Monkey Grip.
I noticed something odd several years ago that I don't think I'd ever paid any attention to before: how people hold pencils and pens. When I first started school, I have clear memories of the teachers showing us the correct way to hold a pencil. We were told to hold the tips of our index and thumb toward the pencil point and rest the pencil along the side of the middle finger. I never noticed anyone ever writing any other way unless, of course, they were-left handed.
A few years ago at my old job, I noticed this girl I worked with holding her pen like a chimpanzee. I wondered why she held the pen in such an awkward way, but I never asked her about it. Later, at a bank, I noticed the girl behind the counter held her pen in the same awkward manner. What was significant to me was that both girls were around the same age, in their early to mid 20's. That made me wonder if perhaps sometime along the way teachers simply stopped teaching students the correct way to hold a pencil. Today in class, I noticed a girl who's probably nineteen or twenty holding her pen in the same awkward way.
So, dear readers, I ask you, how do you hold your pencil? And if you hold it chimp-style, why?
12 comments:
i am a 14 yr old girl, and i write with my left hand, and hold the pencil "like a chimpanzee".
when i started school, our teacher showed us the correct way to hold a pencil, which was as you described it. she told me how to hold it but i didnt like her way. so when she was watching me, i held it her way, and when she wasnt watching, i held it like a chimpanzee. ever since then, i have never gotten out of the habit of writing like a chimpanzee, and because of it, i have a large lump on my left hand ring finger.
i even hold my spoon like a chimp and my mum says it looks bad, but i dont care
I am a 24-year-old left-handed girl, and I hold my pen that way. People have pointed out how strange that is, but I never thought anything about it until they said something. How strange!
Scott, I'm curious why you call it holding a pen "like a chimpanzee." The only photo you gave of it shows a human hand, not a chimp hand. I'm not familiar with the connection.
Hey there,
I'm a 23 year old physiotherapy student from Holland, and I might have your answer..
It's correct that teachers are supposed to teach you to hold a pencil. A couple of years ago, the 'chimpanzee'- way is allowed too. Why? Some people like it a lot better, they write the same, they can use all there fingers to write properly and they don't get cramps.
As long as you can write in a way everybody can read it, and your fingers don't get hurt, its ok.
Everybody happy! :)
Why do you call it the "chimpanzee" way, Secretaris? I wasn't aware that chimps do any writing.
I do find the so-called "chimpanzee" way to be easier, although I don't hold the pen in as exaggerated a manner as the photo shows, and I am unable to write legibly or with any sort of speed when I try Scott's method. Scott has aroused my curiosity about this.
I vaguely remember a frustration I once had in learning how the heck to hold a pencil. This must have been somewhere around kindergarten or first grade. While the teachers taught us how to scribe the alphabet, they just never bothered to teach us how to hold our pencils. So I improvised and developed my own way, which happens to be your "chimp style". Sure, for years after I struggled with having somewhat sloppier handwriting when it came to my other female peers, but I eventually ended up having a neat, rather unique style of handwriting. The only problems I face now with writing like this is the smearing of ink and pencil markings all over the paper and side of my hand (bleck), as well as soreness in my ring finger when I write a lot at once. But I still have no intention of changing my writing style. It's unusual, and fun to see people's reactions when they notice lol :P
Like popo, I am left-handed, write in this manner, and have a large lump on the left ring finger. Sometimes my hand hurts terribly from writing this way, but many people have complimented me on my handwriting, and if I try any other way of holding a pen, my handwriting is horrid. At least this method is less painful than the 'hook' many lefties use?
By coincidence I came across a drawing of a chimpanzee grip in one of Dr. Richard Leakey's books that does look like the grip in the image Scott linked to. It is apparently associated with poor fine motor skills and/or poor finger strength.
I bought a mechanical pencil that is large and heavy and has a special ergonomic finger grip (here's an example of the sort of grip I mean, though this isn't what I bought: http://www.drawyourworld.com/Catalog/HTML/pencilgrip.html) and it does seem to be helping. I think I'm finally developing the ability to write in an optimal manner that I failed at back in 2nd grade. :D However, I do have a tendency to revert to bad habits still.
I find that the 'monkey grip' allows you to hold the pen or pencil in a more vertical way, which makes easier to apply longitudinal (pen body axis) pressure against the paper.
I myself am a user of fountain pens, I never liked the feel of ballpoints, and hold the pen in the 'correct way' because it works best to write with almost no pressure.
Although I can't write anything at all with the 'monkey grip', I find myself writing in a much more vertical way if it is a ballpoint or a pencil with hard lead.
For me, I started writing the correct way, and I guess some where along the line, I transitioned to the chimpanzee style you described! I actually didn't realize that the way I held a pencil changed at all! Also, I'm almost 16.
Hahaha! I've never heard of the "chimpanzee" way of holding a pencil, but I sure find it funny!
The only thing I don't completely agree with though, is that not all left-handed people write that way. Being left-handed myself, I still find it WAY easier to hold my pencil the "real" way. (I'm 15 by the way.)
You might have noticed it because it seemed unusual to you, so sorry if I kind of sounded rude. I didn't mean to. I'm just pointing out that it's not because you're left-handed, that you write in a different way :)
And I might just have not fully understood your article, so I might have wrote things which were not necessarily what you meant.
Oh, and, I still have to say this: I find it useful to teach different ways to hold a pencil, so I wish that teachers will stiill teach students how to hold it for years to come.
But other than that, I truly appreciated it! Keep on writing great stuff, it's really useful!
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