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

[BrassRatt]

Voted "Other", although I often get "Cool pen" reaction to my Parker Sonnet Sterling Ciselé.

But the reaction I've had several times lately is --

 

"Is that a calligraphy pen?"

 

It seems that Calligraphy Sets may be giving young folk the impression that all fountain pens are for that purpose.

Anybody else hearing that?

 

Steve

[imahawki]

I get the calligraphy comment or I have a coworker who calls them "quills". Obviously she barely knows what she's talking about.

[WaskiSquirrel]

I thought I'd add another one.

 

The junior high math teacher uses my classroom during my prep hour. He was often frequently late. Anyway, it was a group of seventh graders who I would babysit while he made his way down. One day I was refilling my pen and one of the boys was impressed and said, "Is that an ink pen?" One of the girls in the class shot him down with, "All pens use ink." But, then she saw the pen and thought it was really cool.

 

I entertained the seventh graders letting them try writing with the pen. As I said in another thread, I have better luck with teenagers than I do adults with my pens. I don't know if I got any converts that day, but they all thought the pen was pretty cool. It was a Noodler's Konrad.

 

Eventually their actual teacher showed up. I got really good this year at entertaining seventh graders!

Edited July 17, 2013 by Waski_the_Squirrel

[aalmcc4]

My secretary (who is under 30), "caught" me using my Lamy Al-Star and asked, "What's that? A Benjamin Franklin pen?"

 

And then about a week later when I signed a letter (yes I still need to do that at work) with the usual ball point, she asked where my feather pen was.

Edited July 17, 2013 by aalmcc4

[UK Mike]

They say "Give him the money, it looks like he's got a gun"

[queenofpens]

My secretary (who is under 30), "caught" me using my Lamy Al-Star and asked, "What's that? A Benjamin Franklin pen?"

 

And then about a week later when I signed a letter (yes I still need to do that at work) with the usual ball point, she asked where my feather pen was.

 

The German word for nib and feather is the same - das Feder - so her second question sorta makes sense. But I doubt she knew that.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Here's the latest (at Starbucks, as I was signing a receipt):

 

"Is that the pen they used to sign the Constitution?"

 

My reaction: followed by

 

 

Yes. A 23 year old university student would be using a pen used by JOHN HANCOCK to sign a Starbucks receipt. Good grief.

[PrintersDevil]

Hmmm, I get an occasional comment but not many. Most of the people I work with know my fountain pen comes with the territory that is me. However I have two stories to share.

 

Last year when I was working in Detroit, I was sitting at my desk and a very lovely young lady who was born in India, commented on my FP. She was amazed and told me that she had not seen one since her elementary school days. I explained that the FP was alive and well with ink in a wide range of colors. I recommended she go to a shop in Detroit called Penz Detroit (which is now closed) and check out their offerings. Not sure if she ever did or not. But my pen brought nice memories back to her.

 

My best story took place long ago and far away. I was having brunch in Paris with my work colleague and his wife. At the time I had my Mont Blanc medium size FP in my shirt pocket. The man's wife leaned into him and whispered something in French. I asked Jean Paul about this and he said that his wife remarked on the size of my Mont Blanc. Apparently, a European woman can judge a man's wealth by the size of his FP. The bigger his pen, the thicker his wallet. Not that my wallet was very thick back then. But it was an interesting experience.

 

Joe

[N2theBreach]

Here's the latest (at Starbucks, as I was signing a receipt):

 

"Is that the pen they used to sign the Constitution?"

 

My reaction: followed by

 

 

Yes. A 23 year old university student would be using a pen used by JOHN HANCOCK to sign a Starbucks receipt. Good grief.

 

Did you answer her?

[GabrielleDuVent]

 

Did you answer her?

 

I did. I said that George Washington was my great-great-great-great (repeat a few times) grandfather (completely impossible, just from my looks).

 

She looked dumbfounded. Or perhaps she just looked the word, minus the "founded".

Edited July 19, 2013 by GabrielleDuVent

[ac12]

If you want to see a pen that does look like a weapon, take a look at a Parker 180.

