# How Do You Hand Write the (US) Dollar Sign? One or Two Lines? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117 "2011-12-05T12:02:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/1 "2011-12-05T12:02:32Z")
I put this here as I wanted to do a poll with it. When I hand write the US Dollar sign I always cross the “S” shape with two lines. I know computers use the one line such as this $ I also know some other currencies always use the two lines. But it seems to me it’s done both ways when you hand write it, either one or two lines. So how do you write a dollar sign? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/2 "2011-12-05T12:10:44Z")
I usually use one line, but in tourist-y places in Mexico, where pesos and dollars are both accepted, I’ve seen two strokes for USD prices and one for peso prices to distinguish the two symbols. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/3 "2011-12-05T12:11:31Z")
One. But two if I’m designing something cartoony, or am looking for an Old West feel. [Theories](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_sign#Drawn_with_two_vertical_lines)on two bar design ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/4 "2011-12-05T12:12:51Z")
I’m not sure if I’ve ever handwritten the US dollar sign. For the Canadian one, just a single vertical stroke. _Dashes out of the thread._ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/5 "2011-12-05T12:14:53Z")
When jotting down quick notes for my own reference, I use one line- but this is because my handwriting is small and rather closed (loops/curves/circles) and if I try for two lines it just becomes unreadable. When I am making an effort to write nicely for either another person’s reference or something that will be on display to be read, I use two lines- because that’s what I think of as more “correct”. Although I do both, I voted for “two lines” in the poll because that’s what I think of as proper whereas the single line is something I use for expediency and readability when only for my own reference. Incidentally, not that it’s authoritative or anything, but a Google Image search for “dollar sign” yields the “two lines” version for 4 of the first 10 results. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/6 "2011-12-05T12:17:25Z")
I mistakenly voted 2 when I only meant 1. Can someone who wants to vote 2 choose 1 instead, to keep the stats correct? ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/7 "2011-12-05T15:50:43Z")
I always use two lines. I don’t understand using one line, that’s like not dotting i’s or saying, "fuck it, I’m not drawing the middle bit of the ‘H’ any more. I understand one line as a dollar sign, it just seems really strange to not put both lines to me. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/8 "2011-12-05T17:21:56Z")
Yeahbut, it’s only got one line through it on the keyboard. (Well, on my keyboard anyway. Both of them. I’ll have to check the computers at home, now - I’m curious.) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/9 "2011-12-05T17:25:33Z")
> [@Chopper9760](#): > > I always use two lines. I don’t understand using one line, that’s like not dotting i’s or saying, "fuck it, I’m not drawing the middle bit of the ‘H’ any more. > > I understand one line as a dollar sign, it just seems really strange to not put both lines to me. Ha ha. In my mind there are two, but I only write one. Apparently I do just give up at the last step and go, “That final strike is too far.” I just leafed through some notes I scribbled, and the second line does not appear anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/10 "2011-12-05T17:43:01Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > I know computers use the one line such as this $ Depends on the font too. In the edit box, that shows up as a single line crossing the S. In the forum, the line is broken and only appears above and below the S. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/11 "2011-12-05T18:54:32Z")
I make an S and then loop it upwards and down and half up again. All one line. I’m very lazy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/12 "2011-12-06T04:27:24Z")
A lot of older typewriters use the two-line dollar sign. That was where I learned what they should look like, so that’s what I usually write. For a long time I believed that the symbol was just the superposition of U and S (with the bottom of the U cut off), so I assumed that this was just the natural and correct way to write it. In recent years I’ve learned that this history of the $ symbol is generally considered hor$e$hit. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/13 "2011-12-06T10:26:35Z")
It feels weird to cross a symbol twice, so I stick with once unless I’m likely to be misunderstood. I also think it’s easier to get one line directly in the middle than two on both sides, so my fancy writing is also only one stroke. ---
**Author:** ![gummyzzbearzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@gummyzzbearzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gummyzzbearzz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/14 "2012-12-16T07:23:55Z")
I found out that in US you should put two because it’s a S with a U in it with the bottom part of the U cut off. See? It’s now US! Either way works though. I use two and it never looks sloppy either… One is too little though! It looks like not enough to me. ---
**Author:** ![nion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nion)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/15 "2012-12-16T07:29:33Z")
I think the single line through the S was largely born of laziness, in my opinion. It’s also how I do it. 😃 However, that was how I learned to do it. I’d surmise similar reasoning when it comes to fonts, though I wonder if one line prints more legibly or resizes more cleanly? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/16 "2012-12-16T08:57:50Z")
> [@gummyzzbearzz](#): > > I found out that in US you should put two because it’s a S with a U in it with the bottom part of the U cut off. See? It’s now US! Either way works though. I use two and it never looks sloppy either… One is too little though! It looks like not enough to me. And if you’d read the second to last post when you added this, you’d have found out that you’re wrong! ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/17 "2012-12-16T10:36:52Z")
Two, but I think it’s cooler to use one. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/18 "2012-12-16T16:48:11Z")
When I’m just writing down a dollar amount, I tend to use one line. When I’m spelling words with dollar signs to be cool, I’ll often use two lines. Ke$ha’s album covers ([here](http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Ke-ha/dp/B002XNEII2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1355675901&sr=8-3&keywords=Kesha) and [here](http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Deluxe-Explicit-Version-Ke/dp/B009EP3DJM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355675901&sr=8-1&keywords=Kesha)) both have two lines in the dollar sign, so that’s why I’ve started using the two lines more often. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/19 "2012-12-16T17:19:20Z")
I may have used two lines on occasion, but almost always it’s one line. In programming you write a lot of those things (or used to back in the day, now I just type a lot of those things). ---
**Author:** ![bot3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bot3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bot3)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117/20 "2012-12-16T17:46:09Z")
I think officially 2 lines but most use just one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-hand-write-the-us-dollar-sign-one-or-two-lines/605117.md?page=2)