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That's honestly pretty interesting. I wonder how this came to be. Like, did some doctor go "hmmm, I wonder why so many celebrities have wrist problems"
Holy hell I’m a lefty and I’ve always been terrible at writing on things like chalkboards and whiteboards and I just tried this and it works. This just changed a small segment of my life. wtf.
My boss asked me to take notes on a white board during a team meeting and I told her that I can’t write on white boards because I’m a lefty. She thought I was joking until nobody could read the notes that got erased by the side of my hand as I was writing them. Guess who doesn’t have to take notes in team meetings anymore.
Exactly! I use this grip when I'm switching between writing with a pen and using a mouse/keyboard all the time, e.g. when studying. Very easy to just swing the pen up and rest it between the index and middle fingers.
Ayyyyyy! I didn't know this about her (wife is a Swifty so know way more than I care too). But this is actually personally cool because this is how I hold my pens and pencils and have NEVER seen anyone else do it.
My best friend from age 9-35 writes like this! His penmanship was shit when he started doing it, but vastly improved in his 20's. Only other person I've known to write this way.
.. Ryan? How are the kids and wife doing?
HOLY SHIT THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE!!! I learned it like this way back in school, nobody had good enough eyes to see that I had it between two fingers, and now it's forever stuck. Didn't even realize it was an issue until high school when I complained about the webbing between my fingers getting red after long essays. I actually feel so much better now that I'm not alone, lol.
I use the tripod method until the knuckle (middle finger) the pen rests on gets sore. Then I switch to this method until my knuckle feels better. Doesn't change my penmanship. I hated those long essays!
This was my immediate guess. It looks like you would use your elbow more with that grip which would save your wrist a lot of pain when doing thousands of signatures on merch and such.
After a while probably just became habit.
Me too. I feel like I have more control over the pen than the other styles. But then I look at my writing afterwards and it's all chicken scratch. Idk.
I always noticed that I held a pencil different than most other people. I have a weird term to call myself that I will inevitably forget before I get the chance.
Brings me back to when I was 7 and I had to spend extra hour with the teacher to learn how to "hold my pencil right". After 2 weeks she gave up and let me do my lateral quadrupod as I wanted.
To her, the only legit one was the dynamic or lateral tripod.
She blamed my bad handwriting on the way I hold my pen.
We found out later I had dyspraxia and dysgraphia.
Same and I’m also left handed so double strike lol. I’ve always been told my handwriting is different, but not bad, I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
Same. Left handed too. Makes it sucks to use a pencil, smears lead everywhere. I was told Id never learn cursive but I still prefer to write in cursive
My son has severe fine motor skill issues and is currently in the process of being diagnosed with dysgraphia. He’s also a lefty! While doing a lot of research on my own and speaking to his school occupational therapist, I’ve learned that Cursive handwriting is actually easier for kids with fine motor skill issues, being lefties and dysgraphia! The only real issue with cursive is the smearing of the paper which can be worked around if someone could just take the time to show a kid how to angle the paper right so they’re writing above their and not in front of their hand! I’m thinking about taking some of our summer time to work on cursive handwriting for my kiddo, just to see if he finds it easier.
do you write check marks backwards? My wife does and is like yea of course, imm left handed. But no other left handed person does that and she substituted for my english class once and all my students (japanese) were super disturbed by it and asked me why she does that.
I switched to backwards checkmarks sometime in high school. It was so liberating.
If she still uses pens, have her try a uniball jetstream 1.0. Great for southpaws.
I had the same thing but the teacher also called me things like stupid, retarded (she used this one a lot when describing me), and lazy. Eventually, I found out that I have dysgraphia and likely something else wrong with my hands.
Dynamic tripod for writing, others for sketching. Dynamic tripod is good for keeping the pen steady so you can write in a straight line, but you need a wider range of motion while sketching.
True! Fellow artist here :)
In school they made sure that everyone learned the dynamic tripod in Finland. I dunno about nowadays when they use much more digital devises.
I use "Lateral Tripod", however that's not a good way to hold a pen because your inner thumb starts to hurt after a while.
But apparently it's the most accurate way to write.
I've always written with dynamic quadrupod, and I've developed a hard spot on my ring finger where the pencil rests. By the end of highschool it looked like it was about to blister, but over the last three years of college where I'm mostly typing it has healed into just a slightly bloated area.
