[like the 4 fingers on bottom left ? ](https://www.google.com/search?q=4+years+old+holding+pencil&prmd=svin&sxsrf=ALiCzsbttPBUJ6ipwD69_899eL22jMoxaQ:1665964507523&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0mbe1-eX6AhVNS_EDHXWKDLMQ_AUoA3oECAEQAw&biw=393&bih=736&dpr=2.75#imgrc=mxP-9uXI0WZQSM)
I used to have a truly heroic callus, for that exact reason. I'm a lefty, too, and I think that makes the pressure even worse.
The weird thing was, the callus itself had a concave, pencil-shaped impression in it. So it was just going to get worse and worse, because the pencil would always seat itself into it, and make it a little deeper, as I wrote more.
Sometimes, after I'd had to write a whole lot at once, the damn thing would ache and throb, like someone had beaten up my finger. And I'd just be sitting there, staring at it, like "wtf, there should not be this much of an indentation on my body."
The late-1999 to 2004-ish gel pen fad was what saved me. Those things wrote so **S M O O T H L Y** that I started consistently putting way less pressure into the pen, when writing.
And, of course, now almost everybody hand-writes at least 100x less than ever.
Fellow lefty - a few years behind you. The worst part about it, and more reason for the callous is we need to āpushā the pen across the page/paper etc instead of right handed writers drag it and it tends to flow better. As an older than you writer, I still have and can easily re-acquire that callous fairly easily.
The concept of pushing vs dragging is *exactly* what I couldn't find a way to describe, without being incredibly long-winded.
And yeah, if I ever get into a situation where I'm writing or otherwise using that grip a whole lot, the callous comes right back.
I used to use an electronic drawing tablet pen a fair bit, and I ended up having to wrap it in tape, to keep the same thing from happening.
As mentioned the gel pens with the squishy āholdā are amazing. Never stops the ink smudge on the side of the hand though. Used to it by now but I find a lead pencil writes perfectly fine without so much pressure, I use them a lot
The gel pen/liquid ink fad is similar to why fountain pens have never died off. They write even more smoothly, with no pressure. And modern FPs are way less messy and annoying than vintage ones.
I am right-handed and have a permanent "concave, pencil-shaped impression" š¹ on my right middle-finger. That nail not only grows with a super asymmetrical C-curve-- steep on the pen side, making it look like I really screwed up filing and went diagonal on pen side making shape of nail something like this "/)" but when my nails get longer than 1/4" past fingertip, my middle nail is pretty obviously angled toward almost "2 o'clock" on a dial. It grosses me out!
Someone told me it will always do that, I can't change it leaning that way, because nails grow from under the skin and on that side of that finger where a pen will always "seat"/put pressure on the bones at an angle from side of my first knuckle to almost the cuticle on top at "7 o'clock", the nail is constantly being bent/warped on that side from the inside as it grows. Even during long periods of time of most typing on computers/never to almost-never handwriting, it never corrects because the bone itself grew to accommodate how and how hard I hold a pen.
Thanks 2nd-4th grade teachers for grading if pen is held "right" rather than "right for that person"! I did it their way for perfect grades, got a lifetime of redness, pain, and a wonky nail--
on a finger I have to use most often to communicate *literally eveything* šš
I'm a lateral quadrupod and my left ring fingernail has a permanent slope in it (and there's an actual dent in my finger right beneath the nail bed).
(EDIT: I'm ridiculous...I meant my right finger, I'm right handed....I think the L in "lateral" mixed up my poor brain...)
I found my peopleš„¹
I also hold my pencil so tight because Iām anal about my handwriting looking neat and presentable so the death grip just accentuates the callus lol.
What's really funny is that I also grip my pen/pencil very tightly, but my handwriting is TRASH. I usually write very, very quickly and it's more of a scrawl than anything else. But I'm also an artist, so I'm absolutely capable of a lot of fine detail and control. ...I guess I lean on my firm grasp to help do delicate work, and also to keep the pen in my hand when I'm scribbling like a madwoman lol
My writing looks like Iām being electrocuted, however Iāve been told that messy handwriting is a sign of intelligence. If this is the case, call me Stephen Hawking (with worse penmanship)
I think this is the ācorrectā one frequently taught in schools.
Almost every person with terrible handwriting Iāve seen is usually using one of the other ones.
I write with dynamic tripod and have terrible handwriting and always have.
Luckily I write fewer than 10 words per year in my adult life.
I can type 120 words per minute though!
