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

[queenofpens]

US college student here.

 

If people say anything, it's usually, "Wow, how can you write with that? Won't I break it if I try?" or "Geez! What did that cost?"

 

The financial question is particularly weird (in addition to being rude) because I've gotten it on everything from Preppies to JinHaos to Lamys. They just seem to assume that FP=expensive. I love telling them, "Oh, this? $3 in the bookstore."

 

Where do you go to school that you can still get them in the bookstore? The last time I went back to school, they had disappeared. I got my last two Schaeffer student pens when my second child started college and then when she wanted me to get her pictures of the school to show her Peace Corps friends, the bookstore no longer had them (but they did have the needed picture postcards).

[GabrielleDuVent]

Some consider them more presentable than randomly labeled bottles piled about.

 

But it's always so much more fun to see bottles of inks piled about (and some in test tube racks, thank you Goulet). Besides, it's fun to imagine the bottles talking:

 

J Herbin: Psh, Lamy, you are so crass. Look at me. Well-designed label, beautiful frosted glass, the script, depuis 1670...

Lamy: Yeah, but I hold more. Also, I'm bigger, so I can smash you up. And I have blotter paper as a skirt.

Pelikan 4001: May I remind you that I have class and utility? I act as a pen holder. And I'm beautiful.

Noodler: Oh shut up, all of you. I have pretty pictures on me. Of COURSE she'd use me first!

Platinum: Actually, she likes MY maker's pens the best. So she uses my ink more than any of you.

Pilot: I'm the heaviest. AND I trump you all on the price tag.

 

... or am I the only one who daydreams about this?

[queenofpens]

Traditionally, bottled ink was not packaged and shipped in the current form now used. Ink was stored in a glass, crystal or similar type container on one's writing desk. The pen was dipped in the ink and you wrote a bit (dip, write, repeat). As technology advanced, so did the filling systems (lever, piston, converter, cartridge etc.) FYI: the first "reservoir pen" dates to 953 AD. Dip pens are the predecessor of the modern FP (aka reservoir pen).

 

The container on the desk (referred to as an inkwell) was still used to hold ink. Many still use them today. Some consider them more presentable than randomly labeled bottles piled about. Granted, you have to transfer from the bottle to an inkwell. If you search google you can still find many manufactures of inkwells. Think of the ink bottle you buy today as an inkwell. How you fill your FP from it now, can also be done from an inkwell. Cartridges are very new compared to the history of the fountain pen. FPs derived from dip pens, hence calling a "modern" FP an "inkwell pen."

 

I collect inkwells, my husband likes to buy them for me when he sees a nice one. Unfortunately, most of the vintage or antique ones do not have screw caps or other seals on them, because they were made in a time when people went through ink by the quart. So I don't get to use them very often. A few modern ones or reproductions do have screw caps. But I'm mostly too busy to actually put ink in them. Still, I like having them.

[TomJKT]

I have heard- "Is that a calligraphy pen?" more than once or twice....

 

+1 here, and then the Lady tried to write with my FP with the nib upside down. I gently informed her that this pen was actually quite expensive and how she should use it. Days later her friend told me that she googled to find out more about my pen remarks and told him she was given a Marlene Dietrich FP as a wedding gift but gave it away, coz she felt it was not on a par with her ballpoint pens. Learning: if someone is saying so, I ask whether they want to give me their calligraphy pens, I would dispose them free of charge with no inky stains.

[GabrielleDuVent]

 

Days later her friend told me that she googled to find out more about my pen remarks and told him she was given a Marlene Dietrich FP as a wedding gift but gave it away, coz she felt it was not on a par with her ballpoint pens. Learning: if someone is saying so, I ask whether they want to give me their calligraphy pens, I would dispose them free of charge with no inky stains.

 

Someone gave the Dietrich FP away?! Didn't she bother to check the price before giving it away?!

[Timeline]

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 was the first time I saw a fountain pen. Other then that I am new to fountain pens, have not whipped mine out in front of anyone yet.

[thedeacon]

 

But it's always so much more fun to see bottles of inks piled about (and some in test tube racks, thank you Goulet). Besides, it's fun to imagine the bottles talking:

 

J Herbin: Psh, Lamy, you are so crass. Look at me. Well-designed label, beautiful frosted glass, the script, depuis 1670...

Lamy: Yeah, but I hold more. Also, I'm bigger, so I can smash you up. And I have blotter paper as a skirt.

Pelikan 4001: May I remind you that I have class and utility? I act as a pen holder. And I'm beautiful.

Noodler: Oh shut up, all of you. I have pretty pictures on me. Of COURSE she'd use me first!

Platinum: Actually, she likes MY maker's pens the best. So she uses my ink more than any of you.

Pilot: I'm the heaviest. AND I trump you all on the price tag.

 

... or am I the only one who daydreams about this?

I have to admit, this made me laugh. I'm bad about visualizing these things in my head, with the appropriate accent of course. It makes me glad my collection is safely put away where they can argue in peace. I barely have time to answer all the current voices. I don't need to add more. I do have to wonder, would Visconti conspire with Pilot and Pelikan (and/or Lamy) to take over the entire desk?

[GabrielleDuVent]

I have to admit, this made me laugh. I'm bad about visualizing these things in my head, with the appropriate accent of course. It makes me glad my collection is safely put away where they can argue in peace. I barely have time to answer all the current voices. I don't need to add more. I do have to wonder, would Visconti conspire with Pilot and Pelikan (and/or Lamy) to take over the entire desk?

 

Of course it would. Axis Powers unite!

