Ask Mike: What Your Signature Says

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ask mike avatarHey Guys,

You see it on lawyer shows all the time. The star attorney calls a nerdy-looking witness to the stand. After some back and forth, the witness testifies that the signature on such and such document is NOT the deceased’s handwriting and is, in fact, a forgery. Cue the gasps and banging of the gavel.

Handwriting experts are called on to testify in real court cases for a variety of reasons. So, how the heck does someone become a handwriting expert? I asked the Yahoo! Answers community and was treated to several links that helped to explain the process.

There seem to be a few different disciplines. One, graphology, is the study of handwriting as it relates to human psychology. So, if you write with big, looping letters that says something about your personality. Write with an extreme slant and insist on always capitalizing the letter “z”? That probably means something else.

There is another branch popularly known as “handwriting analysis.” I poked around the Web and found numerous professional organizations. One of the biggest, the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, gives an extensive look at their occupation and responsibilities. For those who’d like to take a brief test on whether they can identify original signatures from cleaver forgeries, check out this link on handwriting samples.

Finally, eHow has a step-by-step guide on how to become a legit handwriting expert. The site explains the certification process and offers tips on how to break into the field. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get to play yourself on Law and Order some day.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

p.s. - What do you think your signature says about you? Check out these samples and see if you agree with the professional analysis.

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Comments (44)

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  1. i wanna c wat my hanwriting mite mean!
    is there anywhere where i can send my handwritin and check dat out?

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 4:50 pm by Sherly
  2. yahoo website is very good searching, specially yahoo prize money is good
    how to play this side, please tell me

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 5:13 pm by gandhi.d
  3. how can u tell me what my signature says ? please answer back!

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 6:31 pm by Sam
  4. Not sure how true the handwriting analysis would be but it would be fun to get one.

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 6:33 pm by Andrew K.
  5. how can i see mines

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 7:34 pm by sabrina
  6. yeah, that would be really cool, what Sherly said, i would love to do that! :D

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 7:39 pm by Tess
  7. Did you try Youtube.com? There are several handwriting videos on it.

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 7:54 pm by MGMGrand
  8. boredness -.

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 9:36 pm by Connie
  9. pa2 c joma2

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 10:14 pm by jay
  10. it tells how good i can write my name in cursive.

    and thats about it.

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 11:48 pm by Stanley
  11. Tougher than Nigerian hair.

    Comment posted on June 24th, 2008 at 11:59 pm by Samie
  12. hello!can i ask what is my signature because i have no signature eh.im sorry i ask that to you.can you speak tagalog?

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 1:51 am by Rianna Faye
  13. I have studied Graphlogy on my own since 1988 and never knew how to become an expert. I still read handwriting once in awhile, for fun and to find out about a person. I always thought a person that studies to be a physocolgist took a course on it, so I only did it for fun from friends and family. You can read a lot about that person from their handwriting just from a signature or a little note that they wrote on a little something on plain paper, I still do that once in awhile. I could tell them things that were correct about them, and also other things they didn’t even know about themselves to help them. It is really fun! You are welcome to e-mail me and I can give you a quick test in your email and tell you a little something about yourself!

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 4:47 am by Dala
  14. i’m disappointed. i thought this would tell about what our handwriting reveals about our person from the tittle.

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 5:48 am by Maddy
  15. I would like to know if there are free sites where I can go to look at and read up on handwriting analysis and maybe even see what mine means as far as my personality.I have two distinct ways that I write and I have always wondered why, among other things.

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 6:31 am by raven hodges
  16. Yours indicates that you have herpes…

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 6:53 am by Charles Manson
  17. I actually just looked this up this morning.
    According to my writing, I have issues that need to be cleared up lol

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 7:24 am by Kendra
  18. I have taken a course through the International Graphoanalysis Society in Chicago, IL, and the study of handwriting has always been of great fascination to me.
    There really is a lot you can gleen about a person from their writing, and I find that at least in a small way, I use it every day, and rarely have I been wrong.
    Is it perfect? No. Useful nonetheless, however.

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 7:46 am by Lawrence
  19. My signature would probably confuse most handwriting experts. My capital letters are large and flourishy while the lower-case letters are all over the place when it comes to size and form. Some are big and well-defined others are just little squiggles. I also write my middle intitial “E” backwards. If every shrink I’ve been to can’t decipher my personality then I don’t think these guys can either :)

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 8:03 am by Megan
  20. There was once a girl who attended my private high school who, along with her mother, analyzed handwriting in accordance with psychology and also spirituality… She explained it as an intuitive skill rather than scientific, and she and her mother use it to know, in her words, “who to pray for.” For example, if they are at a restaurant and the waitress signs “thanks, sarah,” etc, she and her mother can intuit that sarah’s pet recently died, or that her mother just gave her bad news… odd things like that. It’s kind of creepy.

    She ended up reading my signature and analyzed it rather accurately, though it’s quite possible it was just as accurate as any “cold reading,” haha.

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 9:10 am by JD
  21. omg!! i so wanna study about hand writing and what it means too!!

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 10:13 am by Lee
  22. WHATEVER YOU SAY STEVE!

