system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are signatures legally binding when they can vary so much and be easily forged?

I find my signature to vary quite a bit each time I use it, and sometimes I just make an "X" at store credit card machines in order to be done with it more quickly. Why is a person's signature the be-all and end-all of legal responsibility? What stops a person from claiming that someone else forged a legitimate signature? Are there better alternatives?
gpt
For the most part signatures are symbolic, like blowing out your candles on your birthday, like you aren't really older until you do it. If you ever go to court and somebody asks if that is your signature and you lie about, you have committed perjury. That is very serious crime and if someone can prove you lied you can get in very serious trouble, like go to jail. Usually if you are in trouble about something with your signature, you are not going to go to jail so it isn't worth to try and lie.

A popular "alternative" to just having a signature is getting the document "notarized". This is where somebody not related to the people involved will be a witness, put a stamp, and certify that the names of the people signing the contract are who they say they are. This is done with big business stuff all the time. A person that does this for a job has to pass a government test and then they can call themselves a "notary public".

**TL;DR** breach of contract is civil (only about money), perjury is criminal (involves money and jail / prison).