Good question

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on December 04, 2005

In Reply to: Good question posted by Bob on December 04, 2005

: : Where did "Cut a Check" originate?

: I checked the archives, and we had the question come up a few years ago, but all we managed was a guess (maybe without perforations, checks were once cut apart?) I also consulted dictionary.com, and in a long list of definitions, there's reference to cutting a check, or any appropriate equivalent definition. A mystery, yes? I'll keep looking, after some morining coffee....

I used to work in a bank (savings and loan, actually, from 1979-1983) and one of my functions was to "cut a check" when necessary. We had a check-cutting machine that would not only stamp the amount onto the check and two carbon copies, but would simultaneously "cut" vertical lines while printing the amount onto the top copy. That made it impossible to alter the amount because of the cuts, or perforations, really, in the check. These days checks are printed by laser printers, and no longer cut.