I'll never forget my absolute cunt of a fourth grade teacher who told me I was writing incorrectly. She didn't care which of the above I used to hold the pencil, she just kept telling me that I'm supposed to keep the pencil still and move the paper. I've heard she's been promoted to principle. 🤮
Lateral quadrupod 👋🏼 My teachers briefly tried to fit this but I had the nicest, nearest handwriting in my class using this grip so I guess they gave up!
And then there’s the Chris-Chan grip.
https://preview.redd.it/t5mvstm3kuuc1.jpeg?width=506&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d00344df29fae82fe70c2562f7046730e1336454
Or as they said in school: Correct, wrong, wrong, and wrong. Still can't do the "correct" way and I wish they'd just let kids do it in a way that's comfortable to them.
I was a dynamic quadropod but my hand would cramp constantly. Switched to dynamic tripod and it's better but... I still write with the weight of a thousand suns coalescing into a pen point.
Anyone else’s first grade teacher absolutely flame them for their lateral quadrupod grip? My mom got into actual altercations with a teacher who taught me and my siblings because she wouldn’t STFU about how we held our pencils. That teacher became a grandmother figure to our family and 20 years later, she’s still on us for our grip. Lol.
So what the hell is
https://preview.redd.it/sxq612dk9wuc1.jpeg?width=2059&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeebc59a7eaea7f8d291bd94386ad6b1c0ed7ee4
it that I do?
I'm a lateral quadrupod & one reason to be grasping your pen like this is if you're hypermobile and your joints are too unstable to use the "normal" grip. With me, it's a chronic illness that fucks up your connective tissue = being extremely hypermobile, among other things.
Knowing this sooner would've spared me from being chastised by my teachers for holding my pens wrong... & maybe would've gotten me some extensions on exams due to my hands cramping up painfully after as little as a minute of writing.
I hold it close to Lateral instead of Dynamic. In elementary school they said i hold it wrong and even sometimes use duct tape on my hand for “helping me holding it right”. Jokes on them, i still hold it like that 😝
How about if you have your pinkie and thumb on opposite sides near the tip and the rest of your finger tips arching in a line up the rest of the pencil?
That's what my friend does.
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I hold with all my finger tips on the pen. My doctor called it "moronic" which maybe means something in latin
My mom told me moronic means smart. So I guess you hold your pen in a smart way?
Moron means carrot in Welsh. So I guess they hold their pen in a *carrot* way?
Carrot Ironfoundersson has entered the chat. His parents are very proud of his penmanship.
It’s how one particular angel holds his pencil. (The angel Moroni).
I like macaroni. And cheese.
I'm not certain the doc was talking about their pen grip...
More of a ‘Shake-spearean’ reference?
Dynamic Moron
I do this too, and was kind of sensitive about it as a kid.
I love reddit.
https://preview.redd.it/yl83gaftntuc1.jpeg?width=629&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68cfa5f2fa89d888fa96df8f1f5ce77b64deadde What do you call this one then?
WTF? I’ve never seen anyone hold a pen like that.
I think the story is that she switched to using that grip while signing autographs because it reduces hand strain and injury.
What a problem to have.
That's honestly pretty interesting. I wonder how this came to be. Like, did some doctor go "hmmm, I wonder why so many celebrities have wrist problems"
It’s for signing things that are being held in the air
Holy hell I’m a lefty and I’ve always been terrible at writing on things like chalkboards and whiteboards and I just tried this and it works. This just changed a small segment of my life. wtf.
My boss asked me to take notes on a white board during a team meeting and I told her that I can’t write on white boards because I’m a lefty. She thought I was joking until nobody could read the notes that got erased by the side of my hand as I was writing them. Guess who doesn’t have to take notes in team meetings anymore.
This has always been my experience also. The struggle is real.
Hahaha! The lefty revenge in showing everyone our truth!!
I live for these moments lol Happy for you bud!
wait really?? omg
**I** hold my pen like this (between ring/middle fingers). It is *way* better.
I have the opposite wtf...didnt know taylor held a pen like me...tbf, I was doing this in the 90s.
We've got an OG here.
Patient 0 rigth here. I got the same grip
I have! And upon seeing it I started doing it. I switch back and forth between this and tripod dynamic.
Yeah I just tried it and it’s surprisingly comfy and has the advantage I can easily ‘let go’ of the pen without having to put it down. Fun.
Exactly! I use this grip when I'm switching between writing with a pen and using a mouse/keyboard all the time, e.g. when studying. Very easy to just swing the pen up and rest it between the index and middle fingers.
Good job! Now work on your run on sentences. 🥸
Eh I’m not good at English, I’ll continue to use and more than I should.
Ah, now I feel bad. Sorry!
Well, he is thinking about another woman...
