SIGN HERE

[jeezifonly]

Signatures. I want to ask about yours. Not your fragrance, not your best mixed drink, or even a move in bed… The thing you do with a pen on paper. **No mention of your name, please!**

 

More often now, we are asked to create our signature with our finger on a touch pad, whether point of purchase, or at your door receiving a package. We can all agree that for the most part, that signature will never look like the one in pen and ink. So let’s skip that signature completely in this discussion.

 

Is your legal signature legible? Meaning, you can see the letters that spell the words. Or is it more a scrawl? I scrawl. My deliberate handwriting is very legible, sometimes quite beautiful, and my signature is nothing like that. It’s an automatic movement with the hand, holding an object. Kinda like wanking. And as messy. I never write anything else that could be connected with that scribble, at least not if someone else is meant to read it.

 

When did the signature you use now get set? On your first drivers license? Your first checkbook? Your first set of loan documents where you did it 10,000 times? 

 

Is there anything about your signature that only you would know, making it harder to forge? I knew a woman years ago who when signing anything, did a final move, a little dot of Ink below the line under a particular letter, which she smeared in a particular direction. It would look like an ordinary pen accident, but it was her way of knowing that it was indeed hers. I thought that was cool.

 

Does your name seem too long for repetitive signing? Contain Suffixes? Complex middle namesI? I am a junior but my signature doesn’t reflect it - it all kinda runs together.

If you are younger and received little or no formal teaching of cursive writing, was forming your legal signature a challenge? 

If it was a simple process to alter your official signature to a version that was preferable, would you change it? If you changed your name for marriage or other reason, how easily did you adapt?

 

Is someone’s signature a point of attraction?- not sexual, but something unique or beautiful about a signature that makes you want to get to know them? Or have you watched the state of mind when people sign? On auto-pilot? Particular attention to it, perhaps with a flourish?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ylvWg6AV7g

 

An autograph is something everyone makes, especially in public, so tell us all about…

Yours sincerely,

[+ MysticMenace]

4 minutes ago, jeezifonly said:

Is your legal signature legible?

hahaha, nope. it is my own john hancock type of signature - pretty much spent the entire AP Spanish class my senior year practicing my signature.

4 minutes ago, jeezifonly said:

When did the signature you use now get set?

high school.

5 minutes ago, jeezifonly said:

Is there anything about your signature that only you would know, making it harder to forge?

yes.

6 minutes ago, jeezifonly said:

If you are younger and received little or no formal teaching of cursive writing, was forming your legal signature a challenge?

fortunately, i learned cursive writing.

6 minutes ago, jeezifonly said:

If it was a simple process to alter your official signature to a version that was preferable, would you change it?

i still love my signature...granted it might be obnoxiously loud and space-consuming and takes about 5 seconds to do...still would not change it.

7 minutes ago, jeezifonly said:

Is someone’s signature a point of attraction?

actually, yes!

[samhexum]

4 hours ago, jeezifonly said:

My deliberate handwriting is very legible, sometimes quite beautiful

Damn, you'll look for any excuse to pat yourself on the back, toot your own horn, or any other cliche about being impressed with yourself, huh?

[jeezifonly]

30 minutes ago, samhexum said:

Damn, you'll look for any excuse to pat yourself on the back, toot your own horn, or any other cliche about being impressed with yourself, huh?

It’s a skill set that I cultivated along with drawing, crafts and other sissy occupations. Its beauty is only in contrast to my signature which is shit. (We’re you asked by girl friends to forge ‘Phys Ed excuses’ signed by a parent in high school? I was…LOL) 

[Luv2play]

My signature was set around the time I entered university at age 18. I remember making a conscious effort to make it distinctive and different from my cursive writing style. I still retain it today more than half a century later.

My last name is ten letters so a bit longish. So I most often end my signature in a scrawl. For legibility, when required on a document, I take care to form the letters at the end. 

That becomes impossible if I am signing multiple documents but usually the name is printed below so it doesn't matter.

I'm.an artist too so if I'm working in pen or pencil, I use my usual signature. If working in oils, I print my name with my initial. Which reminds me, I only use the initial of my first name in my signature, never the full first name since it would get too long. 

Have you ever noticed that many forms contain a box for a signature and the size of the box seems to assume everyone is a John Doe.

