I wish my name were a palindrome, like Bob or Anna. Then if I were dyslexic, I wouldn't have to worry about whether I was spelling my name backwards! My name is a translingual phonemic palindrome. Eric is ancient Norse for "complete ruler." Pronounced in reverse, Eric approximates "Kyrie" which is Latin/Greek for "lord."
Speaking of names. I've been having an unusual difficulty signing my name recently. Is that symptomatic of struggle with identity? I've been particularly messing up on my 'y''. Why? Shouldn't my own signature be second nature? Every time I sign one of those electronic signature pads, like at Wal-Mart, I imagine the image being sent digitally to some centralized image processing server, matching against a history of previous signature patterns, and returning "Authentication Passed" a second later.
It's hard for me to think that messing up on my signature doesn't matter. But isn't it most important that *I* am the one who is signing, not that an image can be matched to some approximation? Someone, afterall, not myself could "fake" my signature. I should be free to sign my name anyway I feel, right? But how am I expected to communicate that I am myself to others? There is something about a person's signature that seems binding for the future, as if to change it would be to break some kind of covenant agreement with society. What implications might this have, if we view man as God's personal signature?
Posted by Eric Pyle at October 12, 2006 11:53 AM
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Passing Thoughts
eric... don't let it drive you crazy, man! :)
as for my own signature... it rather lends itself to confusion. trying to write my name in cursive is just too many bumps. that's what it ends up being, just way too many bumps. and so sometimes there are probably fewer than needed and at other times an excess. half the time it's probably not even my name. but they always take it anyway... suspicious, isn't it? if someone named 'erna' for example, were to steal my credit card and sign her own name, would she really have any trouble? one wonders...
Posted by: emma | October 26, 2006 6:22 PM