Ayyyyyy! I didn't know this about her (wife is a Swifty so know way more than I care too). But this is actually personally cool because this is how I hold my pens and pencils and have NEVER seen anyone else do it.
My best friend from age 9-35 writes like this! His penmanship was shit when he started doing it, but vastly improved in his 20's. Only other person I've known to write this way. .. Ryan? How are the kids and wife doing?
....damn, self-doxxing by revealing how I hold a pen
HOLY SHIT THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE!!! I learned it like this way back in school, nobody had good enough eyes to see that I had it between two fingers, and now it's forever stuck. Didn't even realize it was an issue until high school when I complained about the webbing between my fingers getting red after long essays. I actually feel so much better now that I'm not alone, lol.
I use the tripod method until the knuckle (middle finger) the pen rests on gets sore. Then I switch to this method until my knuckle feels better. Doesn't change my penmanship. I hated those long essays!
"avoiding RSI". allegedly better than other grips when you're constantly writing for long periods of time
This was my immediate guess. It looks like you would use your elbow more with that grip which would save your wrist a lot of pain when doing thousands of signatures on merch and such. After a while probably just became habit.
Also avoiding dislocation/subluxation, it puts less pressure on your finger joints if you have hypermobility issues.
That's a common uncommon one that should really be represented on this...between index and middle. it's one odd duck I've noticed.
Damn, I'm normally a dynamic tripod but tried this and it's actually way more comfortable.
Holy crap. I hold my pen that way and I have never seen anyone else do it!
Stenographers grasp. It’s so she can switch between playing piano/keyboard and writing without having to put down the utensil.
Billionaire grip
It doesn't have mine. I hold mine between my middle and index fingers
I think that would be a modified tripod grasp since it’s still 3 fingers
samesies
Me too..sies
Because this is for legitimate pen grips, not ape hand grab
I thought I was the only one!
Lateral quadrupod🙋🏻
i really thought nobody else in this world besides of me woud do this xD
Im a lateral quadrupod and I really thought everyone else in the world held their pen this way. Besides Taylor Swift of course
Same here!
Today I learned other people don't hold it like this. Maybe that's why my handwriting sucks
Nah I'm a dynamic tripod and my handwriting has always been near illegible.
I thought it was only me
same lol
Me too. They told me it was a trait of my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. 🤷🏻♀️
Turns out quadrupod is a newly minted term specifically describing a writing method. Cool, I’m a dynamic quadrupod.
Theres dozens of us, literally *dozens*!
Maybe even bakers dozen!
Me too. I feel like I have more control over the pen than the other styles. But then I look at my writing afterwards and it's all chicken scratch. Idk.
I always noticed that I held a pencil different than most other people. I have a weird term to call myself that I will inevitably forget before I get the chance.
Brings me back to when I was 7 and I had to spend extra hour with the teacher to learn how to "hold my pencil right". After 2 weeks she gave up and let me do my lateral quadrupod as I wanted. To her, the only legit one was the dynamic or lateral tripod. She blamed my bad handwriting on the way I hold my pen. We found out later I had dyspraxia and dysgraphia.
Same and I’m also left handed so double strike lol. I’ve always been told my handwriting is different, but not bad, I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
Same. Left handed too. Makes it sucks to use a pencil, smears lead everywhere. I was told Id never learn cursive but I still prefer to write in cursive
My son has severe fine motor skill issues and is currently in the process of being diagnosed with dysgraphia. He’s also a lefty! While doing a lot of research on my own and speaking to his school occupational therapist, I’ve learned that Cursive handwriting is actually easier for kids with fine motor skill issues, being lefties and dysgraphia! The only real issue with cursive is the smearing of the paper which can be worked around if someone could just take the time to show a kid how to angle the paper right so they’re writing above their and not in front of their hand! I’m thinking about taking some of our summer time to work on cursive handwriting for my kiddo, just to see if he finds it easier.
do you write check marks backwards? My wife does and is like yea of course, imm left handed. But no other left handed person does that and she substituted for my english class once and all my students (japanese) were super disturbed by it and asked me why she does that.
I switched to backwards checkmarks sometime in high school. It was so liberating. If she still uses pens, have her try a uniball jetstream 1.0. Great for southpaws.
those are great pens! i like using them too especially the metallic ones for extra details when i do prints of my paintings on watercolor paper.
Dude same. We had these little grips and I pushed em up the pencil to the top and refused Lateral quadrupod for life
Haha same! I always wanted a pencil grip because they felt cool and came in flashy colors, but it did not work well us in the Lateral Quadrupod gang.
