HAWAII STORIES
“The Written Word”
Editor’s Note:
- Penmanship: The technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called “hands” while an individual’s style of penmanship is referred to as “handwriting“.
- Cursive: Rapid handwriting in which letters are set down in full; done in flowing strokes with the letters joined together.
- Print: Handwriting form in which the letters are not connected with each other. This is also known as ‘printing’.
- Longhand: Ordinary handwriting, in which letters and words are set down in full, as opposed to shorthand or to typing.
- Shorthand: An abbreviated symbolic method writing that increases speed and brevity of writing. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography.
ENT
I felt a little guilty sitting there in Zippy’s Vineyard with a refreshing glass of red wine and overhearing the conversation of the two elderly gentlemen seated in the booth behind me. Try as I might — even to the point of ordering another glass of wine to go with my Zip-Spaghetti and Meat Sauce dish – I failed. I had surmised that I probably had set myself down in my booth smack-dab in the middle of their conversation, and had missed some of the important lead-ins, but I caught the gist…
“I tell you, I was a little bewildered – ‘No’ – shocked is the best word to describe the way I felt at the time,” the silver-haired gentleman remarked. “I just couldn’t believe the question my 20-year old grandson had just asked.”
“There we were, just he and I, sitting in this very same booth discussing his studies and his ambitions following his graduation from UH in June 2017. I was trying to share my ‘manao’ (innermost self) and my life’s experiences with him. With all of my grandkids, I never butt-in. They’re my daughter’s and her husband’s responsibilities.”
“Heck, now I’m asking myself – maybe I should have gotten closer with this kid when he was just a tot.”
My curiosity was really getting the best of me. Heck, I have one grandson also attending UH, and a granddaughter who this year received Congressional appointment to the U. S. Air Force Academy. Perhaps I can glean additional insights in life’s lessons from this back-table ‘tete-a-tete’, I convinced myself as I straightened my back and body posture…
“I think I kinda know what you’re trying to say,” the younger of the two chimed in. “I don’t have any grandchildren in college yet – just high school.”
”But, you know what, I can’t even get them to chat with me when they come over to my house. I constantly have to skillfully nag to get any kind of conversation going. I actually study the various kinds of new video games out on the market today – just so I can question them about the skills needed to play them. You know, like – ‘CALL OF DUTY’; and ‘PORTAL’. Something like that.”
“Can you imagine that?” he intoned his long-time friend. “Me, who never even had a computer when I was still working. What do I know about this digital age? My secretary did all my typing and computer stuff. I just dictated letters; wrote my reports in longhand; and delegated. She did the work,” he said as he threw both arms up into the air.
Now I was getting really interested in this ‘man-talk’ – kind of reminded me of the old magazine, ‘True Confessions’, stories…
“You just hit the nail on the head,” the silver-haired man blurted out!”
“LONGHAND…that is what I had said to my grandson. I told him that when I went to college in San Francisco, I didn’t know how to type, thus no portable typewriter for me. And, also, there was no such thing as laptops or computer stations for personal, private use… I said that it took me forever to finish a term-paper or a research report… because I had to do it in LONGHAND.”
“Do you know what that ‘almost-a-College-graduate’ said to me with his typical, non-committal ‘blank look’…? Hear this now: ‘WHAT IS LONGHAND??’” the elder man shouted directly into the passing waitress’ direction.
Hearing that piece of ‘next-booth-relayed conversation’, I just couldn’t help myself – I chortled right into my Zip-spaghetti … then I leapt out of my booth, and ran straight into the men’s bathroom.
Yes, I did have to clean myself up a bit; but at least I had a chance to just laugh out loud as I stood before the urinal… And, “Yes, times have changed”, I uttered to no one. So I had better make that change too!!
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STORY SUBMITTED BY:
E. Tiwanak
IMAGES PROVIDED BY:
Kuulei/Internet
Heroes 5-0 
August 20, 2016 at 4:52 pm
My father,who is 90,enjoys writing me letters in longhand! Maybe he just doesn’t like to type.
he describes how his life is over in Thailand,where he retired.His money goes a LONG way over there!
I get his letters with colorful stamps and usually contains a few photographs of what he is doing,lately.
He never learned how to send an attachment,so this method works well for him!