Do You Have A "test Phrase"?

[lahlahlaw]

Looking at the notebooks I've used for first writings with a new pen, it seems that I like to make swirls and sign my name to exhaustion.

+1 on the signature

[balson]

whenever i first test the nib i usually just write the name of the pen and what i think of how it writes. but i really like writing the word "sometimes" i think S is a really fun letter to draw with or without a flex nib

[anandaink]

I'm almost 6 months pregnant, so I write a list of my favorite baby names. I try each of our top 3 contenders with its middle name only, with our last name only, and then the name in its entirety. My favorite name to write, oddly enough, is the name I think I'm beginning to change my mind about!

[firebug]

This topic is insane...insane...insane.....

 

I must appreciate the OP for such minute observation about a die hard habit that is on our blind side.

 

I still remember one of my teacher, who used as many okays as the words that she would speak in a sentence, an okay alternating every word....

 

Sometime back I met her and jokingly asked her if she still uses as many okays, and she says she hardly realizes that she's over peppering every conversation with okays.

 

Just and example of how such things are very very clearly an oversight for most people.

 

Having said that, and on prompt from the OP, what do i do....

 

scribble.....stars......scribble.....write a word........address sentence to imaginary never existing things......scribble.....star......try to improve on my signature........(and that's all I remember)

[Namru]

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."

[Blue_Moon]

Saw this phrase once and really loved it -

 

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the lazy dog.

[flatline]

"The erratic course the galactic cruiser was traveling was intentional, not the product of injury but of a desperate desire to avoid it."

 

--flatline

[sargetalon]

I'm loving these responses. I just write about the pen and ink I'm using as well as my impressions as I'm going along. I'll do this in print and then do in in cursive. I finally cap it off with a signature. Pretty much the same routine for every pen.

[auto winder]

I write the name of the pen and the ink, some squiggles and possibly a lazy dog.

[CAG_1787]

The opening of the Declaration of Independence

The opening of the Gettysburg Address

The preamble to the Constitution

The pen and ink combination

Some doodle that reflects the combination

 

In my sample log, I usually have a paragraph or two describing the ink and its pros and cons and best uses.

[Octo]

Sorry. Double post.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Octo

[Octo]

To test a pen I write in cursive.

 

To test nib width, I usually write "test message" or something similar.

 

To test for smoothness or tine alignment I write "Egypt" (with the E upper case) as that runs the nib through all angles.

[heymatthew]

I used to write, "The quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog," but saw my dad write "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country." I now combine the two and typically I write:

"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the lazy brown dog."

[Vshin]

^{All that is gold does not glitter,}

^{Not all those who wander are lost;}

^{The old that is strong does not wither,}

^{Deep roots are not reached by the frost.}

 

^{From the ashes a fire shall be woken,}

^{A light from the shadows shall spring;}

^{Renewed shall be blade that was broken,}

^{The crownless again shall be king.}

 

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

[Vshin]

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

 

- Abraham Lincoln, letter to Mrs. Bixby

[mirosc]

the beginning of Psalm 23

some random names

my signature

[doggonecarl]

I write the name of the pen and the ink...

Me too. And if I'm checking the nib, some vertical lines, some horizonal lines, and some diagonal lines.

 

.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York.

 

Usually with some extra and unnecessary capitals, for flourishing. This is a second choice, but I can never quite remember the opening line from War of the Worlds.

[OnePenGuy]

I often write in cursive, both forwards and backwards, "There's only one way."

[AV8R210]

My favorite quote is the one I use for testing pens as well as microphones on PA systems:

 

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."

 

("Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll

from Thorough the Looking Glass)

 

Everybody expects "Testing 1-2-3" on a PA system. Nobody expects Jabberwocky.