NY wrote:
"Dan S. MacAbre" wrote in message
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Our lad is left-handed.* No stigma nowadays, of course, but it has
taken a
long time to get him to stop getting ink all over his hand as it moves
across what he's just written :-)

That was more of a problem when people wrote with slow-drying fountain-pen

Unusually (I suspect), our lad's school only allows fountain pens. The
old-fashioned part of me quite likes the idea, but it makes it much
harder for him to write without making a mess.

ink. Nowadays with quick-drying Biro ink, it's *less* of a problem, most of
the time. I can understand why in fountain pen days, left-handers used to
put their hand above the line of writing so the left side of the hand and
the little finger, which take the weight of the hand as you write, didn't
smear the ink.

I went to school with one girl who was left-handed and gripped the pen
between the first and last joints of her forefinger and middle finger
https://s22.postimg.cc/kgk5h5o35/20180620_135624.jpg, without using her
thumb, rather than between thumb and middle finger with forefinger on top
https://s22.postimg.cc/4v2tx7rkh/20180620_135659.jpg, as most people do.
That looked a *lot* more weird than the fact she was writing with her left
hand. Mind you, she took all the weight of her hand on the end of her
little
finger, which allowed her to keep the base of her hand clear of the
paper to
avoid it smearing the ink.

I've also seen someone holding their pen with only the thumb and
forefinger touching it and the middle finger tucked back
https://s22.postimg.cc/wwgvb59s1/20180620_140838.jpg which looks equally
uncomfortable.

But each to their own - whatever people find easiest.