child's ability to understand words.'

They almost certainly knew this at one time but bowed to pressure to drop cursive. I can't believe we "just learned" the advantages to students of cursive writing . Of course, I could be wrong. I was once.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Is it though? What real purpose does cursive serve? The vast majority of communication today is electronic. Email, text, messenger. Or printed out. There’s nothing you actually need cursive for that you can’t do just as well with printing. Maybe spending hours and hours teaching kids cursive isn’t the best use of school time.

It seems that in social media some people (young and old) avoid writing altogether--cursive, block print, whatever--and just use emoji's strung together. I've studied Egyptology in my day and definitely believe we shouldn't go back to hieroglyphics!

-BB

 

[Aerides]

They almost certainly knew this at one time but bowed to pressure to drop cursive. I can't believe we "just learned" the advantages to students of cursive writing . Of course, I could be wrong. I was once.

I don't think there's any advantage specific to cursive. But to be able to write by hand, to take notes that way, absolutely is a better way to learn and retain info vs. typing it, or recording it.

If one has neat enough block or basic joined-up linked handwriting that works just as well. To me cursive is harder to read, much like italics or fancy fonts are as well.

You know how they put the fine print often in fancy italics because they don't want you to read it!

 

[punkinhead]

That’s really a sad commentary on our educational system.

They don't teach buggy whip making any more either. I don't see value in our education system teaching irrelevant things.

 

[Andre1969]

I honestly don't understand this. Being able to read cursive, and write in it, are two different things. The cursive words still look more or less like the printed words, unless they get overly fancy with it. Personally, I'm out of practice writing it, since I mostly type these days. And my "cursive" is often a combination. For instance, I'll often start off with a printed capital "J" or "Q", and then write the rest of it in cursive.

And again, if it's overly stylized, and especially a word that's commonly used, I could see people having trouble reading it. For instance, this...

But, the Johnson & Johnson logo just looks like generic cursive writing to me.

 

[Chuckanut]

Right. Many, many logos are just designs, no letters at all (many car companies, Apple, etc). No one needs to 'read' "Johnson & Johnson" it's just a symbol. Your eyes scan it, and you know what it represents.

-ERD50

+1


Very true. My 2 year old grandchild knows that two yellow arches spell McDonalds. Any two yellow arches. Anywhere.

 

[Koolau]

I don't think there's any advantage specific to cursive. But to be able to write by hand, to take notes that way, absolutely is a better way to learn and retain info vs. typing it, or recording it.

If one has neat enough block or basic joined-up linked handwriting that works just as well. To me cursive is harder to read, much like italics or fancy fonts are as well.

You know how they put the fine print often in fancy italics because they don't want you to read it!

My cursive IS hard to read, but I can write down my thoughts quickly with it in high stress situations. No way I could print that fast - nor type that fast. Rereading soon after allows corrections and enhancements. No "memory tricks" are perfect, but cursive is my go-to method for remembering things as they happen. Not for everyone, but w*rks for me (most of the time.)

 

[Texas Proud]

Of course the weight can vary significantly up or down depending on the thickness you prefer........ Buying by the slice isn't a very precise indicator of the quantity of product you are going to receive.

It is after a few tries... and the beauty of it is that you can always ask for more.. I have done this a couple of times knowing how many sandwiches I wanted to make...



BUT, as I had mentioned I have never had the problem of them not knowing how to slice a half pound...

 

[Teacher Terry]

They don't teach buggy whip making any more either. I don't see value in our education system teaching irrelevant things.

It just occurred to me that I can write in cursive fast which was really helpful in college to take notes. Writing something definitely reinforces it as far as learning goes so there’s another use.

 

[Katsmeow]

Many younger people don’t even have checks anymore. They simply have no need for them.

None of my kids have checks. They use their debit card for virtually everything (except rare things on credit cards). One of my kids also uses cash app when she needs to send money directly to an individual. I rarely use a debit card since I think they have less protections than credit cards.

Most of the types of things where I have to use a check aren't things that young adults living in apartments need to worry about. In our old house, our yard guy wanted to be paid by check. When we were remodeling all the contractors wanted payment by check. Very few others.

Teaching cursive became optional in our schools in 2006 but has become mandatory again starting this year. Based on research that shows that 'fluent handwriting provides students with more opportunities to express their thinking, and helps to develop fine motor skills, increases word retention and a child's ability to understand words.'

I am not sure that this has to be cursive. Being fluent in writing may be important but I don't see that it has to be cursive as opposed to printing or typewritten.

My daughter is dysgraphic and was never fluent in printing or cursive. She is very fluent in typing as she had accommodations for typing work throughout school. I still recall that she took GT history in middle school and the teacher wanted to take her out of the class because her "arm couldn't keep up." She felt that part of making an A in a class was being able to quickly handwrite and to accurate draw (she also graded her down because she couldn't color inside the lines). The teacher admitted that she was doing A work but should go to remedial history since her arm wasn't keeping up. Of course, the powers that be wouldn't allow her to grade my daughter down when my daughter actually had an IEP allowing her to keyboard. Oh, my daughters reading comprehension was always great and had no difficulty with expressing her thinking....

 

[punkinhead]

It just occurred to me that I can write in cursive fast which was really helpful in college to take notes. Writing something definitely reinforces it as far as learning goes so there’s another use.

College was 35 years ago for me, which was probably the last time I used cursive. My kids learned keyboarding instead of cursive in elementary skill which is 1000x more useful. They can type as fast or faster than I can write and when they were in college they took notes directly into a computer.

 

[euro]

Is it though? What real purpose does cursive serve? The vast majority of communication today is electronic. Email, text, messenger. Or printed out. There’s nothing you actually need cursive for that you can’t do just as well with printing. Maybe spending hours and hours teaching kids cursive isn’t the best use of school time.

We have had this discussion in other threads before. Personally, I agree 100%: teaching cursive is a waste of time. There are so many more important skills to know these days and there is no time to teach those, so why the heck would we waste time teaching cursive? Alas, I do know others feel differently, largely becasue of personal preference.