John Hancock

[Thomas Paikeday]

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.



                  THOMAS M. PAIKEDAY, lexicographer since 1964
          Latest work: "The User's™ Webster," Lexicography, Inc., 2000
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