 

[+ RJD]

As a left-hander, there are challlenges to writing on paper and my handwriting was atrocious when I learned cursive early in grade school.  However, it was a Catholic elementary school and one of my 4th grade nuns was a stickler for proper handwriting.  She understood it was difficult for left-handers and worked closely with me.  She'd demonstrate how to hold the pen, form the letters, and insisted I practice, practice, practice.  Fast forward several months and she would pretend to be angry because my handwriting was nicer than hers. 

I remember having a few different signature variations early on, but the one I still use today was set probably in my late teens.  It's legible but has a unique style.  My upper-case "R" is uncommon enough that most of my colleagues can identify if something is signed by me by glancing at the document and seeing the "R." 

A handwriting expert once analyzed my signature and said it showed I was balanced, in-control, organized, and direct, all of which are true.  She also joked that based on her experience doing this she suspects John Hancock was a huge narcissist.  

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by RJD

[+ Charlie]

My signature is legible, IMHO, but over the years it has become less neat that it was when I was young. When I look at my signature on things I signed in college days, its neatness looks rather juvenile to me. I hate trying to sign it on an iPad or other electronic device, because although it is probably still decipherable, it doesn't look anything like my regular script. I always use my full first and last name and middle initial on checks and legal documents, but not on more casual pieces of writing. I have a particular way of carrying the crossed "t" in my first name into my middle initial, which I never do in my normal cursive script, and I never use a period after the MI, so if I didn't see those peculiarities, I would know I hadn't signed the document.

My spouse, on the other hand, decided at some time in the distant past to make his signature an indecipherable scrawl, because he thought it would be harder to forge. On the contrary, I can forge it on checks and other documents, because I know what the major elements are supposed to be, but the total signature is so irregular even from one sample to another, that I imagine someone else could, too, after carefully examining a few examples. When we did our mail-in ballots for the 2020 election, he wrote a carefully legible signature on it, and when I saw it, I said, "They will never accept that as your real signature, because that's not what it looks like on your voter registration." I don't know whether the officials tossed the ballot or not.

[MikeBiDude]

Mine has changed over the years, always messy, my cursive always messy. Most of my biz signatures now handled by DocuSign, I love it! 

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

My sister recently pointed out that I use two different signatures.  When I'm signing official documents, I do a full script Samual Fitzpatrick; however, when signing personal correspondence, my signature is a block S with a casual sam.

[+ tassojunior]

It's sometimes just "your mark". I set mine around age 30 with the first letters of the first and last name emphasized and the rest a couple wavy lines, as many do. 

There's a huge problem in most states with signature-matching, especially on mail-in ballots, for young people because they're prone to change their signature. A lot of their ballots get discarded if there's no time to cure them. It also gets to be a problem in banks questioning checks and endorsements. Electronic matching is common now. It's best to choose a mark and keep it early. 

I have a friend who's a pianist and a professional art historian who sort of mentally lives in the 18th century and she always writes in nothing but calligraphy. To refined people then our cursive would seem crude. I wonder how much of a future handwriting has. Look at doctors. But you need a distinctive mark. 

[jeezifonly]

4 hours ago, tassojunior said:

It's sometimes just "your mark". I set mine around age 30 with the first letters of the first and last name emphasized and the rest a couple wavy lines, as many do. 

There's a huge problem in most states with signature-matching, especially on mail-in ballots, for young people because they're prone to change their signature. A lot of their ballots get discarded if there's no time to cure them. It also gets to be a problem in banks questioning checks and endorsements. Electronic matching is common now. It's best to choose a mark and keep it early. 

I have a friend who's a pianist and a professional art historian who sort of mentally lives in the 18th century and she always writes in nothing but calligraphy. To refined people then our cursive would seem crude. I wonder how much of a future handwriting has. Look at doctors. But you need a distinctive mark. 

Look at my dogs. Each also has a distinctive mark. Unforgeable.  😜

[Guest]

My signature is messy and the name is indiscernible except to those who know me.  

It evolved in my 20’s when I was signatory on complex transactions where the closing would involve 20-30 signatures from each party.  

So, it’s a short hand version of my name which is quite long and not “flowing” in cursive, so I will not be abandoning my shorthand version.      

