I've worked with two talented guys over the decades that have adopted the meaningless squiggle as their signature - sending, I guess, the message that they're just to busy and rushed to do anything else.
I've tried both times without success to change their minds.
Here's a great example of signature done properly (my opinion only):
Signature of King Alexander II of Kakheti, in the Georgian Mkhredruli script, with the divider ⟨჻⟩
ჴლმწიფე ჻ ალექსანდრე
ჴლმწიფე ჻ ალექსანდრე
"The sovereign Alexander"
Once you see that, you know who it is that signed it.
Very artistic and personal, if not immediately readable, unless you are Georgian.
I use a meaningless squiggle for credit card purchases, and a tight legible signature on documents that will be filed and retained
ReplyDeleteanybody who gets hold of a credit card signature thinking he can cash a check with it will get schooled in court.
There's a famous story about the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, a notorious cheapskate. He would dine out with large parties of friends and then pay the tab with a check that he would add sketches to, in addition to his signature - betting (correctly) that the restaurantuer would never cash them.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I'll bet that one of those checks with his sketches would go for ten or twenty times the cost of the dinner, at auction.
DeleteIt's like he traded his art work for a meal, a win for both!
DeleteIt was said Moe Howard did something similar, and paid for everything by check.
DeleteHaving an unpronounceable name makes my illegible signature seem like some sort of natural progression.
ReplyDeleteI get these a lot: "Are you a doctor?" "Is that Japanese?" and "That looks like Arabic!" I used to have to sign my name dozens of times a day and it just became like that - can't say it was much different than how water cuts a path of least resistance.
Now with these electronic signatures and even worse, the pen pads for credit cards, I don't see the point of a signature anymore. We should just use fingerprint readers but I have to admit I'd like to give that Georgian signature a try the next time I'm in line at the Safeway.
That makes me want to chant.
ReplyDelete