What Do People Say To You When You Whip Out That Pen?

[amberleadavis]

 

This topic has already been debased by the gents constantly quipping about "whipping out" things from their trousers. I've given up on trying to keep this thread moderately appropriate for civility, and have given leave to let men-jokes run loose.

 

In hindsight, I really should have used another phrase.

 

 

Isn't "men-jokes" redundant?

[iamchum]

lol. Sure do like polls ey Gabrielle?

Gives me something to do heh

 

I had a comment the other day from a coworker, who, after about a year working next to me, only just realised I wrote most things on paper (not the computer provided), and she was like "what the what?!" I think she was genuinely shocked, then she saw my pens in their case, stroked them and then said "ooh, they're nice, how wierd".

 

How wierd?? What is that supposed to mean?

[Fernan]

Oh... and the last time I came back from Europe, going through customs, the agent thought I was kidding him when I said that the costliest item I was bringing back was a "plume" (French word for both "pen" and "feather"). So I showed it to him: a Vanishing Point. He had never seen one.

[de_pen_dent]

 

Well, uh...I can see lots of ways that might have gone badly...but I'm giggling none the less. I'm just surprised that for a such a BIG pen the KOP doesn't hold more ink. Oh..wait, I can feel more bad jokes waiting to burst forth.

 

As they say, it isnt the size of the pen, it's what you can write with it that matters. Or something like that.

 

Yeah, this whipping business has certainly stirred up things.

[Lyander0012]

 

I've been noticing a few other people on here clearly living like vampires. I'll open another thread.

 

Well, I sleep at around 8AM and wake up at 3-4PM, so I still get enough sun to count as a human. Am I still in the "vampire" category? XD

 

 

I rarely get any comments, mostly curious stares... I feel most people hesitate starting a conversation on this topic.

 

 

I actually envy you that, since some people are less than polite when talking a bout my FPs. I've had moderate success in simply ignoring them, but it does get under my skin from time to time :/

[mAnuscript69]

Most people don't even realise that I am writing with a fountain pen. When they do, they never comment on it.

[GabrielleDuVent]

 

 

Isn't "men-jokes" redundant?

 

I suppose? I did hear someone (Francoise Sagan, maybe) saying "Men are jokes. That's why women have them in the house".

 

You gentlemen have really taken this whippage very far. Do keep it up, I want to see just what's the depth of depravity one phrase can dig itself into (I jest).

 

Although, I must ask... do you gentlemen keep FPs in your trouser pockets? A yellow ink stain may erm, garner quite interesting looks, don't you think?

[amberleadavis]

Even worse...a brown stain.

[Vendome]

I know fountain pens don't have the leaking reputation as they did back in my schooldays, but just to be on the safe side, I always carry my fountain pens in a leather pen case, which goes into a suit or shirt pocket.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Even worse...a brown stain.

 

A brown stain on the front of the trousers would make me call emergency. That person is having a renal failure. I think that might thoroughly embarrass the said gentleman.

 

The only time I had my pens leak was when I foolishly left them fully loaded when I went on a flight. And forgot to keep the pens upright during ascent/descent. My pen case looked interesting after that. Very 60s.

[diamondmaster]

50% People : Nothing

50% People: OMG is this the Simon Bolivar ( Our National S. XIX Hero ) Pen??

Edited June 8, 2013 by diamondmaster

[Spire]

I haven't seen one of those in years

[maus930]

We checked into a hotel last week ,I eschewed the proffered ball point and signed the registration form with my AHAB Pearl and

 

the clerk said "I have worked this desk 4 years and that is the first fountain pen I have seen"

[loudkenny]

When I first came home with my grandfather's pens, my wife called me the youngest old fart she ever saw.

I got back at her by buying and restoring a 1944 Parker Azure Blue Vacumatic Major 'just for her'. She's a lefty.

 

What others say depends on their worldview. Younger people (like my kid) think I'm being a hipster.

Some people are cool and ask questions - a flashy pen can make a good conversation starter.

The rest don't notice, which is also cool too.

 

I find myself looking at people's fingers a lot now when I talk to them. If their fingers are multicolored I ask them what kind of pens they have...

 

ken

Edited June 21, 2013 by loudkenny

[Mr. JW]

I just started using a fountain pen a short time ago. When my secretary saw me with a FP, she asked why I was using that. I guess in her mind there's no reason not to use a throw away ball point.

[GabrielleDuVent]

We checked into a hotel last week ,I eschewed the proffered ball point and signed the registration form with my AHAB Pearl and

 

the clerk said "I have worked this desk 4 years and that is the first fountain pen I have seen"

 

Scary thing about Europe: they check you out and judge your social class on pens and shoes. At a recent dinner party I heard that the hostess checked out on the men's shoes and what the cards were written in (including whether it was printed or written in cursive). I've also heard the same from someone who used to work at the Savoy Hotel.

I just started using a fountain pen a short time ago. When my secretary saw me with a FP, she asked why I was using that. I guess in her mind there's no reason not to use a throw away ball point.

 

Welcome to the FP posse! There are million reasons to use FPs, listed here (shameless advertising).

[Opooh]

Rarely, my patients are used to this eccentricity for 30 years.

[N2theBreach]

 

Scary thing about Europe: they check you out and judge your social class on pens and shoes.

 

So, if Europeans of a certain class only judge me on my pen and my shoes...that tells me what to wear to the next dinner party. I'm just not sure where I'd put my pen when I wasn't using it.

[N2theBreach]

Today, I had the oil changed in one of our cars and the young clerk watched me sign with a TWSBI 580 stub nib. "That is a NEAT pen!" I didn't even realize he was paying attention.

 

He knew it was a fountain pen, but that's all. He asked a question or two then asked how much it cost. I told him $55 and his eyebrows bounced against his hairline. Then he asked, "Can you refill it?" I was tempted to say, "No...No...I always buy $55 throw-away pens"! Instead I gave him a quick tour of the insides from the outside (that's one of the neat things about a TWSBI). He said that if you could refill it, then it was worth the price.

 

I gave him the a two-sentences version of Speedy's vision of making pens that used old technology to appeal to today's society. He thought that was really cool.

[hot cocoa]

Today, I had the oil changed in one of our cars and the young clerk watched me sign with a TWSBI 580 stub nib. "That is a NEAT pen!" I didn't even realize he was paying attention.

 

He knew it was a fountain pen, but that's all. He asked a question or two then asked how much it cost. I told him $55 and his eyebrows bounced against his hairline. Then he asked, "Can you refill it?" I was tempted to say, "No...No...I always buy $55 throw-away pens"! Instead I gave him a quick tour of the insides from the outside (that's one of the neat things about a TWSBI). He said that if you could refill it, then it was worth the price.

 

I gave him the a two-sentences version of Speedy's vision of making pens that used old technology to appeal to today's society. He thought that was really cool.

 

Fun experience, glad you shared it! The TWSBIs make for good conversation starters with the curious.

 

Someday if I ever run into a fellow fountain pen user in the wild, I'll probably do the "eyebrows bouncing against my hairline" thing, and they'll mistake me for just another impressed ballpoint user.