Do You Have A "test Phrase"?

[Zuzu]

My test phrase is rather boring - either my name or the names of the pen/ink combo I am testing. I guess the fact I never had to learn poems and other writing by heart in school is showing now.

 

Test phrases seem to be somewhat addictive though - when I recently showed my grandmother a new ink I wrote my name and then handed her the pen to do some writing as well and she was so concentrated she wrote my name twice before switching to her own ;-)

[dms525]

For my italic nibs, I start with a series of italic script i's and o's, then a few a's, n's, m's, v's and w's. Afterwards, some #'s and ^'s. That gives me a notion of the thick/thin line variation. I then write some words in cursive italic. "mutiny" can be written with no pen lifts. This gives me a feeling for how smooth the nib is. Then some words with ascenders and descenders, like "calligraphy," with flourished ascenders.

 

Then I will write some sentences, sometimes about the pen, sometimes a pangram.

 

By then, I have a pretty good sense of how the nib performs, at least with the ink that I've used. However, I've learned that there is a mysterious (to me) break-in process that occurs after a couple ink changes and a page or so of writing. So, I try to suspend judgement.

 

David

[Freddy]

After spending this am in the Theatre of the Absurd..three that

work for me.......

 

 

Fred

I could tell you a lot..but it's not in a gentleman's code....

make it one for my baby..................................................

[Charles Rice]

 

The written Gettysburg Address is my all-time favorite work of literature. Lincoln was a gifted writer, of course. His correspondence is garnished with a terrific, droll sense of humor. I read random letters and speeches frequently from my own copy of the 8-volume Rutgers University Press Complete Works (which, by the way, I picked up at an antiques shop for $10). I'm glad there were only minor deviations between the published version and what he held in his hands at the dedication. But even if the changes had been more than minor, it wouldn't alter my opinion on the literary merit of the text that has come down to us.

 

Edit: The Rutgers University Press editon is 8 volumes plus a 1-volume index. The 1953 first edition is no longer "complete" due to subsequent discoveries of Lincoln's writings. At least one suppliment was published containing the then-new documents. I don't have those.

Oh my, I'm not the only one with a set. I have a first edition that my father bought when they first came out. I've read through them several times. Required reading if you want to understand Lincoln.

[penrivers]

Use Hemingway´s,... Faulkner´s to long. .

[ANM]

I write several different things. Usually part of the Gettysburg address, the Jabberwocky (T'was brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe..), or this:

 

One Evening at the Close of Ramadan

ere the better Moon arose,

In that old Potter's shop I stood alone

With the clay Population round in rows

And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot,

Some could articulate, while others not:

And suddenly one more impatient cried

"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?”

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

or a short one: Love the people God gave you because He's gonna want them back someday.

[Bookman]

Oh my, I'm not the only one with a set. I have a first edition that my father bought when they first came out. I've read through them several times. Required reading if you want to understand Lincoln.

 

 

 

 

I was on a camping trip in the redwoods when I got a wild hair to go into an antiques store off the side of a side-road. And there they were, stacked in a paper shopping back next to a box of Melmac dishes. Mrs. Bookman bought the dishes. I had to use a label-maker to label the spines. The gold titles and volume info had mostly worn off. But everything else was in very-good shape, all pages intact, etc. I need to get off my duff and find the 1974 supplement. I also have the 2-volume Library of America set. I don't look at that one as much. I thought I'd seen "selected" or "selections" somewhere on one of its cover pages and so I assumed that even among all 10 of my volumes I didn't have everything. But since my last post I've looked through the LOA volumes and didn't see "selected"/"selections." And the copyright page says it contains material from the 1974 supplement. In fact I didn't see anything to suggest the LOA set isn't Lincoln's complete works as of the 1989 publication. Maybe I do have everything.

Edited June 14, 2014 by Bookman

[penrivers]

 

 

 

 

I was on a camping trip in the redwoods when I got a wild hair to go into an antiques store off the side of a side-road. And there they were, stacked in a paper shopping back next to a box of Melmac dishes. Mrs. Bookman bought the dishes. I had to use a label-maker to label the spines. The gold titles and volume info had mostly worn off. But everything else was in very-good shape, all pages intact, etc. I need to get off my duff and find the 1974 supplement. I also have the 2-volume Library of America set. I don't look at that one as much. I thought I'd seen "selected" or "selections" somewhere on one of its cover pages and so I assumed that even among all 10 of my volumes I didn't have everything. But since my last post I've looked through the LOA volumes and didn't see "selected"/"selections." And the copyright page says it contains material from the 1974 supplement. In fact I didn't see anything to suggest the LOA set isn't Lincoln's complete works as of the 1989 publication. Maybe I do have everything.

I would like to know what titles about Marilyn Monroe you have in that library.

[furious]

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another...

[Bookman]

I would like to know what titles about Marilyn Monroe you have in that library.

 

Just one: Marilyn Monroe by Donald Spotto (HarperCollins, 1993). Wretched in her acting, I nevertheless find her story compelling. She had more ambition than talent, although her inferiority complex kept her from showing us the full extent of that talent. There are moments in The Misfits when I think I see something more. Too bad she lived in another time, when her looks and drive channeled her into a profession she couldn't master. In the reality-TV/Kim Kardashian age she might've flourished.

 

By the way, to get back on topic, I also use one of those personalized, one-of-a-kind lorem ipsum things some computer program randomized and spat out and which looks like all the others. And I use random lyrics from songs.

Edited June 14, 2014 by Bookman

[Charles Rice]

I would like to know what titles about Marilyn Monroe you have in that library.

The Complete Works of Marilyn Monroe?

[penrivers]

The Complete Works of Marilyn Monroe?

I have lots of books about the life of Marilyn, her biographers even his psychiatra, Mailer´s, photographers milton Green, etc etc, when I think in the thousands of her photographys I always wonder of the lots of energy she needed for her activities. Rest in Peace.

[penrivers]

The Complete Works of Marilyn Monroe?

Ihave a good quantity of books about Marilyn in my library (closets and floors), biographies, novels a nd photography books , memories, from her psyquiatra, Mailer, Milton Green, etc.

I dont wonder about her standard life but about the huge lots of energy she required for posing thos potos , make films and deal with press and fans I just ask where did she got that strenght

and endurance, maybe that was in the end what killed her and not those sphisticated fake theories

[penrivers]

Ups I repited threads because I tought the firs was lost , moderators please erase one whichever you want.

[Freddy]

 

Do You Have A "test Phrase"?

Fred

this is the End..Beautiful friend..this is the end my only friend,

the End..........Desperately in need.........................The End

[Freddy]

Folks please excuse the double post..stuff happens.......

 

Fred

Send Happiness..............................................................

Write that letter today......................................................

Edited June 24, 2014 by Freddy

[Kutch]

8888888888888//////////////// or thereabout

[dojocho]

Two households, both alike in dignity,

in fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

and civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,

A pair of star cross'd lovers take their lives.

Edited June 25, 2014 by dojocho

[Betweenthelines]

"Testing the [insert pen name here].". And then I write my thoughts - e.g. "wow, what a deliciously smooth nib.. Nice and wet" "some nice feedback.. A little scratchy?" "a bit broader than I'd like..."

 

My significant other likes to pick up my pieces of Rhodia covered with test writing and read it - she thinks I vent my unconscious sexuality with pens "juicy wet smooth ooh yeah yum". Oh well...

[paultyler_82]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

or

Союз нерушимый республик свободных

Сплотила навеки Великая Русь.

Да здравствует созданный волей народов

Единый, могучий Советский Союз