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Epic Win: Super S


stussy-s

Submitted and Written by Lauren, Ms. Stussypants

It’s amazing that sometimes I can barely remember basic math but can still draw a “stussy symbol” (also called a “Super S” in some regions) without hesitating. I remember these stylized “S’s” being drawn on every available scrap of paper, but unless you knew the secret of the lines, you were out of the cool club. We called them “stussies” but I don’t think they had any relation to the Stussy company that was popular at the time. Everyone thought that this was a unique symbol that only they and their friends knew how to draw, but talk to your friends from around the country and you’ll find out that they too knew how to make a super cool “S” out of 14 lines.

We called them Super S’s where I grew up, so I went all New Yorker and fact checked Lauren’s story. She’s 100% correct, as far as I can tell.

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» 81 Blasts From The Past

  1. Logan says:

    Holy crap. I did think it was just a local thing, and had forgotten all about them. And I live in Saskatchewan, Canada. So this phenomenon was not limited to just the USA. Cool.

    • Crystal says:

      Well they also reached as far as Perth, Australia! I remember a time when your ruler or notebook just wasn’t cool unless you had drawn one of these on it several times hehe

  2. nallor says:

    I didn’t even know I was supposed to be drawing those things. I wondered why they were on top of all the desks in my school. I was like…”Oh look, an S. I don’t care.” Man, I was so uncool…

  3. Jehjeh says:

    We used to do that in the ’70s as the first S when writing Styx’s name.

    “We used to do that in the ’70s.” Now I feel old.

    • Roy says:

      I’ve got pictures of soldiers in the Vietnam War that have put that on their web gear. I think the pictures come from the mid 1960’s.

  4. catgal says:

    I still use these. (Both my first and last name start with “S”)

  5. NP says:

    Why the F do you need to have all those steps to make an S that looks like that? There’s nothing to it. Sheesh. I’ve got a way cooler one that that.

  6. KPLUST says:

    I was just doodling these the other day.. thats too funny!

  7. i -heart- fighters says:

    I called it the “Suzuki S” cause it looks like the Suzuki S….lol. Yeah, the cars.

  8. Sassy says:

    My last name is Sass and my first name starts with an S, when i learned this in 2nd grade i had so much fun writing my name

  9. duckofprey says:

    Where I come from that’s the N.C. State block S. I had no idea people outside of NC doodled that thing everywhere.

  10. doodoo says:

    Heh, we used to draw those ‘S’ like a knot that goes on forever. It never really was an S but a cool style of braid.

  11. Chass says:

    I made a whole alphabet of these when I was in sixth grade.

  12. Annabel says:

    there was a gang in our town that used it as their sign, so we always got in trouble for drawing it

    • Casa says:

      Yah… that was what the teachers around here said too. I’m not sure if it was an actual gang sign or if that’s just what people assumed since it was all over. o.0

  13. Mars says:

    Remember drawing these in school in the 80’s, predating Stussy – never heard them called that before.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Here in Germany we also have this^^

  15. My Name says:

    Here in Germany we have them also^^

  16. Virginie says:

    Germany too, even in the early 2000’s.

  17. The Nerd says:

    I grew up in northern Indiana, and we’d traditionally follow the S with “mile” in bubble letters. Smile! :)

  18. dork says:

    Wow. I never understood why people drew these…or what they meant…or how to draw it. I was so uncool though. Plus I could never figure out why only an S was drawn.

  19. faunablues says:

    Yeah, I was never really interested in it, and couldn’t figure out why it was only an S either. I think we also had a slightly different version, that was smoother on the outside (SoCal here).

  20. totally says:

    the part of the S that goes behind should appear as if it connects.. you’ve ruined the past!

  21. totally says:

    90’s babies should not be here..

    • Chopperman says:

      I was born in 1991, and we kids were still drawing these all the time, even in middle school. I feel better, though, knowing that it isn’t just me that doesn’t know what the heck it means.

      I agree with your earlier post– the last line has to look like it connects! I don’t know what it’s supposed to do, but it doesn’t do it unless the back connects.

  22. Shiftkitty says:

    It’s kind of an icky memory for me because they were graffiti’d everywhere. I hate graffiti. It makes things look ugly. I still knew how to draw them, though. (Back in the 70’s was when I first saw them.)

  23. Juniper Jupiter says:

    I used to think it was an extension of bubble lettering or graffiti on paper.

    (I hope that makes sense)

  24. Cait says:

    I definitely remember these, and I can still draw them.

    One my friends had a name that started with the letter S so he used it when he signed my yearbook in middle school (1999-2001).

  25. R.A. says:

    My school district name starts with an “S,” and so starting when we were in elementary school and going all the way through high school, a lot of our student made banners and things had that on there. I didn’t realize it was so widespread, though.

  26. Captain Pajama Shark says:

    Melbourne Australia checking in.
    Both drawing just the “S” and the long braided version.

  27. QueensNY says:

    It looks like the Iron Maiden font, even though there’s no “S” in Iron Maiden.

  28. jm says:

    Stussy did you use this exact logo on their “Knowledge is King” series of T-shirts. I bought mine at Pacific Sunwear in like ‘92! Geek-o-rama.

    • Trevik says:

      I used to draw these as well, but then I graduated to starting with 8 vertical lines instead of 6 for the first step, and then reversed the diagonal lines on the next step…and then you end up with interlocking question marks as long as you add the square dot on the top and bottom. :P

  29. Jane says:

    I always thought it came from some line of skateboard gear… probably because I saw it, usually made from fluorescent or glow-in-the-dark tape, on so many skateboards in the 80s.