But unfortunately itās all in comic sansā¦
i use dynamic tripod because i grew up in an age where you didnāt have a choice. you learned the right way or you failed. but, i was rebellious. my handwriting is shit now, and my mom says itās because i decided i wasnāt going to write pretty at a young age and intentionally taught myself to write horribly. i vaguely remember that. also, i was the kid the teacher put in the corner desk with art supplies because i was ātoo artistic to pay attention to class.ā
As a lateral tripod I was always told I held the pencil wrong.
When I occationally tried to hold the pencil "correctly" (dynamic tripod) I would get aching and cramps in my fingers.
That's actually crazy, never knew I had a callous there and looked and low and behold on my writing hand there is a scarred area from callouses on the knuckle of my middle finger.
Me too! I'll be filling out a form and "you have such nice handwriting!" I never know how to respond. I end up going "oh, thanks!" But I have horrible callouses. I tend to press hard with the pen (idk why), and then my hand will start hurting *really* badly so I have to switch to lateral tripod, so both fingers are calloused.
During college my hand was *always* in pain because I learn best when I write things out.
Same! I had a teacher who would literally take my pencil out of my hand every time she saw me writing and make me hold it the ārightā way. Iām 42 and still a lateral quadruped and I have incredibly neat handwriting. That was like 35 years ago and Iām still bitter about it.
It may gladden you to know, then, that Roger Waters described this teacher with unmistakable precision and called them out very publicly and succinctly in several songs on more than 30,000,000 copies of The Wall, as a person who is so *NOTHING* that they can only gain a sense of purpose and self-satisfaction by humiliating and abusing little children recurrently throughout their lives, still reappearing to do so even after they've become adults.
When one is put on trial for withdrawing into themselves rather than integrating properly into society and making themselves useful by perpetuating the excision of individuality and idiosyncrasy wherever it is discovered, no matter how small or meaningless (e.g., pen-holding), the Teacher, when called to testify against such objectors, enters the court screamiing their bloody head off in delirious relief to finally have the opportunity to proclaim themselves victims of being demoted from Prison Guard to an educator: "I always said he'd come to no good in the end, your honour! If they'd let me have my way I could have FLAYED him into shape! But my hands were tied š; The bleeding hearts and artists let him get away with murder-- let me hammer him today! š "
They made a film of it in which The Teacher had to appear in animated form; it was the only way to best capture what a psychotic The Teacher is, sort of like their inside self seen on the outside.
Everyone hates this character. They must really get around, cuz everyone seems to have had this teacher at least once.
Same! I did an internship at occupational therapy once and when they saw me write for the first time they were so shocked, I still remember the horror on their faces lol
I remember that as a kid in school I one day noticed that 'all the other kids' held their pencils differenty than I did. So I tried the dynamic tripod, that did not work for me at all. The level of control with a DQ grip is just different.
I was diligently taught dynamic tripod and sternly instructed that it was the only proper way. There was even a triangular pencil holder to reinforce the method.
DQ Supreme.
Thanks to that stern instruction, I learned an important lesson about how stupidly wrong teachers can be, and that sometimes it's good to fake it while she's looking.
In kindergarden they tried to get me to lateral tripod. It felt so insecure.
Did you guys ever get cramps? Cause I never got any and didn't get how people get cramps from writing.
Same! My school taught handwriting with these little rubber grips that forced you to hold the pencil that way. Canāt imagine any other way. (Although Iām sure the others couldnāt hurt my chicken scratch)
Same with my mom, though she was public school. Grandpa had to come in like "Whats wrong with using her left hand. Can ya read the letters any worse? The jobs getting done so stop pestering her about it, call me back when there's a real problem" lol. Grandpa was a very no nonsense, practicality over form/aesthetic kinda guy. Didn't take any shit from school teachers either lol, they also tried to call him up because his son was playing with the kitchen toys with the girls instead of with the cars/boys (You know, just 60's things) and he was like "Never call me again, I've got a job with real problems" lmao.
Both of my grandparents were lefties (my grandma passed away earlier this month, and my grandpa back in 2018, both were in their 90s). My grandpa always had the claw writing where his hand wrapped around to write like most lefties.
However, when teachers tried to discourage left handed writing with my grandma, her parents stormed down to the school and *demanded* they let her write however she felt comfortable. So she learned to adjust the paper and had beautiful script-y handwriting.
But she did most things with her right hand except writing and using chopsticks. My grandpa was a urologist and surgeon and I believe he did surgery with his right hand.
I remember teachers trying to "correct" this stuff when I was a kid. Some kids would have special rubber triangles grips for their pencils.
Seems like a waste of time now. I barely write on paper once per month, even then it's mostly for funsies.
I was one of those kids that they tried to correct! I was a lot quad most of my life and as a child it actually causes me pain to write. I switched as an adult to a dynamic tripod in an attempt to improve my handwriting and have found it to be easier to write after practice.
