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xkcd #2912: Cursive Letters
(imgs.xkcd.com)
Alt text:
๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ด ๐ฌ๐ช๐น๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ช๐ต ๐ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐น๐ป๐ธ๐ซ๐ช๐ซ๐ต๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ธ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ฏ๐พ๐ท ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ, ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ธ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฌ๐ช๐ผ๐ฎ ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ช๐ต๐ผ๐ธ ๐ช ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ป๐ธ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ๐ฎ๐ป.
Serious question for people younger than me: How did you come up with a signature if you didn't learn cursive?
just write your name really fast without lifting the pen
I just do a lil scribble and call it a day. Signatures are kind of stupid anyway.
They are not especially useful now, but back before everything was computerized, signing your name on a check or a credit card receipt was a way you could help stop people from committing fraud if they stole your card or your checkbook.
Wait your signature is supposed to just be your name in cursive? But then wouldn't that defeat the point? I thought in the olden days it was supposed to be like a proof that you were the right person since you knew how your signature was written.
Anyways, for my signature I just kinda designed it. It was ages ago so I forgot my process, but it was deliberate and I remember making a whole bunch of sketches before finding one I liked. And since then I've incrementally improved it.
Although cursive has a unified design, everyone writes cursive a little differently. The idea is that cursive is designed to write whole words in a single stroke. The concept of a secure signature in cursive is that the more work a single stroke is, the more uniquely a person writes it.
That is to say, even though you may have the same name as someone else, it's extremely unlikely that a person can copy your nuances precisely enough to forge your signature on the fly. It isn't a perfect system, but it's easy enough to verify a signature that people could do it before technology was around to aid that process.
That concept is also why they say the actual design of your signature is less important than the consistency of doing it the same every time.
There was some guy years and years ago who tried to see how ridiculous he could make his signature and have a store still accept it. As I recall he got to the point of drawing pictures on the receipt. Eventually he tried to buy something expensive like a TV for +1000 bucks before someone finally said something.
Of course now that search engines suck I'm having trouble finding the writeup he did.
At one time illiterate people could just mark an X. The security of a signature isn't really in it's uniqueness or it's relationship with your name. Security of a signature is down to the fact that you could to prison for forgery if you fake someone else's signature.
Everyone I know my age and older signs their name in an approximation of cursive, but in a unique way.
I just scrawl my name in comic sans
I put an unreasonable amount of effort into a cool signature. But I so rarely have to sign anything these days! Disappointing.
I guess it's because I have a lot of health issues, but I have to sign my name all the time. Occasionally when I pay with a card too.
I'm almost 50 and I've always had a signature that looks like I just wrote my name like normal. I've had a few people try to tell me it's not a "real" signature. WTFever, it's mine, and if someone tries to fake it, you'll still be able to tell the difference, isn't that the whole point?
I don't really care how people sign their name if they're fine with it, but you are honestly the only person around my age that wasn't taught to sign their name in cursive.
Well, I was taught to, I just have a penchant for not doing what I'm told...
I can respect that.
In Germany, we did learn cursive (and its still being taught). Although barely anyone uses it anymore, I find it very useful for exams
I just write my name like I usually write it?
It's very rare for me to sign anything anyways.
Just in print?
Yeah, but badly print because I have terrible handwriting.
A signature can be whatever the fuck you want.
It can be a drawing of a pony if you so desire.
Also is it still possible to sign when doing a card purchase where you live? I have never seen anyone ever do that and some stores explicitly disallow it.
I can't remember when I last had to do it, but I definitely remember having to do the stupid 'sign with your finger' thing somewhere recently. I'm guessing companies like Square that serve smaller businesses must still do it.