 

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/profiles/180.htm

 

That stays at home.

Too difficult to replace if it is lost or damaged.

[Tom Aquinas]

More recently in my local area, which is walking distance from a major university, and I note a lot more students are using safaris, fire and forget Pilots, and o/s students TWSBIs, I am told,"oh that is a nice pen".

[Cinnia]

"Wow, that pen is really old school."

 

I was using my Lamy Safari.

[Strombomboli]

 

The German word for nib and feather is the same - das Feder - so her second question sorta makes sense. But I doubt she knew that.

Actually, it's die Feder. I guess, the young girl was thinking of quills, but didn't know the word.

[Dimitry V.]

 

Them: Do you have any normal pens?

 

Me: No.

 

 

That about sums it up.

 

On a rare occasion I get the ignorant "Stop living in the past, we have better pens these days" at which I just lol and point out that my pen costs more and is worth more than their iPhone 4.

 

Some of my good friends have learned to handle fountain pens and I actually am no longer afraid to let them try one of my 'better pens'. Of course, I would never let someone from the 'outside world' touch my Raden VP.

 

Speaking of VPs, one funny comment I once got was:

 

Me: Here, check out this pen. *hands VP*

Them: Whoa, I've never seen a clickable FP before!

Me: It's made in Japan.

Them: Heh, well that explains everything

 

 

 

 

She looked dumbfounded. Or perhaps she just looked the word, minus the "founded".

 

I see what you did there

 

Edited July 19, 2013 by Dimitry V.

[XiaoMG]

The last time someone did anything in response to me using a fountain pen was when a 12 year old kid whispered, "whoa" at a Sailor two-tone nib.

 

I consider myself very fortunate that I'm not surrounded by the cartoonish buffoonery that most other FP users seem to encounter.

[queenofpens]

Actually, it's die Feder. I guess, the young girl was thinking of quills, but didn't know the word.

 

I thought it was die - but then I looked it up to be sure - and I just now realized that I mistook n for noun in the listing as meaning n for neutral. So maybe I should stick with instinct instead of trying to look anything up.

[ac12]

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When I was younger I asked a man I knew, "How did you get that big ink spot on your shirt?". He whipped out his fountain pen and ran to the restroom.

 

That is why I used a plastic pocket protector when I was in high school and college.

Yeah it was a geeky thing to use, but I did not get any ink stains on my shirt.

In college, I compromised the look by putting the entire pocket protector into my shirt pocket. I did not put the flap over the outside of the pocket, so you could not really see that it was a pocket protector in my shirt pocket.

I may start to carry and use a pocket protector again, now that I'm getting into fountain pens.

 

My wife's former boss used to do that about once a month. And his shirts were probably expensive dress shirts. I don't know if it was a fountain pen or a soft tip.

[Strombomboli]

 

I thought it was die - but then I looked it up to be sure - and I just now realized that I mistook n for noun in the listing as meaning n for neutral. So maybe I should stick with instinct instead of trying to look anything up.

Oh, how I know this kind of misreading! And I also look up everything and each and every time when I want to write a Russian word. Hellish.

[requiescat]

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That is why I used a plastic pocket protector when I was in high school and college.

Yeah it was a geeky thing to use, but I did not get any ink stains on my shirt.

In college, I compromised the look by putting the entire pocket protector into my shirt pocket. I did not put the flap over the outside of the pocket, so you could not really see that it was a pocket protector in my shirt pocket.

I may start to carry and use a pocket protector again, now that I'm getting into fountain pens.

 

My wife's former boss used to do that about once a month. And his shirts were probably expensive dress shirts. I don't know if it was a fountain pen or a soft tip.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a pocket protector. Or maybe I have and I didn't recognize it?

 

I'm a writer, so I don't have to wear dress clothes, and my current strategy for hiding ink stains is to buy nothing but black shirts so any stains won't show. I probably look like a failed goth on the occasions that the shirts get paired with my black pants (I do also wear regular blue jeans), but, hey.