  30. NinjaDog251 says:

    i thought this was just an MSU thing

    • Mibelle816 says:

      Yeah, I grew up in michigan (Elementary school from about 92-98), and it was pretty much always associated with Michigan state here. Also, we started with three lines on top and three lines below it, instead of dots.

  31. Michelle says:

    I had no idea this was such a widespread thing! I grew up in SoCal and did this in my HS years (95 grad). I used to continue the series of lines and make “braids.”

  32. Kat says:

    In Russia we also made ‘braids’

  33. charj says:

    I remember this was all the rage with kids during the early 90s when I was growing up. I also remember my nextdoor neighbor’s dad telling us kids that he used to draw them when he was younger, too, so I guess it dates back to the 70s or even before that?

    I called them “super S’s” growing up; grew up in soCal.

  34. Treck says:

    S stand for Satan and is used by the cult all over the world.

    • Derek says:

      Back when I was a kid, there were twin neighbor kids down the street who were unaffectionately referred to as “The Bongas”. They thought the very same thing down to the letter.

      Of course, nobody believed them because they also thought the peace sign was “an upside-down broken cross”.

      Ah, Greg and Grant, where art thou?

  35. Meg says:

    We did this in southern Ontario, Canada as well.

  36. Martin says:

    We had those in Germany to who invented those things? I remember being in Elementary school and i couldn’t figure out how some could draw such a cool S.
    This smells like a conspiracy :P

  37. Tom says:

    We had these in the UK as well! Where can it have come from!?

  38. poyo says:

    Growing up I always assumed that whenever my older brother drew it, it was just an S for “Seattle Mariner”

  39. Jocie says:

    we used to turn them sideways and put a head on it so that it was someone crossing their arms..(a parent perhaps).. glaring at you. My sister would add another one below and a torso that way the person could be sitting Indian style with their arms crossed.

  40. Claire says:

    New Zealand here – we had them too – early to mid 90’s is my remembering of them…

    Saw one on a hand written shop sign just out of London (England) the other week. Had forgotten about them until then

  41. Kyon says:

    Never heard of them. Really, what were they for? Why was this taught?

  42. Cat says:

    Sydney, Aus checking in. Yes, my pencil case was smothered in them in my early years. We never thought about why. Just drew them. And the braid ones aswell.

  43. Gaara says:

    We have the entire super alphabet here.

  44. hylianarmy says:

    I thought that this was a symbol for skinheads…. You know, the Neo-Nazis?

    • JT says:

      not all skinheads are/were neo-nazis. there was a whole group of them called ’s.h.a.r.p – skinheads against racial predjudice’. unless you meant just the neo-nazi ones used it.

      but yeh, English girl here can’t believe the thing is so widespread and yet was so pointless!! i can’t remember how we even came to be doodling them lol

  45. faith says:

    Where I went to High School, those had become a gang symbol so if you had one on a notebook or anything you was gonna get shanked by Westside, true story!!

  46. David says:

    Did them in Sweden :D

  47. eighthplanet says:

    Did it as a kid in the 90’s… nowadays in many American schools it is considered a gang symbol and is banned.

  48. Jaqueline says:

    Awesome!
    We did’em in Sweden aswell.

  49. RolfWaffles says:

    I remember my best friend at the time showing me how to draw one of these in our after school ’safe key’ program in second grade. ( It was where you had to stay after school because your parents couldn’t pick you up right away. Like daycare almost.) Our teacher told us that we shouldn’t draw them because they were gang signs.

  50. leigh says:

    We used to draw them ALL THE TIME in elementary school. In the school district where I teach now, they don’t allow students to draw them. From what I gather, it’s part of a Mexican gang symbol or something.

  51. Kelly Ann says:

    I still draw these on a regular basis! Around Delaware, we call them Chinese S’s… No clue why… But the rawk! :D

    I remember being in the after school program and when we went outside, kids would bring scissors to carve the S’s into trees. <3

  52. horse says:

    where the hell did these come from?

    I remember people drawing these in 94 – 95 (in the UK).

    Be inter4esting to know how old this really is and who did it first.

  53. Alicia says:

    I used to draw these in jr. high – 1989ish. Now, my 3rd grade students are drawing them!!! It never ends!

  54. crops says:

    I remember a friends’ older brother teaching me the steps to draw it. when I was 6 or 7. We used draw these a lot in elementary school in the mid-90s. I too thought it was a local phenomenon, in central Canada where I lives.

  55. Black Blaze says:

    I remember learning how to do that in the second grade! Sometimes I still make them out of the “s” in my first name.

  56. Dreolin says:

    Had them in Virginia in the 70’s and 80’s also. I work in a library, I should see if our Reference people can track down the origin! :)

  57. nolan says:

    we had em at school here in the Seattle area as well…where did they originate? was it shown on tv or something? how are they everywhere??

  58. catsoup says:

    Kids still do this! I worked in public schools from 2004-08. Kids drew these all the time.

  59. mrpk711 says:

    Saipan, MP 96950 reporting in.. wow i remember drawing this and feeling like such a badass in the sixth grade.. nice!

  60. Kat says:

    Whoa, I had these back in the 90’s, called them “Spartan’s S” because my school mascot was a Spartan.

  61. Jane says:

    I come from a small secluded town in the French alps and we even had it over there…

  62. nams says:

    yup, we were drawing them in singapore too!


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