I handed my check to the doctor the other day at the end of a consultation, and he smiled, kind of chuckled, and commented on how nice my signature was and how you could read all the letters in my name.
I mumbled something about how it was American and that in America you had to sign something legible and then was out the door, but it reminded me of yet another little thing you discover living in France.
Most French people scribble something that looks either like a star, a wavy line, or a complicated '& 'sign. B says that way you can't copy the signature, and that my way of writing out all the letters is easy to fake, but I guess it's a matter of logic and culture. In France everyone learns the same way to write in cursive and they're required to write like that, so everyone's handwriting looks more or less alike. But after the 5th grade in America your teachers don't care what your handwriting looks like and so they become unique. No one's signature, thus, is quite alike because no one really writes in D'Nealian after their childhood, elementary school teachers aside.
And maybe signing a star in France is reinforced by the fact that you usually have to write the name of the city where you are signing. Someone explained to me that this becomes important if there's litigation (or your check is refused, for example), because it's dealt with the Tribunal or court of the location where the document was signed.
Fine, except what do you do when you write a check on the train??? ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment