# Personality of the X (handwriting analysis)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personality-of-the-x-handwriting-analysis/836121>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 26, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personality-of-the-x-handwriting-analysis/836121 "2019-06-26T19:58:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personality-of-the-x-handwriting-analysis/836121/1 "2019-06-26T19:58:29Z")

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The girlfriend and I have a whiteboard that we keep lists on. One of these lists will frequently have a column that doesn’t apply to the listed item. So we put an _X_ there.

I noticed today that we make our Xs in a similar way, but with a difference.

I googled what that might mean. I found [this recent article from Oprah](https://www.oprahmag.com/life/a25990804/what-drawing-x-says-about-personality/).

I think it’s hooey, and it didn’t even answer my question.

We both start the X with a slash from northeast to southwest. Then we cross it. At the very end of that second stroke, her lines have little upward curls. Mine have little downward curls.

Does that mean anything in the sort of analysis provided by the article? And is that sort of analysis entirely hooey?

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personality-of-the-x-handwriting-analysis/836121/2 "2019-06-26T20:56:06Z")

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I believe it’s all hooey. I’ve never heard of any scientific studies to support it.

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personality-of-the-x-handwriting-analysis/836121/3 "2019-06-26T22:12:43Z")

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“The Oprah Magazine” is not a peer-reviewed journal. And graphology is not a science.

Really, you might as well peer at your whiteboard through a crystal or something. Or cast the I Ching.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personality-of-the-x-handwriting-analysis/836121/4 "2019-06-27T01:06:41Z")

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I had a brief obsession with graphology sometime around freshman year college. At the the end of the day, I would say there’s very little evidence for it as a science, and certainly not with the kind of precision as indicated with the Oprah article. That’s just all a load of hooey.