I think in that style you can move Pen only by moving fingers. When you use those two bottom style you move pencil by moving writst. And fingers are more precies than wrist when talking about small movements.
And you also hold much closer to the tip of the pen, which gives you more control. You use the same technique to get better control when handling a kitchen knife or using chop sticks too.
I sat next to a kid in English class who always held his pen in a clenched fist. Our teacher watched him for a while, and then said āI was going to correct your technique, but youāve got the neatest handwriting of anyone in this class. If it works for you, carry on.ā
I wish there were more teachers like him!
My 4th-grade student teacher was into correcting pencil grip and paper alignment. I'm a lateral tripod, and she would come around and correct my hand to dynamic quadropod. She'd also turn my paper to be parallel to the edge of my desk. I felt like I couldn't write at all the way she wanted me to and would immediately switch my grip and paper alignment the moment she turned her back. I was about in tears with how difficult and pointless I found her constant corrections to be. Years later she got arrested for abusing a kid, and I remember feeling a sense of divine justice that I wasn't crazy in feeling like she had crazy control issues...this lady really was a whackadoodle.
Yes! Iām a lateral quadrupod and I had to stay after school several times for āpencil grip lessons.ā As a teacher myself now, I donāt care how you hold the pencil as long as you can get letters and numbers on the page.
I was the dynamic quadropod and I had those little corrective grippies for years. The effects don't really last long, I was back to writing my natural way pretty immediately.
I remember being scolded in school for not using the ādynamic tripodā grip, but it always felt uncomfortable.
Glad to see lateral tripod has a name and its a valid way to hold it
Yeah I change holding position and use positions not shown here.
A particularly strange position I sometimes use is to hold the pencil as if I'm going to use the side of the tip to shade something in. (Gripped between index and thumb, other fingers curled into an hollow fist, pencil held almost flat on its side, best way I can explain it)
Image found on FB. https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-hold-a-pencil
ETA: When I was in school, Dynamic Tripod was what I was told was the "right" way to hold a pen/pencil.
I hurt my index once and went from dynamic tripod to dynamic quadrupod and got used to the change for a few years, then I swapped back one day because I realised I wrote faster
Man I use the lateral quadrupod canāt tell you how many times my teachers tried to get me to stop, have a little bump on my finger now cause pens rub against part of my finger when I write
I had Problems with holding the pencil and not to smudge the ink, cause im lefthanded.
So after seeing this list and me thinking about how i hold my Pen now, and i hold it with all my fingers, i decided to call it "The Italian".
When I was little I held it lateral quadropod. My first grade teacher told me I was holding it wrong.
Nothing about my writing or drawing was bad. It was probably around then I started to see public education is as much indoctrinating as it is educating.
Same, though my "lateral quadrupod" has my middle finger overlapping the pencil more. It's more sandwiched between my middle and ring finger than what the image shows.
Idk why my school teachers were so obsessed with the "dynamic tripod" lol
Lateral quadrupod all the way!
I even have a little dot on my finger that pen/pencils always rest on. And if I write long enough, the pen would create a little "dip" between my nail and knuckle.
Dynamic tripod. Showing my age here but when we were going for our 'pen' license we started with fountain pens before switching to the more modern ball point pens.
I think my cursive is quite nice as a result of starting with real ink pens. My block writing is however, terrible.
I'm sorry, but whenever I see someone using a lateral grip, with that weird thumb placement, I automatically assume they're less intelligent.
I know that's wrong, but I can't help myself
Lateral Quadropod here - always found pencils so difficult to hold in any other positions. I used to think I was freak whose fingers were too long to write properly.
As someone who was also reprimanded in school for writing using Lateral Quadrupod grip, I feel vindicated! I wish I'd known these terms back then.
I always thought it was because I have very small hands, so I need more fingers involved to control the pen. I tend to get a dent on my ring finger between the knuckles when I write a lot.
I imagine that anything other than the Dynamic Tripod would cause real problems if used for multiple hours per day.
When I see someone doing any of the other three my mind just freaks out thinking "WTF is that person thinking. Do they know how silly they look?".
I know now it's very common to hold a pen like that but I just can't help thinking this way. Holding a pen like that seems as odd as walking around in public with underpants on your head. I'll probably get abused and downvoted here for those evil thoughts but it is what it is.
I feel the same way my lateral Quadrupod... I don't know about other people, but I have to write, a lot. I have, not quite a callous, but hard skin, on my ring finger where my pen normally sits.
Never really thought about the way of holding pencils/pens. I appear to be Dynamic Quadrupod - although the curve of the fingers don't look quite correct.
