Green Ink Was Not Just For 'loonies' In The Past.

[beak]

Had an interesting chat about the use of green ink yesterday. A friend of mine who had worked in a large department store told me of the badge of trust given by management to some ordinary sales assistants - a green pen.

 

From that moment they were known as 'A Green Pen' and were permitted to authorize refunds and perform other minor management tasks, all initialled in green. In her words, 'Nobody used green ink for anything in those days' and so it really stood out. This went on right up until the early 2000s, here in Australia. There was an atomically-sized increase in pay to go with the honour.

 

A Green Pen was at one time entitled to wear a white carnation - but that practice fell by the wayside decades ago.

Edited September 24, 2011 by beak

[Horseknitter]

Interesting! Especially to those of us who LOVE all inks green.

[rogerb]

In my 'office working' days green ink was only to be used by the auditors ..... a quite logical restriction, I thought.

 

In everyday correspondence it was supposed to signify that the writer was...shall we say... 'eccentric'

 

I believe George Bernard Shaw had a penchant for green ink!

[zuku]

When i was in kinder-garden (early 70's), our beautiful teacher would write on our notebooks red annotations (for our parents, i suposse), but she would use green as a 'treat' for those of us who had had excellent marks. I dont think she used a fountain pen, but a felt tip wereaver.

She would also use green forehead stars for good behaviour.

The color was delicious. Emeral green. Why i remember this? Because of my teacher, of course. But also because "Green Lantern" would eventually appear on TV. So i attached values of excellence to that color.

[corniche]

Hello Beak, et al,

 

This post reminds me of a 1970s era childhood memory of mine; some of the register terminals at our JCPenney used to have green Bics resting on or near the register... could be a carry-over from your Australian experience. :hmm1:

 

All the best,

 

Sean

[The Good Captain]

The head of the small department I worked in, at Manchester University, once told us that one of his professors had said: "Never trust a man who writes in green."

I'm sure that is nonsense - I use Diamine Green-Black and Evergreen a lot in a couple of my pens and I'm the most trustworthy person I know!!!!!!

[beak]

...........

From memory, only brightish green ink was considered 'loopy'.

 

I habitually use Diamine Graphite, which has a sophisticated hint of green about it, though many don't seem to get that with this ink. As a guess, I'd say the 'off one's rocker' / 'screw loose' / 'batty' associations with bright green was history by the 1970s, generally, but many people will remember it still.

[His Nibs]

In good company.

 

MI6 boss Sir John Scarlett still signs letters in green ink Sir John Scarlett, the head of MI6, still signs his letters "C" in green ink, following the tradition of the spy agency's eccentric founder, he has disclosed.

 

By Matthew Moore

Published: 2:49PM BST 27 Jul 2009

 

Sir John spent his career in MI6 before leaving in 2001 to head the Government's Joint Intelligence Committee

 

Sir John said that he keeps a special coloured pen in his desk for official correspondence and to inspire junior agents with the history of the service.

 

MI6 bosses have been known colloquially as the "green ink brigade" since the days of Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the former Royal Navy officer who established the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, to gather intelligence on the Germans before the First World War.

[DAYoung]

My wife uses green ink - J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage and Visconti Green, to be exact.

 

She's not a loony at all. Her husband, on the other hand...

 

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n5/DAYoung_2006/blueshirt2-1.jpg

[beak]

And a French loony to boot! Photoshop skills progressing nicely.

[DAYoung]

My Photoshop skills are exemplary. I can put Obama into the UFC, and a Lego starship in space.

[Bo Bo Olson]

When I was a kid in the 50-60's boys used black, blue or blue black inks.

Teachers red.

Girls all other colors.

[Messmer]

François Mitterand also used green ink. You see a paper sign in green by him in «Histoire des services secrets français» (TV documentary).

Edited September 24, 2011 by Messmer

[McFortner]

When I was in the Air Force, the Captain in charge of the maintenance section of my squadron was the only one who was allowed to use green ink. The rest of us were stuck to red/black/blue.

[tonybelding]

A bit of lore that seems to have been in circulation for a long time is that green is the color of creativity, and some authors have been known to write their drafts with green ink. I've gotten the impression that this was more prevalent among female writers.

 

The book "Thinking Write" by Kelly L. Stone singles out green as a color that sparks creativity, and notes that Virginia Woolf was known to write with green ink.

[Silent Speaker]

When I was a kid in the 50-60's boys used black, blue or blue black inks.

Teachers red.

Girls all other colors.

Was this strictly enforced? I can understand the teachers with red ink, but if a boy decided he wanted to use purple or green or "all other colours", would he be duly chastised? (or teased mercilessly by his peers? )

 

And contrariwise, if a girl were to use blue-black ink?

[Torculus Resupinus]

Another functional use of green ink is in publishing. Scripts (never mind whether they're manuscripts, typescripts, or computer printouts) are in black. Corrections are in red (if they're typesetters' errors) or blue (if they're author's amendments). The typesetter's annotations are in green to distinguish them from the foregoing.

 

The color code used to be well established, but it has slipped into irrelevance. I can remember when authors were charged for the cost of effecting "blue" alterations, but "red" corrections were considered a cost the typesetter would have to eat. Nowadays publishers simply take 10% off the top of all corrections as the typesetters' fault, even though they're working from authors' computer files and haven't introduced any new errors. And nobody ever sees the typesetters' annotations...

[Ipno Tizer]

In everyday correspondence it was supposed to signify that the writer was...shall we say... 'eccentric'

If that's the case then all FP enthusiasts would be expected to use green on a regular basis.

 

Incidentally, I'm told that in the John Lewis Partnership, only the chief executive is permitted to use green ink. It would be interesting to speculate regarding what conclusion we should draw from this.

 

Chris B.

[The Good Captain]

In everyday correspondence it was supposed to signify that the writer was...shall we say... 'eccentric'

If that's the case then all FP enthusiasts would be expected to use green on a regular basis.

 

Incidentally, I'm told that in the John Lewis Partnership, only the chief executive is permitted to use green ink. It would be interesting to speculate regarding what conclusion we should draw from this.

 

Chris B.

Indeed. Perhaps his signature was never knowingly underlined.