 

Japan and Germany do produce masterful tools that have beauty in utility; knives, shears, pens. When I think about it, my best kitchen shear is German, my knife is Japanese, and my pens are entirely Japanese and German. Although my guess would be Lamy/Pelikan team and Pilot/Platinum working together, dragging the poor Visconti along, while Visconti yearns for prettier pens to be filled in. "But Lamy, that pen has gold nib..."

 

"Shut up and flow!"

[TomJKT]

 

Someone gave the Dietrich FP away?! Didn't she bother to check the price before giving it away?!

 

No, she just now realizes what value the pen has - too late. Ignorance is a bless.

[thedeacon]

 

Of course it would. Axis Powers unite!

 

Japan and Germany do produce masterful tools that have beauty in utility; knives, shears, pens. When I think about it, my best kitchen shear is German, my knife is Japanese, and my pens are entirely Japanese and German. Although my guess would be Lamy/Pelikan team and Pilot/Platinum working together, dragging the poor Visconti along, while Visconti yearns for prettier pens to be filled in. "But Lamy, that pen has gold nib..."

 

"Shut up and flow!"

I suppose Noodler's and Diamine would be left with only one choice. They must drop Bay State Blue on the Axis Ink Powers strong holds. It could take hundreds of years for those areas to be ink safe again. A sad day for all, and a difficult decision for Noodler's Bulletproof Black and Diamine Registrar's. Alas, necessary for the whole desk's freedom. As well as the freedom of all ink colors.

Edited June 5, 2013 by thedeacon

[GabrielleDuVent]

I suppose Noodler's and Diamine would be left with only one choice. They must drop Bay State Blue on the Axis Ink Powers strong holds. It could take hundreds of years for those areas to be ink safe again. A sad day for all, and a difficult decision for Noodler's Bulletproof Black and Diamine Registrar's. Alas, necessary for the whole desk's freedom. As well as the freedom of all ink colors.

 

I had no idea BSB was a nuclear warhead on the desk :S

 

For some reason, though, My clairefontaine paper really doesn't like my J Herbin. You'd think they'd be nice and friendly, but alas, no.

[RMN]

 

I had no idea BSB was a nuclear warhead on the desk :S

 

For some reason, though, My clairefontaine paper really doesn't like my J Herbin. You'd think they'd be nice and friendly, but alas, no.

What's the problem? Are we talking 90gms veloute paper?? Probably skipping?

 

D.ick

[dorothynotgale]

 

Where do you go to school that you can still get them in the bookstore? The last time I went back to school, they had disappeared. I got my last two Schaeffer student pens when my second child started college and then when she wanted me to get her pictures of the school to show her Peace Corps friends, the bookstore no longer had them (but they did have the needed picture postcards).

 

I'm in Maryland. My college bookstore only stocks the very cheapest "disposables" (Pilot Plumix, Pilot Varsity, Platinum Preppy). I do eyedropper conversions and use them because that way I don't have to worry about losing them if lent out, so that's usually what my friends have in their hands when it comes up in conversation. Two of them have since bought their own!

[jetsam]

....... "How did you get that big ink spot on your shirt?".......

My inkstain was like a big red heart under my shirt pocket before one of my students pointed at it in silence.

I carried it proudly for the rest of the day, saying "I know" each time a student pointed it out.

However, no one said anything the day I wore different coloured socks. But then, maybe that's not unusual for confirmed bachelor.

[thedeacon]

 

I had no idea BSB was a nuclear warhead on the desk :S

 

For some reason, though, My clairefontaine paper really doesn't like my J Herbin. You'd think they'd be nice and friendly, but alas, no.

I chose BSB due to its controversial nature, much the same as nuclear weapons. I hope those loyal understand the implied humor.

 

I'm surprised about the clairefontaine and J Herbin not getting along. It must be a misunderstanding. Perhaps you can counsel them. Any ideas why?

 

Sorry for hijacking your thread. I couldn't help myself after visualizing the bottles talking to each other. A welcome laugh after "one of those days."

[amberleadavis]

An exchange typically goes like this:

 

Fellow Student: I don't have a pen, can I borrow one?

 

Me: Sure, just don't break it or touch the shiny metal end (nib) unless you want to look like a hobo.

 

Them: Have you ever stabbed someone with this?

 

Me: No

 

Them: 'Attempts to write sideways'

 

Me: Don't do that, it wont write! Here hold it this way.

 

Them: Do you have any normal pens.

 

Me: No.

 

 

 

 

Oh my ... I have daily conversations like this ... the next part of the conversation goes something like .... the non pen borrowing party shaking his head and saying, "She isn't normal" or "You should have known better."

[TSherbs]

other

 

"What's that?"

[TSherbs]

An exchange typically goes like this:

 

Fellow Student: I don't have a pen, can I borrow one?

 

Me: Sure, just don't break it or touch the shiny metal end (nib) unless you want to look like a hobo.

 

Them: Have you ever stabbed someone with this?

 

Me: No

 

Them: 'Attempts to write sideways'

 

Me: Don't do that, it wont write! Here hold it this way.

 

Them: Do you have any normal pens.

 

Me: No.

hahaha

[legume]

Only two people have ever noticed:

1. a friend of mine at school (can't remember whether she tried it out, but her interest got a few other people to take a glance)
2. my sister, who knows about my interest and has a Parker Sonnet herself (which she never uses) and scribbled with it a little

Edited June 6, 2013 by legume

[sunballer]

I've gotten "Wow, you could stab someone with that. Are you sure that's a pen?"

I've also gotten "Is that a calligraphy pen? How come it writes normally?"