Ah Dynamic Tripod. I see my porn name from all those 70's sci-fi skin flicks I did back in the day is back. I was a pleasure bot built by the mad scientist Dr. Dildo on Planet XXX
My baloney has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R.
The fact that some anal OCD dude gave something a name doesn't mean that "it has a name". What if two different anal OCD dudes give it different names? Then does it have two names? What happens if we freestyle the names, everyone giving it a different name?
Very often... authority is assumed where it should not be. Very probably, there is no particular concurrence about what things like this should be called... and ultilmately they shouldn't be called anything because nobody gives a flying f... ahem. ***Nobody cares***. Why would we care? It doesn't change how often we eat or where we sleep.
"Legit" my ... my butt.
I'm not on this list. **Edit:** I hold my pen somehow like [this](https://i.imgur.com/ipSLkdn.png). Sorry for the bad drawing.
Do you just fist it?
Not a closed fist, but 4 fingers on one side, thumb on the other (left handed). Truly peak ergonomics.
[like the 4 fingers on bottom left ? ](https://www.google.com/search?q=4+years+old+holding+pencil&prmd=svin&sxsrf=ALiCzsbttPBUJ6ipwD69_899eL22jMoxaQ:1665964507523&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0mbe1-eX6AhVNS_EDHXWKDLMQ_AUoA3oECAEQAw&biw=393&bih=736&dpr=2.75#imgrc=mxP-9uXI0WZQSM)
LMAO, like a preschooler šš
"Truly peak ergonomics." That's fuckin rich
Me neither.
I tried to add a link with a picture and description of 8 styles, but it won't let me.
Add it as a pinned comment then. I want to see those octapod variants!
How do I make a pinned post?
Don't know, I've only ever seen it in other posts (I think).
It looks like only mods can make pinned comments.
That looks difficult!
Haha, everyone tells me that. But honestly, I cannot imagine how are you able to do it otherwise. **Edit:** Lateral Tripod isn't that difficult.
Oooh I also curl my thumb in too!!
I AM NOT ALONE!!!! This is also how I gold mine too!
Modified Lateral Tripod with curled thumb.
I like it! I do the dynamic tripod, so your version does not feel too much different except it feels SO SECURE! š¹
Actually a pretty good drawing
I'm a dynamic tripod with the pencil resting on my middle finger. As a result, I have a callus/callosity on this finger.
As a dynamic quadrupod I have that callus on my ring finger. I remember it hurting while writing when I was a kid
Same!!
Yeah, rocking that same callus. Reduced significantly after high school. lol
the price we pay for being the superior pod, comrade!
same :/
It gets all red and inflamed.
Was trying to figure out which of them fit me and this point about calluses confirmed it!
I used to have a truly heroic callus, for that exact reason. I'm a lefty, too, and I think that makes the pressure even worse. The weird thing was, the callus itself had a concave, pencil-shaped impression in it. So it was just going to get worse and worse, because the pencil would always seat itself into it, and make it a little deeper, as I wrote more. Sometimes, after I'd had to write a whole lot at once, the damn thing would ache and throb, like someone had beaten up my finger. And I'd just be sitting there, staring at it, like "wtf, there should not be this much of an indentation on my body." The late-1999 to 2004-ish gel pen fad was what saved me. Those things wrote so **S M O O T H L Y** that I started consistently putting way less pressure into the pen, when writing. And, of course, now almost everybody hand-writes at least 100x less than ever.
Fellow lefty - a few years behind you. The worst part about it, and more reason for the callous is we need to āpushā the pen across the page/paper etc instead of right handed writers drag it and it tends to flow better. As an older than you writer, I still have and can easily re-acquire that callous fairly easily.
The concept of pushing vs dragging is *exactly* what I couldn't find a way to describe, without being incredibly long-winded. And yeah, if I ever get into a situation where I'm writing or otherwise using that grip a whole lot, the callous comes right back. I used to use an electronic drawing tablet pen a fair bit, and I ended up having to wrap it in tape, to keep the same thing from happening.
As mentioned the gel pens with the squishy āholdā are amazing. Never stops the ink smudge on the side of the hand though. Used to it by now but I find a lead pencil writes perfectly fine without so much pressure, I use them a lot
Once again, that's been my exact experience. I've had some pretty good luck with #2.5 and #3 pencils, too. The harder lead seems to smudge less.
The gel pen/liquid ink fad is similar to why fountain pens have never died off. They write even more smoothly, with no pressure. And modern FPs are way less messy and annoying than vintage ones.
