How often do you see people using fountain pens?

[kaissa]

Last week at tax office, I saw a public servant sign with a blue Pelikan M200 or M400. I just couldn't ignore him so went up to him and told him that I use a FP as well. A short but sweet conversation took place.

[maxh]

Every time I look down while I'm writing.

[chelsa]

I knew one doctor who used them. My 14 yo son.

A patient saw me with one and said 'I didn't know they still made those pens!'

[PaulT00]

It's fairly rare but it does happen to me. I've seen several people using FPs on the train when I go up to the office, and in fact there was a chap on the 0649 service to Paddington last Thursday who was making some notes with a red marbled Waterman Phileas using some black ink. I've seen a number of Cross fountain pens in use over the years, for some reason those seem to be quite popular on that particular train service. My old boss also uses a Waterman Laureat in green occasionally, but apparently it was a pen his son found lying on the ground in the park some years ago! There's also a business analyst at the office who uses a couple of Montblancs filled with different colours - can't remember the precise models but the one which stuck in my mind is 146 sized and has a fluted sterling cap.

 

So maybe not *that* rare after all...

[Nobel]

I never see anybody with a fountain pen. Odd really because quite a few of my colleagues have expensive pens but they all seem to prefer rollerball pens. I guess I am the odd one out.

 

cheers,

 

Vincent

[Lovesink]

Hardly hardly ever.

 

But..... since I gave in myself to my addictive tendencies I discovered that one of our closest friends apparently has a hidden FP addiction, too. Hooray! So now we discuss FPs and inks at least half the time that we spend together. And we showed each other our collections of course. Both our partners watched us, saying this was incomprehensible, very weird, but innocent...:roflmho:

 

[englishchese]

The only other people I have seen are my dad and a teacher at my school

[empyrean]

Our company vice president had a montblanc roller ball, but I have not noticed anyone else with fountain pens. However, when someone sees my leather case of pens on the desk, they are very interested, as if I had a rolex watch laying around :roflmho: I guess they are really wondering what I am carrying in that case that looks like it holds cigars

[empyrean]

Hardly hardly ever.

 

But..... since I gave in myself to my addictive tendencies I discovered that one of our closest friends apparently has a hidden FP addiction, too. Hooray! So now we discuss FPs and inks at least half the time that we spend together. And we showed each other our collections of course. Both our partners watched us, saying this was incomprehensible, very weird, but innocent...:roflmho:

 

I wonder if there is an actual psychological name for this fountain pen "addiction"? All of you physicians and other medical personnel on this board, we have to know! Tell us! :ltcapd:

[Phormula]

It is called FPAD (Fountain Pen Affective Disorder), of course.

 

It makes people do odd things, one of which is to spend a significant amount of time on this forum :roflmho:

[danthemann5]

I've been a fountain pen user and collector since I was about 12 years old. Over the next 19 years, I had never seen another person using a fountain pen. Only in the last year did I discover that two of my engineer friends, twins from Turkey, both use fountain pens exclusively. They're the only others I've seen.

[Groat]

Now, when I went to the University Book Store in Seattle last week to buy my Lamy Safari, I was told they were short on stock (but fortunately they had the color and nib which I wanted) because an entire class had come in just in the previous few days to buy the Safaris as the only class approved pen. What class? It was an architecture class. I thought that was a bit strange.

 

Interesting. I hope a few of those students catch the bug, so to speak. I took a drafting class in high school, and we only used pencils and AutoCAD. I suppose if you're going into the field you might learn everything by hand first.

 

Also, you should consider yourself lucky that your school bookstore sells FPs. Mine is unfortunately run by Barnes and Noble. The closest thing you'll find in there to a fountain pen is a decent assortment of Moleskine notebooks.

[bigmac53]

Never seen another person use one, not at school, work, or otherwise. I kind of like it, but it also makes me feel bad for them at the same time!

[pmsalty]

I was in Trader Joe's (niche grocery store) the other day and while writing my check for the damages with my Cross apogee, the checker, a fellow in his late 20's pulled out a Pilot Varsity and commented that he didn't see many people use fountain pens and didn't understand why not since they were so much nicer to use and easier on the hand.

PMS

[zipcodeman]

On Friday, I was in Berkeley, and I saw a man outside of Semifreddi’s using one. I didn't get a good look at it, so I'm not sure what kind, but it was certainly a FP.

[bjcmatthews]

I never ever see people using fountain pens. EVER! Even with my eyes open.

 

Oh, and excepting when I look at my hand.

 

And when people try to grab mine and maim them.

[PenFan95]

One of my superiors came over to ask for my help with teaching an Excel class. He noticed me using my FP (No one else in the office does) and said we needed to find a more efficient way for me to write.

 

<Grrrrr> <img src="https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="angry.gif" />

 

I almost scoffed and said, "Watching the way you write (pen or pencil at 90-degree angle, held between second and ring finger) reminds me of a child learning to make letters and makes my hands hurt!!"

 

Well, I was once talking with my dad's doctor and when I told him I was in high school while spinning my Prelude between my fingers, he told me I should stop using them and get ballpoints because they are more efficient and will improve my writing speed. He doesn't know my demon speed when I use my FPs

 

Nice answer Your superior's expression afterwards must have been priceless!

[fountainpenjunkie]

Penfan and Whome,

I had a customer notice my piston filler Tropen yesterday. "Oh, your using a .... Do they still make those?" and "We can't use them here cause the ink smears" =)

[PaperDarts]

My dentist always has a Namiki vanishing point clipped to the pocket of her white coat. We talk pens more than we talk about my teeth.

I have two older friends who grew up in England and who use FPs, and a friend who is a retired minister who used to write all her sermons with a fountain pen. Other than those people - a FP sighting is pretty rare in my daily life.

[ethernautrix]

I don't often see others using (or carrying) fountain pens, but my friends, who are fp civilians, tend to point them out to me.

 

 

Hmm... seems my fp civilian friends are kindv nosey. Ha ha ha. (I mean, observant. They're observant.)