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 11:07 am by Blues Clues!
  23. Mike i have to wonder why your not being reported.This would be a violation if i had presented this on yahoo.I recently asked “Do you have enough of Jesus?” on the RS site and received a violation.When i asked customer service why, they told me it was a violation (not a question)and if i kept it up i would be removed from Yahoo………go figure..? peace…….

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 11:11 am by don&paula s
  24. I Hope you thought my answer was to the upmost help to you. See you mentioned ehow, which was my link. :)

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 11:44 am by Mouth of the South
  25. psuedo-science, just like astrology, completely bogus, it merely boils down to the fact that people like reading stuff about themselves, a simple vanity.

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 1:47 pm by Ray Kersey
  26. I am a certified GraphoAnalysis. GraphoAnalysis is different from graphology; it is a 100% scientific method based only on empirical evidence gathered from research studies. Handwriting reveals personality traits, honesty traits, imagination, goals, and emotional responsiveness/depth. I will analyze your handwriting, just send me an e-mail and I will give you instructions and contact information, where to send a sample.

    Thank you and I hope lots of you are interested in finding out what your handwriting says about you!

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 3:19 pm by Kate Hartman
  27. sorry, my e-mail is cayte3752@yahoo.com. Thanks!

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 3:30 pm by Kate Hartman
  28. I’m sure they can tell a lot about the things you are capable of with three little letter. It has more to do with the Lenght and shapes of your Capital Letters to your first and last name and how constantly you write certain letters. I don’t think they could tell you anything about free will (your choices) but it could tell wether or not you are creative or and introvert or if you are outgoing.

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 4:23 pm by Sue
  29. How could I go about getting a handwriting/signature analysis?
    PLEASE? ;o)

    Comment posted on June 25th, 2008 at 11:41 pm by Courtney
  30. its really interest and kute!!!!!!!!!

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 12:56 am by anand
  31. I heard on a Talk Show (I think it was the “David Inkman Show” on WHRI,) that a person’s mark on a document he or she did not create is merely their HANDWRITING, and not their SIGNATURE. That the accused pleading this said, “I skated.” (I presume he meant that he got away with this assertion unchallenged by the judge or prosecutor).

    This is very serious, because the prosecutor asked him:

    “Did you not apply the pen with your own hand to the document?”
    “I did.”
    “Did ink not come out of the pen?”
    “It did.”
    “Then what is on the document is your signature, is it not?”
    “No.”
    At this point the judge came in, and said to the accused,
    “Explain.”
    “I did not create the instrument,” the accused said, “it cannot be my signature, when I did not create the instrument.”

    It was some time ago I recall hearing this (about 1995).
    I felt indignant that they were trying to TRICK this fellow into implicating himself- once he AGREED that that WAS his signature, nothing this side of a Space Shuttle could have pulled him out of that mess!

    His own lawyer was also standing by, perfectly willing to let him be sucked into this fraud.

    I think the case involved Income Tax, and whether he was obliged to pay.

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 2:54 am by Olatunde Aroloye
  32. The two links for the graphology website don’t work. Just letting you know.

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 5:16 am by Wesson Smith
  33. Thats all neat and groovy , but now you got me wondering what my handwriting means about my personality . Where’s that link ??
    C’mon ! make with the cool link ! LOL!

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 6:05 am by Demonica
  34. Write a paragraph with at least 10 sentences. Then go to http://handwritingwizard.com/ and complete the test! It’s fun:)

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 6:05 am by Jenny
  35. nawa……………………………………………………………..nawa………………………………………………………………

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 7:03 am by janine
  36. i would like to findout what my handwriting means because on any given day it can change sometimes i can write my name 3 or 4 times back 2 back and it changes.

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 7:53 am by smith
  37. Hi Just testing to see what my handwriting says about me…. Oops buts thats not my writing.

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 7:58 am by Maryann
  38. A writing expert may be able to tell you things about you which may or maynot be right, but what you do with yourself is how you write your life. So trust your own writings and not what the experts have to say about you. Write your own life with your hands.

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 8:02 am by Christie ann
  39. Beginning handwriting reveals nothing other than the writer is a beginner. However, when a person has been writing for sometime, their personality creeps in especially in their signature. Also, how a person feels at the moment is revealed in their writing. I have seen my writing change from subject to subject as-well-as, from day to day. I have taught myself some of the traits of Graphology over the years and find it most revealing.

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 8:07 am by amblinal
  40. Getting back to the original premise, I wonder if handwriting “experts” testimony would be considered as legitimate evidence in court. Just because you see it on TV doesn’t mean that that’s the way things are in the real world.

    Comment posted on June 26th, 2008 at 12:46 pm by mitch small
  41. what does my signature say!?!

    Comment posted on June 27th, 2008 at 10:45 am by Keifer James
  42. I COULD NOT READ A WORD, LOOKED LIKE SCRAWL TO ME……

    Comment posted on June 27th, 2008 at 2:19 pm by JULES UK
  43. Uhh… I didn’t see any sample signatures below. IS MIKE A REAL PERSON OR WHAT??? Or, is he just part of the computer type thingy majiger? Like, whatever people asks, he posts an answer because like, that is his job?????? :)(:

    Comment posted on July 1st, 2008 at 5:31 pm by Kaileene L.
  44. That was a good hint to make someboby of your self, Grafology, I`ll think on it seriously

    Comment posted on July 3rd, 2008 at 5:11 pm by michael

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