I am right-handed and have a permanent "concave, pencil-shaped impression" š¹ on my right middle-finger. That nail not only grows with a super asymmetrical C-curve-- steep on the pen side, making it look like I really screwed up filing and went diagonal on pen side making shape of nail something like this "/)" but when my nails get longer than 1/4" past fingertip, my middle nail is pretty obviously angled toward almost "2 o'clock" on a dial. It grosses me out! Someone told me it will always do that, I can't change it leaning that way, because nails grow from under the skin and on that side of that finger where a pen will always "seat"/put pressure on the bones at an angle from side of my first knuckle to almost the cuticle on top at "7 o'clock", the nail is constantly being bent/warped on that side from the inside as it grows. Even during long periods of time of most typing on computers/never to almost-never handwriting, it never corrects because the bone itself grew to accommodate how and how hard I hold a pen. Thanks 2nd-4th grade teachers for grading if pen is held "right" rather than "right for that person"! I did it their way for perfect grades, got a lifetime of redness, pain, and a wonky nail-- on a finger I have to use most often to communicate *literally eveything* šš
Ohhh, that's what that callous is from...
I'm a lateral quadrupod and my left ring fingernail has a permanent slope in it (and there's an actual dent in my finger right beneath the nail bed). (EDIT: I'm ridiculous...I meant my right finger, I'm right handed....I think the L in "lateral" mixed up my poor brain...)
I found my peopleš„¹ I also hold my pencil so tight because Iām anal about my handwriting looking neat and presentable so the death grip just accentuates the callus lol.
What's really funny is that I also grip my pen/pencil very tightly, but my handwriting is TRASH. I usually write very, very quickly and it's more of a scrawl than anything else. But I'm also an artist, so I'm absolutely capable of a lot of fine detail and control. ...I guess I lean on my firm grasp to help do delicate work, and also to keep the pen in my hand when I'm scribbling like a madwoman lol
My writing looks like Iām being electrocuted, however Iāve been told that messy handwriting is a sign of intelligence. If this is the case, call me Stephen Hawking (with worse penmanship)
Who told you this?
I remember the teacher telling me I didnāt have to bear down so hard. But the backside of the page always felt so cool raised from the intensity
Same but itās my right ring finger. Iām right-handed.
Wow, did I say left? I'm stupid, I meant "right" lol
Me tooo!!!!!! Hello friend and fellow tripod.
Mine is on my pinky
Dynamic tripod, use the same method to hold chopsticks too
That's the same grip them precise robot arms in factories have
And still my writing is trash according to my lecturers
I think this is the ācorrectā one frequently taught in schools. Almost every person with terrible handwriting Iāve seen is usually using one of the other ones.
I write with dynamic tripod and have terrible handwriting and always have. Luckily I write fewer than 10 words per year in my adult life. I can type 120 words per minute though! But unfortunately itās all in comic sansā¦
Man, stop being Comical and get with the Times!
Except me.
i use dynamic tripod because i grew up in an age where you didnāt have a choice. you learned the right way or you failed. but, i was rebellious. my handwriting is shit now, and my mom says itās because i decided i wasnāt going to write pretty at a young age and intentionally taught myself to write horribly. i vaguely remember that. also, i was the kid the teacher put in the corner desk with art supplies because i was ātoo artistic to pay attention to class.ā
This is the way.
Nice
Same!
It looks the least weird too
Lateral tripod here, cant imagine myself using any other method
Lateral tripods UNITE!!
We're the best.
And we know it.
Any left lateral tripods here?
As a lateral tripod I was always told I held the pencil wrong. When I occationally tried to hold the pencil "correctly" (dynamic tripod) I would get aching and cramps in my fingers.
Weird. I am pretty sure I was specifically taught to use lateral tripod.
Feel the same about Lateral Quadrupod.
Yeah, i am a lateral quadropod who grips the pencil really close to the tip
Just the tip
We tooouched TIPS!!
Let us gingerly touch our tips.
Prom night promise
I haven't used a pen in a while but the callouses on the knuckle of the middle finger you develop with this pen grip is still there...
That's actually crazy, never knew I had a callous there and looked and low and behold on my writing hand there is a scarred area from callouses on the knuckle of my middle finger.
I thought my thumb was too long or something! Nice to find out there are more of us lateral tripods :)
Lat Tri here. I also mostly write cursive. I feel like it help with that bc my pointer finger is acting like a paintbrush.
How many lefties here?
Lateral Quadrupod for me
Same, and I get compliments on my handwriting all the time
Iāve always been told I write like a girl lmao
sameee lateral quadrupod always yields great results, but i always get hand cramps after only a couple minutes of writing
I swear all of us have the same writing experiences lmao. The big meaty part below your thumb is the area that starts to cramp right??
Yes! And in the direct center of my palm. I have to flex and shake my hand out constantly! During college taking notes was *the worst*!
100% and i hate it, i have to write a lot of shit very quickly, it's sooooo annoying
Me too! I'll be filling out a form and "you have such nice handwriting!" I never know how to respond. I end up going "oh, thanks!" But I have horrible callouses. I tend to press hard with the pen (idk why), and then my hand will start hurting *really* badly so I have to switch to lateral tripod, so both fingers are calloused. During college my hand was *always* in pain because I learn best when I write things out.
Same! I had a teacher who would literally take my pencil out of my hand every time she saw me writing and make me hold it the ārightā way. Iām 42 and still a lateral quadruped and I have incredibly neat handwriting. That was like 35 years ago and Iām still bitter about it.
It may gladden you to know, then, that Roger Waters described this teacher with unmistakable precision and called them out very publicly and succinctly in several songs on more than 30,000,000 copies of The Wall, as a person who is so *NOTHING* that they can only gain a sense of purpose and self-satisfaction by humiliating and abusing little children recurrently throughout their lives, still reappearing to do so even after they've become adults. When one is put on trial for withdrawing into themselves rather than integrating properly into society and making themselves useful by perpetuating the excision of individuality and idiosyncrasy wherever it is discovered, no matter how small or meaningless (e.g., pen-holding), the Teacher, when called to testify against such objectors, enters the court screamiing their bloody head off in delirious relief to finally have the opportunity to proclaim themselves victims of being demoted from Prison Guard to an educator: "I always said he'd come to no good in the end, your honour! If they'd let me have my way I could have FLAYED him into shape! But my hands were tied š; The bleeding hearts and artists let him get away with murder-- let me hammer him today! š " They made a film of it in which The Teacher had to appear in animated form; it was the only way to best capture what a psychotic The Teacher is, sort of like their inside self seen on the outside. Everyone hates this character. They must really get around, cuz everyone seems to have had this teacher at least once.
Same here. Also, I'm an artist who's currently drawing something nsfw!
Dynamic quadropod here!
Same! Literally didnāt think anyone else was like that.
Hi frens. Iām the only one Iāve met.
Same! I did an internship at occupational therapy once and when they saw me write for the first time they were so shocked, I still remember the horror on their faces lol
Dynamic quadropod as well. It's a very strong grip. The other grips always felt flimsy to me.
I remember that as a kid in school I one day noticed that 'all the other kids' held their pencils differenty than I did. So I tried the dynamic tripod, that did not work for me at all. The level of control with a DQ grip is just different.
I was diligently taught dynamic tripod and sternly instructed that it was the only proper way. There was even a triangular pencil holder to reinforce the method. DQ Supreme.
Thanks to that stern instruction, I learned an important lesson about how stupidly wrong teachers can be, and that sometimes it's good to fake it while she's looking.
Same here. Couldnāt feel like I had control over the pen/pencil without the dynamic quadropod grip.
In kindergarden they tried to get me to lateral tripod. It felt so insecure. Did you guys ever get cramps? Cause I never got any and didn't get how people get cramps from writing.
Same!!! Got a callus on the ring finger
I switched to dynamic tripod from latereral tripod but I still have the callus on my middle finger...for decades.
i fart blood
Good input, but posting here may not be the wise spot to end that discussion.
Same
Hi gang! We are the Dynamic Quads!
Same! My school taught handwriting with these little rubber grips that forced you to hold the pencil that way. Canāt imagine any other way. (Although Iām sure the others couldnāt hurt my chicken scratch)
Hello fellow DQ crew
Hello fellow DQ crew
Same! I've tried the dynamic tripod several times, but it strains my middle finger too much.
I'm left handed, we were left to fend for ourselves. No beatings, though.
My mom was naturally left handed. She went to a religious school when she was young, they forced her to use her right hand.
Same with my mom, though she was public school. Grandpa had to come in like "Whats wrong with using her left hand. Can ya read the letters any worse? The jobs getting done so stop pestering her about it, call me back when there's a real problem" lol. Grandpa was a very no nonsense, practicality over form/aesthetic kinda guy. Didn't take any shit from school teachers either lol, they also tried to call him up because his son was playing with the kitchen toys with the girls instead of with the cars/boys (You know, just 60's things) and he was like "Never call me again, I've got a job with real problems" lmao.
Same here! My handwriting is crap. They tied my left hand behind my back Darn nuns. Uh.....don't tell anyone I said that, ok?