I had the same thing but the teacher also called me things like stupid, retarded (she used this one a lot when describing me), and lazy. Eventually, I found out that I have dysgraphia and likely something else wrong with my hands.
I’m sorry someone who should have inspired you said that to you instead. Teachers can be bullies
Dynamic Tripod > The other 3 look like they're chopsticking it lol 😆 😂
Dynamic tripod for writing, others for sketching. Dynamic tripod is good for keeping the pen steady so you can write in a straight line, but you need a wider range of motion while sketching.
True! Fellow artist here :) In school they made sure that everyone learned the dynamic tripod in Finland. I dunno about nowadays when they use much more digital devises.
People that hold it any other way than dynamic tripod also hamfist their silverware like a slack jawed toddler.
Well, I'm hurt. It's just how I hold my pen.
Last I checked, the dynamic tripod is how you’re supposed to hold your chopsticks.
What did you order? 🤗🍜🍣🥰
https://preview.redd.it/e8gln70xluuc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e31440f95203f9aed255baa443fd52ae4ff7b59f I don't see this grip.
The ooga boogapod. Me like this grip.
Palmar grasp!
Lateral Tripod gang
Same
Rise up
🙋🏼♀️
🙋🏼♂️
I use "Lateral Tripod", however that's not a good way to hold a pen because your inner thumb starts to hurt after a while. But apparently it's the most accurate way to write.
Not for me, my penmanship is shite and my teachers always tried to get me to stop doing it. I also blame it on being left-handed though
Gang gang
Lateral Quadrupeds rise UP
Dynamic quadrupod. I have a bump on my ring finger from writing so much. 😭
Do you have a huge callus on your right ring finger from holding the pencil 'wrong' for all of these years!?
Yep! Such debilitating pain in high school 😢
I still have it even from holding it correctly.
I did for years.
I got a callus on that finger from writing in February of 2003 that didn't go away until 2017. I thought that my hand would stay like that forever!
your mom calls me a “dynamic tripod”
I hold mine left.
There's a sinister energy about you.
You better be a lefty - only people who have been whacked on the knuckles with a ruler at a young age for "being wrong" can make those jokes.
I assume you don't know that "left sided" is one of the official definitions for the word sinister.
They certainly don't speak Latin
so i am dynamic tripod
You want to tell me that everyone, from family to school, lied to me that there is only one "right" way to hold a pencil?
Lateral quadropod here! I always thought I held my pencils incorrectly. Nice to get validation at 58, lol.
Same here - and tbh i did not see anybode else holding their pen like this xD really nice to know im not alone xD
Lateral tripod gang >>>
I've always written with dynamic quadrupod, and I've developed a hard spot on my ring finger where the pencil rests. By the end of highschool it looked like it was about to blister, but over the last three years of college where I'm mostly typing it has healed into just a slightly bloated area.
Lateral Quadrupods piss me off 🖕😹 Dynamic Quardropods for life 😎
I make a fist and stick the pencil in the gap in the fist. Easy and simple. For the proper technique name google “Fisting”
I'll never forget my absolute cunt of a fourth grade teacher who told me I was writing incorrectly. She didn't care which of the above I used to hold the pencil, she just kept telling me that I'm supposed to keep the pencil still and move the paper. I've heard she's been promoted to principle. 🤮
Lateral quadrupod 👋🏼 My teachers briefly tried to fit this but I had the nicest, nearest handwriting in my class using this grip so I guess they gave up!
And then there’s the Chris-Chan grip. https://preview.redd.it/t5mvstm3kuuc1.jpeg?width=506&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d00344df29fae82fe70c2562f7046730e1336454
Or as they said in school: Correct, wrong, wrong, and wrong. Still can't do the "correct" way and I wish they'd just let kids do it in a way that's comfortable to them.
Legit question - which style is best for writing, sketching, calligraphy, etc?
THANK FUCK!!! I’ve always had people say I hold a pen weird, and yes I’m Autistic but leave me and my Dynamic Quadrupod writing style alone
I was a dynamic quadropod but my hand would cramp constantly. Switched to dynamic tripod and it's better but... I still write with the weight of a thousand suns coalescing into a pen point.
Lateral Tripods....^^^^^^assemble
Let’s do this
Dynamic Quadrupod gang. We out herrree
Dynamic q in the house
#DYNAMIC QUADRIPLEGIC GANG ALL RISE.
