Good handwriting still important . . . for that successful stick-up note

[Dennis Baron]

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Good handwriting still important . . . for that successful stick-up note

Since the computer came on the scene and rendered all other forms of  
writing obsolete, no one needs good handwriting anymore, not for  
school, not for work, not even for bar mitzvah invitations. But Emily  
Post reminds us that the Palmer method isn’t dead after all. A  
legible, handwritten note may not get you into an Ivy League college,  
but it’s still de rigueur if you want to pull off a good bank heist....

Chicago resident Duwayne Allen found this out the hard way. Allen was  
caught by police after handing a teller at the Park National Bank a  
barely-legible stick-up note reading in part, “I gut a bomd.”

After losing valuable minutes explaining to frustrated tellers  
exactly what his hold-up note said, Allen only had time to scoop up a  
little over $2,000. But as he fled the scene on foot he had to  
jettison some of that cash to slow down the bank’s security guard,  
who was hot on his trail.

The guard, an off-duty Chicago police officer, called in the heist  
before giving chase, then stopped to pick up the discarded money.  
Responding officers caught Allen hiding on a nearby porch, where he  
threw down the rest of his haul, and briefly held them at bay with  
the only weapon at his disposal, a double negative, with which he  
repeatedly told officers, “I don’t got no gun.” ...



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Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English                                   	
University of Illinois	

608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

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