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Sorry I was nodding when the "autograph" thread passed by. I wanted to
say "autograph" in the "handwritten signature" sense may have started as
banter, but it has had a standard lexical sense for some time and is entered
in most desktop dictionaries. A synonym is "John Hancock." In Brit. (or
Anglo-Indian) English, there's also "dhobi mark" (I used to hear and see
it a lot in New Delhi in the early sixties), "dhobi" being "a washerperson"
(if there's such an animal). "Dhobi itch" is in the text of the OED (1988)
but I wonder if there's sufficient evidence of the "mark" to deserve an
honorable mention.
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<p> <font size=-1> THOMAS M. PAIKEDAY, lexicographer since 1964</font>
<br><font size=-1> Latest work: "The User's™ Webster," Lexicography,
Inc., 2000</font>
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