I abandoned cursive decades ago and print everything for ease in reading. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by BnaC

[Epigonos]

I developed my signature during my late 20's to what it still is at nearly 81.  It is quite florid and appears easy to read but really isn't.  I use my middle initial because it is the only letter in my signature that goes below the line and I like the look.  When I'm signing for ATM or credit card purchases I simply draw a straight line.  A sales clerk once told me that I could write just about anything I wanted, even Mickey Mouse, and it would be accepted -- it's true.  When I print a return address on an envelope I always omit the middle initial for security purposes. 

[jawjateck]

The signature for my first name was developed in college, but the distinctive signature I still use for my last name was developed in the course of my first professional job after college. During the years I worked there, I had to sign thousands of documents, most certainly still retained in some storage format by the US Navy and the Dept of Energy. That particular signature was unique to that job. Below the signature line was printed "Mr. J. J. Teck, Official Title". So, I signed J. J. Teck alot.

I  used my first and last name in all subsequent employment. The only time I use my middle initial now is on a legal document.

[BSR]

Some kids don't learn cursive in school.  If they don't learn how to write cursive, how do they develop a signature?

[jeezifonly]

23 minutes ago, BSR said:

Some kids don't learn cursive in school.  If they don't learn how to write cursive, how do they develop a signature?

X

[+ WilliamM]

I attended a public school in rural  Massachusetts where penmanship was very important and. Only lately do I become last neat now that I am retired.

My younger brother went to the same schools and his writing is pretty bad but  we had  very different  teachers. My teachers usually became principal, his did not

 

Bit confused, bu

[+ FreshFluff]

Mine slowly evolved from the beautiful cursive I was taught in third grade to two scribbles. When I sign important documents, something I make sure the first letter of the first and last names are legible. 

[rvwnsd]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

Is your legal signature legible? Meaning, you can see the letters that spell the words. Or is it more a scrawl?

You have to look carefully, but when you do you will see all five letters of my first name, my middle initial, and all six letters of my last name.

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

When did the signature you use now get set? On your first drivers license? Your first checkbook? Your first set of loan documents where you did it 10,000 times? 

My signature as it is now was set shortly after graduating university and has stayed the same ever since. Before settling on the one I use now, my middle initial was separate from my first name (it now looks as if it is the last letter of my first name) and the last few letters of my last name looked different than they do now. 

 

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

Is there anything about your signature that only you would know, making it harder to forge? I knew a woman years ago who when signing anything, did a final move, a little dot of Ink below the line under a particular letter, which she smeared in a particular direction. It would look like an ordinary pen accident, but it was her way of knowing that it was indeed hers. I thought that was cool.

Yes. When I changed the way the last three letters appear I included a little upward curve that, at this point, I don't even think about anymore. Also, the tail of the first latter of my first name makes a 90-degree turn to form the top of the second letter in my name. So far, no one has been able to duplicate either.

 

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

Does your name seem too long for repetitive signing? 

At twelve letters, not really.

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

 Contain Suffixes? Complex middle namesI? 

 

It includes my middle initial. 

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

it all kinda runs together.

 

If you don't look carefully, it appears that my signature runs together. 

 

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

If it was a simple process to alter your official signature to a version that was preferable, would you change it? 

No, I wouldn't. I like the way it looks and also like the look on people's faces when they realize they can see every letter in my name, despite me writing it quickly and in one stroke.

On 9/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, jeezifonly said:

Is someone’s signature a point of attraction?- not sexual, but something unique or beautiful about a signature that makes you want to get to know them? Or have you watched the state of mind when people sign? On auto-pilot? Particular attention to it, perhaps with a flourish?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ylvWg6AV7g

 

An autograph is something everyone makes, especially in public, so tell us all about…

Yours sincerely,

It can be a point of attraction. I'm always curious about how people arrived at their signatures. My dad had a signature that was ornate and simple at the same time. Despite having the same first and last names as him (different middle initials) out signatures looked nothing alike. My brother, whose first name is completely different than my dad's, signs his name similarly to the way my dad did. 

At this point, I'm on auto-pilot when I sign my name. However, I'm fascinated by watching people sign theirs. 

Lastly, with a couple of exceptions, when signing a touch screen I draw a squiggly line. They typically render a "signature" that looks absolutely nothing like my signature, so why should I bother?