Handwriting can say a lot about a person, probably the most important is whether that person cares about penmanship.
Then, there are some other considerations: Handwriting can change based on mood, writing position, pen, and paper quality.
So, I’ve decided that a single writing sample is simply not enough on which to judge; I’m turning this into a running meme. Each time I do the meme, I’ll mention my mood and tools.
The first is courtesy of some generic white copy paper and a Pilot G-Tec-C (the fancy U.S./European name for the Hi-Tec-C) 0.4mm ballpoint black gel ink pen, and I’m feeling a bit lazy right now so I’m writing this while lounging in my chair using a shabby notebook as support.
I *completely* agree with you on this – I’ve never understood how “handwriting analysis” is supposed to work because my handwriting changes DRASTICALLY depending on my mood, the writing implements and their position to one another, and frankly just how tired my hand is. When I’m labelling a CD, I write completely differently from when I’m writing a journal, and it’s not uncommon for a single sheet of my writing to go from smooth “loopy” letters to stark, severe, slanted letters after a few short paragraphs.
And thank goodness my signature isn’t important to anyone, because I sign a different way each time, it seems.
Handwriting has always fascinated me, even when I was young. I used to practice mimicking other people’s handwriting, their loops and slants. In my mind it was like an art project. (To be honest, I still collect bits of handwriting that I find interesting.)
But I can see how handwriting can be analysed because, having studied a number of subjects in a completely unscientific way, I’ve noticed that people tend to have certain idiosyncrasies that appear regardless of writing situation. (For instance, I almost always put a dash through my Z’s and 7′s unless I’m deliberately altering my handwriting.)
Mostly it’s about looking for the slight serifs, hooks, and slants that people add to their writing. That’s why it’s said one should write in uppercase block letters if one wishes to make one’s handwriting less distinguishable.
And now that you’ve mentioned it, I truly hope that you participate in the meme because I’m curious to see what your handwriting looks like.