The Bizarre Way Taylor Swift Holds a Pen Has Left the Internet in Shock

There's no denying Taylor Swift is an exceptional talent and she's kept her fans aka Swifties hooked to her music for all these years. Her fandom is obsessed with every detail of her life, but after nearly 18 years of her career, they missed out on one thing that is now disturbing people. And it is the way she holds her pen, yes. So fans' attention has now shifted to this. 

An X, formerly Twitter user, @peter, shared a collage of Swift holding her pen between her index and middle finger, unlike others, and wrote, "My 2024 is off to a rocky start, as I just learned this is how Taylor Swift holds her pen." The post that was shared in January this year amassed 1.3 million views and hundreds of comments from fellow Swifties wondering why she does that. 

@tkane commented, "This is absolutely serial killer behavior." Another user, @MrFOMO88, reasoned why Swift holds her pen like that, "She has played guitar her entire life. makes sense." Meanwhile, @jamesxosullivan, shared his mother has the same habit, "Yeah, that's how my mom writes too. Someone needs to poll on this. Would be interesting to see if it's regionalized behavior." 

Meanwhile, others explained this could be a result of some injury and shared their own experiences like @whiterabbit808 who wrote, "I have a nerve injury at the tip of my index finger and often use my middle finger for dexterity tasks. now this thread has me worried that I have a dark reputation as a psychopath." @crkranz echoed, "I broke my arm in 6th grade and had to write like this because of my cast." @dogmomPibbleChi added, "They actually make pencils shaped to hold like this for persons with joints that dislocate easily."

However, this one fan, @Crazcurlz, wondered how Swifties didn't notice this until now, "As a very long time Swiftie, I find it very funny that people are just discovering this. She's been writing this way her entire documented career. It just is. I also had a childhood classmate who wrote like this. It's not unheard of but very rare." 

But, what is the explanation for this? Should Swifites be concerned? In her song Anti-Hero's music video, the singer/songwriter is seen holding the pen in the not-so-normal way taking notes as one of her alternate egos. Although the most commonly accepted way of holding a pen is with one's thumb and index finger, the 32-year-old singer prefers to use her middle finger instead of her thumb. Fortunately, a Slate article dived deeper into this asking occupational therapists to find out why is so. 

Cathy Richmond, a retired occupational therapist in Omaha, Nebraska, who has 12 years of experience working in schools, opined, "I would say she's protecting her joints, and if it's working for her, good for her. It is an unusual grip. I've only had a very few kids that use it, and they were mostly kids with really low muscle tone." Another therapist Cheryl Crow added that there could be two main reasons- one is "they're hypermobile, or their joints move too much" or "rheumatoid arthritis." 

While the grasp is strange, Crow reassured Swifties "It's a perfectly functional way to write."