RE: John Hancock "meme"

From: Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Sat Nov 18 2000 - 20:48:30 GMT

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Subject: RE: John Hancock "meme"
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 15:48:30 -0500
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From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
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    Hi Scott Chase --

    > "John Hancock" bears a date of 1903 where "John Henry" bears the date of
    >1914. Anybody know any specifics on this?

    No specifics, but I've also heard just 'Put your JH (jay aitch) right
    there' as another variant.

    John Hancock's signature is so noticeable on the Declaration of
    Independence that it's become synonymous with 'signature' itself. Much
    like 'cellophane' and 'scotch' tape and 'xerox'.

    Nothing out of the ordinary there- word usage follows these patterns as a
    matter of course. I would say it's a built-in algorithm of language.

    - Wade

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