# How did Tapioca Dextrin get his (her?) sig like that?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [December 3, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815 "2003-12-03T23:32:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/1 "2003-12-03T23:32:12Z")

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Example here:

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=152425](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=152425)  
Howzat?

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/2 "2003-12-03T23:45:32Z")

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I assume it’s some sort of dingbat font. Lessee . . . yeah, webdings.

your humble TubaDiva  
Adminstrator

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/3 "2003-12-05T05:50:57Z")

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You can use any font with the Font tag. Just type in the correct name, and it’ll show up on preview. This only works if the people reading your message have the same font installed on their computer.  
~@ ~

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**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/4 "2003-12-05T18:31:35Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Squink \*  
> \*\*You can use any font with the Font tag. Just type in the correct name, and it’ll show up on preview. This only works if the people reading your message have the same font installed on their computer.  
> ~@ ~ \*\*

Interesting. Thanks!

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¢  
ÿ

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/5 "2003-12-05T19:34:38Z")

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Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

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**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/6 "2003-12-05T21:45:12Z")

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Is that why I’m having trouble with my scrolling?

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**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/7 "2003-12-05T23:57:26Z")

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So what happens if you don’t have the particular font?  
How do you install it?

I seem to get them installed automatically when I accidently land in an Asian site. I have no Asian fonts in my \Fonts folder but they are clearly appearing on those sites as text, not graphics, because I can highlight individual symbols.

So is there like an automatic system for certain fonts or certain web pages?

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**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/8 "2003-12-06T19:06:54Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \*  
> \*\*Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. \*\*

Well, no worries…I can’t think of any instance I’d want to use those, other than a test post.

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**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-tapioca-dextrin-get-his-her-sig-like-that/216815/9 "2003-12-07T11:05:03Z")

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True 😃