The Next Person Game in English

[tōkai devotee]

Well, I never wear a cap. In summer I wear a wide brimmed hat, but you can't wear them backwards!!


The next person loves to try food of many different countries.

[becki_kanou]

I always love to try new food, especially if it's spicy.

The next person enjoys eating yogurt for breakfast.

[tōkai devotee]

I never eat yoghurt for breakfast. Perhaps I should try it as I've been bored with my breakfasts lately!!

The next person has been writing Christmas cards today!

[NileCat]

Long time no see, tokai devotee-san!
Yes, I did. Whenever I handwrite something in English, I wonder which I should use cursive or print letters. I learned (proper!) cursive style at school decades ago. But it seems no longer very popular. Hmm…
The next person likes old-fashioned cursive handwriting.

[becki_kanou]

I like it, but I can't do it myself. I usually write in a mish-mash of print and cursive letters.

The next person has already finished putting up their holiday decorations.

[micahcowan]

The next person has already finished putting up their holiday decorations.

Yes, but only because we bother to put very few up. And I myself had no part in it.

Had to respond to this one:

The next person likes old-fashioned cursive handwriting.

What is meant by "old-fashioned cursive"? Cursive still seems pretty popular to me, so I'm curious about the contrast?

On related notes, I like properly done typesetting (not necessarily with actual letter-block printers: digital is fine), which seems to have become fairly rare in this age of word processors, and lazy justified text in magazines. I also like shorthand, which has nearly disappeared (I also have a book on Japanese shorthand/速記, though I haven't cracked it open yet; I do plan to learn it at some point).

The next person drinks their coffee black.

[NileCat]

No I don’t. I prefer white, no sugar.

What is meant by "old-fashioned cursive"? Cursive still seems pretty popular to me, so I'm curious about the contrast?

I presume this (as a personal handwriting) looks old-fashioned except for the commercial use.


Also, I personally have an impression that this kind of style is not that “popular” (compared to some decades ago). Or am I wrong?


The next person likes to watch Christmas light-ups.

[micahcowan]

The next person likes to watch Christmas light-ups.

They're okay... I don't dislike them, I like some of them, but I don't actually like to go trawling around the neighborhood specifically to see them, like the rest of my family does.

What is meant by "old-fashioned cursive"? Cursive still seems pretty popular to me, so I'm curious about the contrast?

I presume this (as a personal handwriting) looks old-fashioned except for the commercial use.

This one doesn't look appreciably different from the one below, except that it was written using a wide pen (imitation of fountain pen, or more likely a pen with a separate ink-well, like what was in use a couple hundred years ago).

Also, I personally have an impression that this kind of style is not that “popular” (compared to some decades ago). Or am I wrong?

I still see this, or variations of it, pretty regularly. It depends, though: I don't see the beginning strokes, pretty much ever. But I don't think they were really ever used, either. They're not a part of "real" handwriting. You're taught the beginning and ending strokes, but those exist just in order to connect to the next letter, so they're not needed for the beginnings. I do usually see strokes at the end (at least, I use them myself), primarily because that's how you've learned to finish the letter. But not usually as exaggerated as you see in the font you show: that sort of clearly exaggerated final stroke is stylistic, and honestly is a little out-of-place with the actual style of that font, IMO. It seems more appropriate to someone who's writing quickly, in which case the style would be a bit more cramped I think.

I learned the capital letters in exactly this way, though at some point I reverted many of the letters to a more convenient form. I think that's almost always been the case too: just because we learned to do it a certain way, doesn't mean we actually do that, especially as adults - it's the foundational/prototypical form of what eventually becomes our own, real handwriting. I still write my M (which is often, since it's my initial letter) with an initial curl like that, though not as tightly as you see there. I got rid of most other curls, because it tends to be viewed as "girlish".

I can't speak to younger learners; when I was a kid I think you were expected to be able to write well in cursive form by the end of the third grade; my daughter's in fourth grade, and I don't think there's been much treatment of it at all, perhaps because typing is much more common than handwriting now.

If I were to sit down and write several paragraphs, I'd almost certainly do so in cursive, in a form not too different from your example. When I write quick notes, like shopping lists and such, I tend to use a style more towards "print", but with a few more connections than is proper for true "print" (a teacher once assigned homework and required it to be in print, not cursive; I got marked down because my "print" was a bit too connected for the teacher's taste).

Note that while I think everyone in my generation learned cursive in this way, judging from my memory of what my friends were looking, and classroom materials I saw at the time, my own educational experiences are fairly atypical, as I was homeschooled, so I could be wrong. But I still see cursive used fairly regularly.

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The next person is occasionally a big, fat liar.

* (Note that "big fat liar" is an English idiom that mostly indicates the size of the lie; it does not usually refer to body size, even though it sounds like it does.)

[NileCat]

I’m trying not to be.

Thanks for your precise explanation, micahcowan

The next person has written a letter to Santa!

[tōkai devotee]

Not this year, or not lately, but I have written letters to Santa when I was a kid. My 7 year old son wrote a letter and even got a reply. So Santa MUST be real!!


The next person believes in Santa!

[becki_kanou]

I believe in St. Nicholas anyway, he was a 7th century Turkish bishop if memory serves. Oops, 4th century apparently

To keep with the Christmas theme: The next person enjoys singing Christmas carols. (I know I do!)

[Dustin]

IT depends whether you mean at a doorstep, or humming to myself in the shower. The first not so much, but the latter SURE.


The next person likes fruitcake

[becki_kanou]

C'mon, Dustin NOBODY likes fruitcake.

The next person is currently wearing a Santa Hat! (I am!)

[Dustin]

C'mon, Dustin NOBODY likes fruitcake.

The next person is currently wearing a Santa Hat! (I am!)

Oh how RIGHT you are!

I'm not wearing a santa hat

The next person has a REAL christmas tree ( everyone I know has the fake ones now )

[Forgetmaenot]

No,but I do have a real wreath hanging on the door. Actually have never had a real tree.

The next person has stayed up all night baking cookies to give away tommorow.