Editor's Corner

I was just looking over some notes from my trip to New York and I forgot to tell you about a new word I learned: scratchiti. You can imagine what it is—instead of spray-painted graffiti in the alleys or on the walls, scratchiti is etched carvings into hard surfaces.

According to the Urban Dictionary, here is a brief description of scratchiti:

Considered by many a low form of graffiti as the difficult etching leaves little room for artistic design, scratchiti is often simply block-lettered tags used to promote a particular urban artist or claim territory, or amateur copycat work.

Tools employed in the craft are generally keys, knives, and razorblades, but lava rocks available at hardware stores, carbide tipped drill bits, and spark plugs have been reported as tools of choice as well.

I don’t see any art to it—I think the description is probably as good as it gets. It usually looks like someone was trying to escape from the subway car or scratch their way through a bus window. I did think it was worth sharing, though.

Happy (almost) weekend!

Manhattan view from the Brooklyn Bridge

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

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