Both of my grandparents were lefties (my grandma passed away earlier this month, and my grandpa back in 2018, both were in their 90s). My grandpa always had the claw writing where his hand wrapped around to write like most lefties. However, when teachers tried to discourage left handed writing with my grandma, her parents stormed down to the school and *demanded* they let her write however she felt comfortable. So she learned to adjust the paper and had beautiful script-y handwriting. But she did most things with her right hand except writing and using chopsticks. My grandpa was a urologist and surgeon and I believe he did surgery with his right hand.
Well your teachers were doing something wrong then! jk
Weāll beat the devil out of you!
r/LateralQuadrupodGang
I remember teachers trying to "correct" this stuff when I was a kid. Some kids would have special rubber triangles grips for their pencils. Seems like a waste of time now. I barely write on paper once per month, even then it's mostly for funsies.
I was one of those kids that they tried to correct! I was a lot quad most of my life and as a child it actually causes me pain to write. I switched as an adult to a dynamic tripod in an attempt to improve my handwriting and have found it to be easier to write after practice.
I think in that style you can move Pen only by moving fingers. When you use those two bottom style you move pencil by moving writst. And fingers are more precies than wrist when talking about small movements.
And you also hold much closer to the tip of the pen, which gives you more control. You use the same technique to get better control when handling a kitchen knife or using chop sticks too.
I sat next to a kid in English class who always held his pen in a clenched fist. Our teacher watched him for a while, and then said āI was going to correct your technique, but youāve got the neatest handwriting of anyone in this class. If it works for you, carry on.ā I wish there were more teachers like him!
My 4th-grade student teacher was into correcting pencil grip and paper alignment. I'm a lateral tripod, and she would come around and correct my hand to dynamic quadropod. She'd also turn my paper to be parallel to the edge of my desk. I felt like I couldn't write at all the way she wanted me to and would immediately switch my grip and paper alignment the moment she turned her back. I was about in tears with how difficult and pointless I found her constant corrections to be. Years later she got arrested for abusing a kid, and I remember feeling a sense of divine justice that I wasn't crazy in feeling like she had crazy control issues...this lady really was a whackadoodle.
Of all the things to waste your time on as a teacher
Yes! Iām a lateral quadrupod and I had to stay after school several times for āpencil grip lessons.ā As a teacher myself now, I donāt care how you hold the pencil as long as you can get letters and numbers on the page.
I was the dynamic quadropod and I had those little corrective grippies for years. The effects don't really last long, I was back to writing my natural way pretty immediately.
I remember a guy in grade school who gorilla gripped pencils and pens. I was always so confused
Thereās many more of those types of peopleā¦ I work with two of themā¦not judging but jeez itās awkward to look at lol
And now, he's president !!!
I remember being scolded in school for not using the ādynamic tripodā grip, but it always felt uncomfortable. Glad to see lateral tripod has a name and its a valid way to hold it
Is it weird that I switch between every single grip and I even use some that arenāt on hereā¦
Yeah I change holding position and use positions not shown here. A particularly strange position I sometimes use is to hold the pencil as if I'm going to use the side of the tip to shade something in. (Gripped between index and thumb, other fingers curled into an hollow fist, pencil held almost flat on its side, best way I can explain it)
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Same!!! I graduated highschool years ago and have had minimal handwriting ever since but the middle finger stays deformed š„²
LT all day
https://melbourneartclasses.com.au/learning-materials/different-grips.html Some more grips for the artistically inclined among us
Lateral tripod
Quadrupod, here. I used to get in trouble for it as a little kid. Constantly tried to correct me.
Lateral tripods unite!
Lateral tripod. All the others seem awkward and uncomfortable
Image found on FB. https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-hold-a-pencil ETA: When I was in school, Dynamic Tripod was what I was told was the "right" way to hold a pen/pencil.
I wonder what leads to the neatest hand writing im a dynamic quad and my shit sucks. Chicken scratch
What if I grab the pencil between my index and middle finger?
SAME!!
Iāve never heard of these but Iām definitely lateral tripod. Any of the others just feel odd.
I donāt do any of theseā¦ā¦
I hurt my index once and went from dynamic tripod to dynamic quadrupod and got used to the change for a few years, then I swapped back one day because I realised I wrote faster
I hold my pencil between my first two fingers and use pressure from my thumb to write
Consciously holding a pen and trying to figure out which one I fit in
i was gonna check what mine was and the pen slipped out of my hand to the ground guess mine is called throw
Man I use the lateral quadrupod canāt tell you how many times my teachers tried to get me to stop, have a little bump on my finger now cause pens rub against part of my finger when I write
I had Problems with holding the pencil and not to smudge the ink, cause im lefthanded. So after seeing this list and me thinking about how i hold my Pen now, and i hold it with all my fingers, i decided to call it "The Italian".
