And since this discussion lost any point, I will end it here.

Except the conversation didn't go on that way. By the way, when people in that forum were discussing that particular case, it wasn't "the way Americans do it", but just one particular case. It seems that everyone in America does it differently.

ElizaG and Calming Tea made some good points. Happysmileylady and dirty ethel rackham are overreacting and being more offended by my words than their actual intention was. No need to be a drama queen.

OK then, if you have a problem with the word "correct", you can replace it with "standard". Also, correct doesn't equal superior. I used that word because in my environment non-standard grips are considered incorrect. But some members of the forum already accused me of saying that Europeans are superior to Americans, which is unfair. My question and comments had nothing to do with that and didn't imply it in any way.

OK, thank you, I appreciate your input. That is what I wanted to know: if children in America are actually taught this standard grip, if it is insisted upon and reinforced. It wasn't my intention to start a discussion about what or who is more "superior".

Now you are putting your own words into my mouth and, therefore, I rest my case.

At the end of the day, my question isn't about if the standard pencil grip is superior to others. It's about why a large percentage of Americans don't learn / don't use the standard grip that is used in pretty much the rest of the world.

That is absolutely not true. Of course, I did form some opinions about Americans based on the previous experiences, but I don't generalise the entire nation and definitely don't argue against your input. I'm interested in everyone's opinion, but some people saw my question as some kind of attack and then responded with a counter-attack. That is what I argue against.

And this confirms exactly what I said in my previous comment. Such an inappropriate assumption that has nothing to do with reality. I searched for these forums to actually ask a question and get some answers, not to get some type of pleasure from telling people they do things wrong.

Exactly. People always tend to get offended and question others' motives when they somehow don't like any form of criticism. Americans seem to be especially sensitive to the criticism of their country and/or people. "I wonder if "Humble Thinker" and "Fast and Curious" are related." Well, based on his/her name, I think we might have a few things in common :))

Unfortunately, I don't have the links anymore and don't remember them, but the results varied in different studies. (And not all of them were in English, either.) Most concluded that there were several grips that worked just as well as tripod. In some studies the conventional way of writing produced better results, and in some it was inconclusive. It's all individual - a person with an incorrect grip can write faster and more legibly than another person with a correct grip. However, a lot of incorrect ways can cause fatigue and/or pain. I particularly remember a study performed by a lady from Finland, and there was a section that compared Finnish students with American students. Her explanation for the more incorrect and inconsistent grips among Americans was that they start school much earlier than Finnish children and therefore start writing when their hands are still not capable of a mature pencil grip, so they develop bad habits that persist at an older age as well. However, I'm not sure about that theory, because in many European countries children start school as early as Americans and you still see much more of a tripod grip.

The studies I've seen had different results and different conclusions. It's not always consistent and may depend on many factors.

Well, unfortunately, a lot of them also have bad spelling and grammar, but that is a different topic altogether.

Same here, and I do enjoy all of the things you mentioned, but for the last few years I have also paid attention to the pen grips, because that is something that caught my attention. I don't travel to see that, but once I'm there, I make my observations. I also looked online to compare different nationalities.

I can't speak for all Europeans, but I do notice general trends. Let me add that I have travelled all over Europe extensively, and of course, the Internet is a magical thing where you can find whatever you're interested in :)