When I was in junior high school, lined note book paper in the school supply stores was available in both three-hole and two-hole punch. Some kids liked three-hole paper; some liked the two-hole.
Notebook binders came in a two-ring and three-ring configuration to fit the available paper. It seems to me the two types of paper were close in overall size but their dimensions actually differed with one being slightly larger than the other. Nevertheless, teachers did not seem to care which paper came across their desk.
This was also a time when kids competed with each other to see who could carry the fanciest notebook. I splurged one year on a leather bound two-ring zippered note book at $2.95. The normal run-of-the-mill blue cloth covered ring binder was probably around 50 cents.
I preferred the two-hole paper because the lines were narrower and I thought I could write neater. The three-hole paper had wider lines and may have negatively reminded me of the primary school Indian Chief tablets that had really wide lines.
At some point, and I think it was in the later fifties, the paper manufacturers decided it was not cost effective to be manufacturing two different sizes of notebook paper and they standardized on three-hole. The standardization on three hole paper caused the two ring binder manufacturers to shift to manufacturing only three ring.
Waldo, I liked the larger lined paper for the same reason: I thought I could write neater on it. I would have been in heaven with a leather notebook, but did not get one of those till much later in life.
I managed somehow to have a zippered leather notebook while in high school. I don't remember how I got it. Probably saved for it out of my paper delivering money. Two hole or three hole didn't matter to me. But I liked the wider lines. Narrow lines made me feel like I was cramping and besides if the assignment was one or two pages, it made a difference. Mine had pockets inside and even now I like folders that have pockets and keep some on hand.
I think we are forgetting another option in this notebook paper discussion. They combined the 3hole and 2 hole and made 5 hole paper so it would fit either style of notebook.
I had a leather zippered 3 hole notebook too with pockets on either end. It had a rather bumpy surface. It had belonged to Daddy and he passed it along to me. Took me through high school and college and many years of teaching.They weren't in style anymore but I loved it. I finally wore it out just a few years ago and tossed it.
If my feeble memory serves me right, I believe the narrow lined was called college ruled paper.
Believe you are right, Sarge. I had forgotten that. A zippered leather notebook was a sign of status. I think mine was second hand. I don't know what has happened to it but I am sure that I don't still have it. Zippered notebooks were being used in the 40's. I graduated in 1948.
Sarge,you are right. A couple of my UD classes specified college ruled paper and I hated it because it made my writing seem so squeezed. Today we are about about to lose cursive altogether because of texting and computers. It won't be long before kids won't be able to read the original famous documents and will demand that they be typed! :-\
:(
Diane -
There are high school students today who can't read cursive, and they obviously can't write it!
Sad, sad, sad.
It is an even trade-off that they can text faster than most adults can type? ;D
I just checked Office Depot and found College Ruled Notebook Filler Paper, 8.5 x 5.5, 7-hole punched. 120 sheets, $2.49.
OfficeMax has 3-hole paper in either wide line or college ruled, 8.5 x 10.5, at $1.49 for 150 sheets.
I cannot remember what notebook paper cost in the 50s but it might have been 10 or 15 cents a pack.
Today's good quality three ring binders seem really expensive but even the so called heavy duty binders are not heavy duty, in my opinion.
I do know that for hearing impaired kids texting is wonderful because everybody does it. In that world they are normal. But I'm not sure about using numbers to substitute for words and letters only for whole words. I guess for quick communication only it's fine, but it sure does lose something in longer form. I just can't imagine a beautiful sonnet written in text form. ::)
I hate to see kids losing the ability to write cursively. Many elementary schools don't even require learning it, and with so many things squeezed into every day in the classroom, it is an easy subject to skip over. Also, some teachers think it is important and others don't, so there is not the continuity of continual progressions through the years. Electronic SmartBoards in classrooms are replacing chalkboards or even white boards, and so goes the trends of the times. I understand the new world of technology doesn't require nice handwriting, but I miss it. My grandmother (1893-1988) completed school only to the 4th grade, yet had such beautiful handwriting, expert math computation skills, and precise spelling skills throughout her long life.
I have to admit I do like the smart boards, but I don't like to see cursive eliminated. The fire company got a thank you note last week and the young engineer who is the assistant secretary couldn't read parts of it!
You're right--the SmartBoards are awesome!
New is great, but I still want to be able to sign my name. :(
How about an X? ;D ;D ;D
That might work, if you could read it. ;D
I have noticed in the past, my method of writing out checks when paying bills, and this thread reminded me of that yesterday when I was paying some bills. I print the date (not the number, but the abbreviation for the month), I print the name of the recipient, but write in cursive putting in the amount, and of course, my signature is in cursive. I do not write very neatly so the amount is sometimes difficult to read, but there has been no problems because most people look at the numbers rather than the cursive spelling of the amount of the check.
It may be, in the future, that handwriting will be a thing of the past. But, I don't think it will be a totally lost form of communication.
Larryj
A check? What's a check? ;D Actually I did cut 'way back several years ago. I have all my utilities auto pay directly from my main checking account. Most of my spending goes on pay pal or charge cards, so that's just one check per month. I only write four or five checks a month, if that. I do write checks for donations, even if they take credit cards because I don't want them to have to pay a credit card fee.
While I love my computer and have access to my bank bill pay features, plus using the web to pay bills, I prefer to sit down and write the check. I am drifting more and more to using the debit card while shopping or a credit card to get airline points (like I am going to fly anywhere!). We did have an incident some months back at the post office. Someone broke into the drive-up mail box and took all the mail looking for something they could cash. As a result, four of our bills never made it. I had to stop payment and contacted the companies as to what happened and re-issue checks. Now, we actually get out of the car and walk into the P.O. and drop them in the slot. But I still would rather just sit down and write out a check.
Larryj
I always use my credit card rather than a debit card because apparently there is no "insurance " or overdraft protection on the card as there is with a credit card...or something like that. With all the banks trying to figure out how to charge more fees and make more money I expect all that to change soon. But I pay no charges of any kind...yet! I'm very frugal. And I forgot, I do pay my credit card on line so there's no check for that either.duh! Sometimes if I want to use a charge card but am a little unsure about the company, I get a virtual charge card number and use a short date and only the exact amount of money so there is little risk.