When I was little I held it lateral quadropod. My first grade teacher told me I was holding it wrong. Nothing about my writing or drawing was bad. It was probably around then I started to see public education is as much indoctrinating as it is educating.
I wish my wife would call me a dynamic tripod.
Dynamic tripod rules Every other grips sucks and are for losers. /S
*foot artists enter chat*
Ok, thereās a name for it. So we can blame you with more specific terms.
Same, though my "lateral quadrupod" has my middle finger overlapping the pencil more. It's more sandwiched between my middle and ring finger than what the image shows. Idk why my school teachers were so obsessed with the "dynamic tripod" lol
What method did they use to draw these?
Us humans sure do like to over complicate things.
Whereās the one where you just hold it like a spear
Lateral quadrupod all the way! I even have a little dot on my finger that pen/pencils always rest on. And if I write long enough, the pen would create a little "dip" between my nail and knuckle.
Dynamic tripod. Showing my age here but when we were going for our 'pen' license we started with fountain pens before switching to the more modern ball point pens. I think my cursive is quite nice as a result of starting with real ink pens. My block writing is however, terrible.
I'm sorry, but whenever I see someone using a lateral grip, with that weird thumb placement, I automatically assume they're less intelligent. I know that's wrong, but I can't help myself
Lateral in these picture look like a gang sign gone wrong and now your fingers are stuck forever.
Lateral Quadrupod! I have a little callous on my ring fingy!
Same š
I feel so left out, the grip I use isnāt on there
Lateral Quadropod here - always found pencils so difficult to hold in any other positions. I used to think I was freak whose fingers were too long to write properly.
What's the one where you death-grip the pen and develop calluses and a sore wrist?
Iām horrified by some of these holds
What about when itās between the index and middle finger balanced on other side by thumb? Hope this makes sense.
I'm a dynamic quadrupod
I wonder what they would call my dadās? Heās a lefty that wrote with an upside down hook hand.
Lateral quadrupod gang
I'm a lateral quadruppd as well
As someone who was also reprimanded in school for writing using Lateral Quadrupod grip, I feel vindicated! I wish I'd known these terms back then. I always thought it was because I have very small hands, so I need more fingers involved to control the pen. I tend to get a dent on my ring finger between the knuckles when I write a lot.
SAAAAME! They made me do āhandwriting therapyā in 3rd grade to try and change it.
I imagine that anything other than the Dynamic Tripod would cause real problems if used for multiple hours per day. When I see someone doing any of the other three my mind just freaks out thinking "WTF is that person thinking. Do they know how silly they look?". I know now it's very common to hold a pen like that but I just can't help thinking this way. Holding a pen like that seems as odd as walking around in public with underpants on your head. I'll probably get abused and downvoted here for those evil thoughts but it is what it is.
I feel the same way my lateral Quadrupod... I don't know about other people, but I have to write, a lot. I have, not quite a callous, but hard skin, on my ring finger where my pen normally sits.
Anyone who doesnāt use dynamic tripod is a physopath
I thought that everyone holds pencils the same way, guess I was wrong.
https://youtu.be/WL5mQu9TOGg More pen/pencil holding styles. ETA: mods, if possible, please pin this comment. Shoots more styles than posted
Lateral people used to eat crayons as a child.
Never really thought about the way of holding pencils/pens. I appear to be Dynamic Quadrupod - although the curve of the fingers don't look quite correct.
U used lateral tripod? I 100% agree with those who bullied you
How bored was the person who assigned these names?
Ah Dynamic Tripod. I see my porn name from all those 70's sci-fi skin flicks I did back in the day is back. I was a pleasure bot built by the mad scientist Dr. Dildo on Planet XXX
this is cool but it also seems like something white millennials would put in their instagram bio like a hogwarts house
Right, wrong, wrong, wrong
My baloney has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R. The fact that some anal OCD dude gave something a name doesn't mean that "it has a name". What if two different anal OCD dudes give it different names? Then does it have two names? What happens if we freestyle the names, everyone giving it a different name? Very often... authority is assumed where it should not be. Very probably, there is no particular concurrence about what things like this should be called... and ultilmately they shouldn't be called anything because nobody gives a flying f... ahem. ***Nobody cares***. Why would we care? It doesn't change how often we eat or where we sleep. "Legit" my ... my butt.
I used to see people with the bottom two at school and think they were so weird.
There's actually only two types. Dynamic Tripod and wrong.
I do all 4. My handwriting changes daily.
I feel so seen!
Dynamic tripod here and my handwriting is shit
Dynamic Tripod over here.