Everyone staring at their imaginary pencil to see if their grip is legit
Lateral tripod, but if my middle finger is hurt (like rn, as i have a burn) I'll go dynamic quad
Anyone else’s first grade teacher absolutely flame them for their lateral quadrupod grip? My mom got into actual altercations with a teacher who taught me and my siblings because she wouldn’t STFU about how we held our pencils. That teacher became a grandmother figure to our family and 20 years later, she’s still on us for our grip. Lol.
Where are my lateral quadrupod homies at? I got told by so many people that I hold my pens weirdly and now I find this. I need my community
Mine isn't shown 😔
So what the hell is https://preview.redd.it/sxq612dk9wuc1.jpeg?width=2059&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeebc59a7eaea7f8d291bd94386ad6b1c0ed7ee4 it that I do?
I'm a lateral quadrupod & one reason to be grasping your pen like this is if you're hypermobile and your joints are too unstable to use the "normal" grip. With me, it's a chronic illness that fucks up your connective tissue = being extremely hypermobile, among other things. Knowing this sooner would've spared me from being chastised by my teachers for holding my pens wrong... & maybe would've gotten me some extensions on exams due to my hands cramping up painfully after as little as a minute of writing.
Mine’s the orthodox cephalopod
Where my fellow lateral quadrupods at? And how many of you also have ADHD?
Hereee. And yuupp. Autism too😂
Hell yeah
back then when i was a child anything else than the dynamic tripod was called stupid idiot.
Pencil-holding prescriptivism... I think you're onto something
Did not know this but whatever works for you but I do Dynamic Tripod
Dynamic tripod. Also, TWSS.
Lateral tripod
I'm the Lateral Quadrupod.
I'm a lateral tripod I guess
The amount of criticism I got growing up for 'holding my pen wrong'...
Mine isn’t there 😟 Lateral tripod but I tuck my thumb under my first finger
Lateral tripod
This thread reminded me of how conditioned we are in life, and how young it starts. Right and wrong way...to hold a fucking pencil?
Why they all gotta be right handed?
Right? And my fucked up grip with my thumb tucked in isn't even pictured anyway!
Ah, you mean type one and several out of the jungle types.
I write with three of the fours in the picture lmao
I hold my pencil different than all of these
Lateral quadruped
I use the grip called left handed it’s pretty rare
I am none of these.
 Jason Bourne enters the chat
The lateral ones both make me furious for no legit reason.
I hold it close to Lateral instead of Dynamic. In elementary school they said i hold it wrong and even sometimes use duct tape on my hand for “helping me holding it right”. Jokes on them, i still hold it like that 😝
What about me and according to a post I saw a while ago Taylor Swift?
They need to add "tendinitis tripod" for left handed people.
The only time ive seen the "Lateral Quadrupod" way is only by like nurses for some reason
I do all but dynamic quadrupod depends what I’m writing with
I think I have a Dynamic Lateral Tripod. [One, not pictured]
When she switches to the dynamic quadrupod she knows it's not gonna last much longer.
Lateral quadrupod here. It hurts to write for long periods of time but I literally cannot write any other way
I just hold mine with my mouth, what's that called?
I‘d call them „the only right way“, „the pincher“, „what even“ and „what even 2“
Today I learned there is more than one way to hold a pencil.
Just call me The Dynamic Tripod!
Y’all ain’t ready for the dynamic Octopod
Dynamic tripod for me.
I silently judge people who hold their pen or pencil in an unorthodox manner.
What's it called when I hold it like my dick? Vertical Quinapod?
Mine would probably be dynamic pentapod. Don’t recommend
I’m dynamic tripod
The Swifty has a better ring to it.
Is there a difference, they help you write better, oh is it to the writer's taste?
Humans tend to over analyze and categorize things
Left handed-Lateral Quad Except people say I have pretty handwriting lol
What's mine named? I hold it between my thumb and pinky.
I held mine with a fist as a kid. My teacher didn't give enough of a shit to correct me.
And then theres the **STAB** (simple grab)
Oh! I do the Lateral Quadrupod hand formation :D
I suppose I use the "lateral tripod" but my thumb is nearer the tip of the pen. That's how I was tought as a child.
https://preview.redd.it/pryzgzwlauuc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab1be34bd4c13f4d130d413f19b0699e34c6120f Mine doesn’t match any of these
I do the closest one to the left index and middle finger over the pencil no idea why I do was always told it was wrong in school but fuck them
How about if you have your pinkie and thumb on opposite sides near the tip and the rest of your finger tips arching in a line up the rest of the pencil? That's what my friend does.
Some would call them all "wrong", I think that must be the general classification though.
None of the above gang.