Do You Have A "test Phrase"?

[Ted A]

Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation

[Mickey]

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.

That's one of my favorites, too. BTW, you can add a few more capitals to flourish by capitalizing Winter, Discontent, Summer, and Son (i.e., all nouns), which at one time was the correct practice. In the same spirit, you could make it Yorke, rather than York.

[swanjun]

My default is the old quick brown fox. My backup, for reasons I don't understand, is to write out the beginning of the Gettysburg Address, Fourscore and seven years ago our forefathers ... and so on, or pieces from Alice's Restaurant.

 

Once upon a time in high school, I actually typed out all the lyrics to "Alice's Restaurant." I can probably still recite the first few minutes from memory.

 

Another thing I sometimes write are the lyrics to a song by Sparks called "Reinforcements," which I don't expect anyone to know.

[Mickey]

Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation

Pardon me, but this is a bugbear for me. Unless one theorizes the possible significance of aftfathers in this context, forefathers would be an affectation, one which the plain-spoken Lincoln eschewed. Don't feel bad, this sort of lily gilding was popular half a century or more ago when I learned the G. A.

[HildyZ]

If I only need one sentence, it's

 

"Pack my box with five dozen jugs of liquor."

 

I find, though, that one sentence usually isn't enough. You really can't tell what something feels like until you've written with it a while. Things can also feel different when you get close to the margins. So my usual go to is

 

The Great Panjandrum

 

So she went into the garden, to cut a cabbage leaf

To make an apple pie.

Meanwhile, a great she-bear coming down the street

Stuck it's head into the shop.

What! No soap?

So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber,

And in attendance were the Chicabiddies, the Joblollies, the Garyullies,

And the Great Panjandrum himself,

With a little round button at the top.

And they all fell to playing a game

Of catch-as-catch-can

'Til the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.

 

"Jabberwocky" is good, too, but "The Great Panjandrum" can be written more easily in paragraph form, if that's what you need.

[Mickey]

If I only need one sentence, it's

 

"Pack my box with five dozen jugs of liquor."

 

I find, though, that one sentence usually isn't enough. You really can't tell what something feels like until you've written with it a while. Things can also feel different when you get close to the margins. So my usual go to is

 

The Great Panjandrum

 

So she went into the garden, to cut a cabbage leaf

To make an apple pie.

Meanwhile, a great she-bear coming down the street

Stuck it's head into the shop.

What! No soap?

So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber,

And in attendance were the Chicabiddies, the Joblollies, the Garyullies,

And the Great Panjandrum himself,

With a little round button at the top.

And they all fell to playing a game

Of catch-as-catch-can

'Til the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.

A wonderful thing, supposedly written to settle a mid-18th century bar bet. Charles Macklin, an actor who claimed prodigious memory, was read the poem (or allowed to read it) only once, then required to repeat it perfectly, which he did. (Macklin's a very interesting character and a significant figure in the development of the modern acting style.)

[inkstainedruth]

 

Once upon a time in high school, I actually typed out all the lyrics to "Alice's Restaurant." I can probably still recite the first few minutes from memory.

Ah -- but can you do the *updated* version? (My husband found it for me on YouTube a while back....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DRWWE]

ABCDEFG....................... Followed by: 1,2,3,4....

 

I know. Boring. But it works.

[lalindsay225]

Usually, just the name of the pen and ink, and my signature. But seeing all of these creative responses makes me want to choose a signature phrase.

[warblerick]

Sometimes the opening of the Gettysburg address (which I was forced to memorize for an assembly in 3rd grade and still remember) , sometimes "The quick brown fox...", sometimes the palindrome "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama", sometimes and more often than not, new ways to sign my name.

 

Love this thread. I have so many new test phrases to try!

[fncll]

I often jot down random bits of poems I've memorized...or when I'm really stuck, complete poems. Favorites include "Ozymandias" - "Spring and Fall" - "Maggie Mlllie Molly and May" ...

[Federalist Pens]

"Egypt" !

[Pterodactylus]

This is mine:

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img401/15/fxms.jpg

 

(Mabie Todd Swan 4660 Leverless ..... Rohrer & Klingner Sepia)

 

 

Wouldn´t it be much nicer if everyone "shows" his/her test phrase instead of just typing it?

Edited August 29, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[tomkeb]

Vogon poetry from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

 

Ó fretná chrochtobuznosti… tvé mikturace jsou mi co zprudlé žvastopunktséry na plzné včele.

[HilltopMichael]

I usually use one of these two when trying out a new pen:

 

"The pen is mightier than the sword - especially when the sword is very short and the pen is very sharp."

 

"Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity - but don't rule out malice."

[collectingfool]

"Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity - but don't rule out malice."

 

I can describe entire relationships that way!

[HildyZ]

A wonderful thing, supposedly written to settle a mid-18th century bar bet. Charles Macklin, an actor who claimed prodigious memory, was read the poem (or allowed to read it) only once, then required to repeat it perfectly, which he did. (Macklin's a very interesting character and a significant figure in the development of the modern acting style.)

 

I've always been told it was written by Samuel Foote, but I'm to lazy to actually check if that's so.

 

Believe me, I had to read it more than once.

[Mickey]

 

I've always been told it was written by Samuel Foote, but I'm to lazy to actually check if that's so.

 

Believe me, I had to read it more than once.

You are correct, as least as far as I know. It is attributed to Samuel Foote and, as explained, written to settle a bet (at least according to one Macklin biography, "An Actors Life.")

[Xqmano]

I have a couple of test poems. Most often I write:

 

Fill with mingled cream and amber

I will drain that glass again

Such hilarious visions clamber

Through the chambers of my brain

Queerest thoughts and quaintest fancies

Come to life and fade away

What care I how time advances?

I am drinking ale today.

[Garageboy]

Always the name of the pen I'm writing with

"This is a Parker 51, Cedar Blue, Fine Nib, Vac Fil, Diamine Blue Black"