I’ve been refreshing my cursive (I call it “Script”) writing because I think the style should be kept alive. But I think most things should be written out in separate letters, because it’s much clearer to the reader.
I remember good old Mrs. Olmstead, my 6th grade English teacher, making me copy a page out of the dictionary because I didn’t cross my “i’s” or something like that. That’s why I’m refreshing my writing. I can feel her looking over my shoulder right now looking for errorrs.
Dammit!
I’m going for the dictionary now Mrs. Olmstead…
Correct.
Re the OP, there are many ways to create a distinctive signature that don’t involve cursive. I remember, many years ago when I was a teenager in the 80s, meeting a student of my mom’s from West Africa… maybe Mali? … who had an amazingly cool signature: calligraphic-looking, big and round like a royal seal, very ornate. Not unlike a tughra. I asked him about it and he told me that people in his part of the world deliberately set out to create signatures that are both difficult to reproduce casually and also visually striking. He said he’d sort of competed with his brothers as to who could devise the most complicated and best-looking one.
Even if I’m misremembering or I misunderstood, something like that could work to fill the gap between cursive and whatever cryptographic gizmo comes next.
Elizabeth doesn’t have a family name. In formal contexts, she goes by “Elizabeth Regina,” which means “Elizabeth, the Queen.”
Not technically. If pressed, she can use her House’s name, Windsor. George V got rid of the older name, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1917 during a wave of anti-German sentiment during the Great War.
I’m not Silver Tyger Girl obviously, but I’ll answer. A lot of documents where you have to put your name, will have you do it twice. The first time, you are asked to print your name, in other words, using block letters, like the one’s you’re reading now. Then, you’ll be asked to sign your name. If they both meant the same thing, they wouldn’t want it twice. On the part where you sign, they expect you to use cursive, or some other form of writing where letters flow together.
Oh, and from Dictionary.com
a person’s name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.
Actually it was a misunderstanding because he didn’t notice I was responding the GRE thing. When they ask for a printed name than a signature, I legibly print my name, then scribble my usual signature (which isn’t in cursive). I wish I could use my artistic signature, but I don’t want to deal with the funny looks and questions when I sign things as ‘silvercat’ (also it’s a tall rectangle and won’t look right).
Interesting! When I lived in Cameroon I was worried that people would not accept my signature- it really doesn’t look like letters at all, just some squiggly lines. But then I discovered that nobody’s signature looked like letters! This must be related.
In Cameroon document authentication relies heavily on stamps. Everyone from a teacher grading papers to government officials to the guy who sells you a bus ticket will put their personal and work-related stamps on things.
Technically, neither Windsor, nor Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (or Wettin), is her family name, although, as you say, if “pressed,” she could come up with either one (or something else – why not? She’s the queen). I seem to recall that there’s some kind of official royal statement to this effect. Phillip does have a family name (Mountbatten), but she doesn’t.
Yeah, I see people write in scribbles when they have to sign their name, and apparently it’s accepted.
The only “rule” I break is, when you get a check, you’re supposed to sign it the way it’s written. My middle initial is always included, but years ago I stopped including my middle initial in my signature and have never been called on it.
So go ahead and give your artistic signature a try. It might just work.
While I was taught cursive (similar to your first link) circa 1978, I don’t know of anyone who actually writes that way other than my mother and her mother. For my part - and I think most people are the same way - my writing is a combination of Palmer method, italic, Nelson, block print, and my own personal “shorthand”.
Since cursive is taught in 2nd grade (when students are 7-8 years old) I thought teaching penmanship had more to do with developing and monitoring fine motor skills than with teaching kids how to write.
Whether the Queen has a family name or not depends largely on who you ask, and what you mean by a “family name”. The official website of the Royal Family has the official line on this.
No, not true. As an IT consultant and former notary, this is a misconception I deal with all the time. What constitutes an “electronic signature” is going to be defined by either local law, or the agency or institution with which you are dealing. In the State of Florida, for legal contracts an electronic signature is defined as “an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.”
So I can type the letter X, and as long as I intend that to be my signature, it is. Your email signature counts as your electronic signature. For my student loans, or other accounts, my PIN counts as my signature.