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I have a personal love of pencils for note taking. I take the minutes at two nearby Local Council meetings, and find pencil is much easier to control, and my notes much more readable the next day. The slight friction of lead on paper stops my hand from shaking all over the page,as happens with ball-point pens.
I used to use Fountain pens for all of my "best" writing - all of my early essays were written using a fairly cheap (but very robust) fountain pen given me by my daughter the week before I went up to Oxford to start my academic career; and when I was finally awarded my PhD, some ten years later, my wife presented me with a very lovely Waterman pen, which I still use upon occasion.
But as I look round my study, with this thread in mind, I am fairly statled by the range of writing implements, and, indeed, the range of things to write on.
There are about two dozen pencils, in various hardnesses or softnesses, and of various lengths; some of them are standard grey-lead, some of them are coloured. There are a couple of those dandy pencils where you can take the point off and stuff it in the top of the pencil, which pushes a new point down, ready for use. You get given these at conferences, and always take them away with you.
I can see three fountain pens, half-a-dozen bic-type ball-points, a whole pot full of coloured felt-tips, three or for large marker pens and a whole tin full of coloured pens for writing on Overhead Projector acetates.
There are also two or three narrow paint-brushes that also get used for lettering occasionally.
There is a pad of letter-writing paper - very suitable for fountain pens, two different grades of printer paper, a whole stack of used-one-side paper, some torn into small squares for telephone messages, some full size.
There is coloured paper for notices and there is a box of acetates, to go with the OHP pens aforementioned.
Besides this, there are pads of paper, large and small, for note taking, and account books for keeping financial records.
There are also "post-it" pads, for sticking motes on to things, or marking passages in books where I want to take notes.
Now-a-days, the keyboard is far and away my most used writing implement. I love its speed and clarity, but still regret the feeling of satisfaction from well written words. I envy my wife's calligraphic skills - although her day-to-day writing is incredibly untidy and unreadable. But her calligraphy is beautiful. A very strange mixture, that.
Apart from these, I am surrounded by shelves of books and my computer table. There is a very small space in the middle of all this, where I sit in arachnoid stillness, watching for the screen to flicker, so that I can pounce.
Bingley
Bingley
Cursive writing is disappearing ...
I've no comment on that.
I have good handwriting, probably because I had to learn it in school in little books that had a beautifully written proverb or motto at the top of the page which we were required to write over and over, striving to match the perfect example.
LAter, I simply followed the advice of a teacher and practised a specific letter until it pleased me, incorporated it into my writing then started on the next letter.
(Warning : Small toot of own horn follows-) Sometimes when I write a check the receiver will stare at it and when I ask if something's wrong they say "you have beautiful handwriting." It always pleases me inordinately. I say Thank You and "It's just practice." And that's what it is, really.
Anecdote
In Lowell, Mass. there were three brothers. One a doctor, one a priest, one a pharmacist.
The priest was out in all kinds of weather and his Dr-brother had a tonic made up for him that increased his endurance. When other's asked for the same tonic the Dr. said, "Just go to the pharmacy and ask for Father John's Medicine." It's still made and available and a good tonic.
The same Dr. spoke and wrote in both English and Irish, He wrote all his prescriptions in Irish which only his brother, the pharmacist, could read! So they all prospered.
Those were the days 1890s through 1920s when to be Irish was looked down upon and signs for "Help Wanted" also said ; "No Irish need apply."
Times do get better ...
OP
a few years ago, there was a lot of negative press about one particular variant of english, namely the english that tends to spoken by american urban blacks. but i think, we here recognize that there are many, many variant of english.
the primary variant are American(US), and British (UK). In the american variant, there are subsets for NY, (which tend to have more yiddish) and Pennsylvanian Dutch, (which has been a topic of conversation here) and Canadian--(which is some what of a hybrid-- UK to start, but since canadian get exposed to so much of US variant, via TV and radio, they have incorporated some words, expressions from US.)
black english is just an other variant. If we recognize it, and treat it equal, and realize it not "wrong"-- but sometimes sounds strange, or looks strange, (see aging/ageing), and explore it openly, i see nothing wrong with that, or even with recognizing and naming the variant.
this board has mocked and made fun of the UK variant, with all its extra vowels (programme, honour, etc.,) and done the same to some US variants , but all variant are treated equally (that is, all are open to being mocked, and all are recognized as "proper").
I don't think BYB was doing any different when he commented about "ink pen".
in fact, it might be an interesting idiom to explore. since its found in black english, and in Chicago, i suspect it has its roots in a southern variant of english. the english spoken in the appalachian, a very noted variant, has influenced a the variant spoken in chicago. there is a natural migration from many of parts of the appalachians to chicago. But the appalachian variant doesn't usually effect the variant used by american blacks.. The influence might be broader than appalachia.
perhaps AnnaS, or Jackie or any one else who has lived in the south or chicago are can help use informally track its use--
i think, so long as we treat all variant alike, and do not denigrate any one single variant, there is no harm.
Goose Quill Pen
By the first century AD, writing instruments made from hollow reeds were commonly employed in Egypt and throughout the Greco-Roman world. In northern Europe writing tools were developed using the wing feathers of bird and fowl: the word for feather in latin, penna, gives us the name "pen". References to the feather quill pen occur as early as the 6th century AD, as the scribes of the medieval European monasteries and Islamic libraries created and safeguarded their great collections of illuminated manuscripts against the perils of the Middle Ages. The history of Europe and the Americas continued to be written with the quill pen: from the Book of Kells and the Ebbo Gospels of Reims, to the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence, artists and scholars wielding their quill pens created lasting contributions to civilization. The quill pen remained pre-eminent until the 19th century when developments in England led to the mass production of steel pen points. The first practical fountain pen was introduced in 1884; ballpoint pens were widespread by the early 20th century; felt-tip pens made their appearance in the 1960's. Yet the fine sharpness and flexibility of the quill pen nib still gives enjoyment to the calligrapher and the artist as well as the historian.
This pen is made of the finest quality bleached white goose pointer, the primary flight feather of the goose and the most prized feather for pens. Only a very select group of pointers and quills (secondary flight feathers) are used in making pens, althought the source may be turkeys, swans, or crows as well as geese.
Once the quills are cleaned and prepared, the barrel of each feather is cut and shaped to form the nib, which can be re-shaped and re-sharpened as often as necessary.
"A serpents tooth bites not so ill as dooth a schollers angrie quill." --Quote from John Fiorio, 2nd Fruites, 1591
Suggested references: Scribes and Illuminators, Christopher De Hamel; Collecting Writing Instruments, Dietmar Geyer;
The National Archives http://www.nara.gov/exhall/exhibits.html provides information on historic documents.
The University of Utah has a site with a wide selection of illuminated manuscripts:
http://www2.art.utah.edu/Paging_Through/index.html
History Lives, The Cooperman Company, (c) 2000
Nope. It had been invented in the 1880s, but the first commercial success wasn't until actually the second half of the 20th century. See the history below, which is extracted from
http://inventors.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa101697.htm
1938: Invention of a ballpoint pen by two Hungarian
inventors, Ladislo and George Biro. The brothers
both worked on the pen and applied for patents in
1938 and 1940. The new-formed Eterpen Company in
Argentina commercialized the Biro pen. The press
hailed the success of this writing tool because it
could write for a year without refilling.
May 1945: Eversharp Co. teams up with
Eberhard-Faber to acquire the exclusive rights to
Biro Pens of Argentina. The pen re-branded the
“Eversharp CA” which stood for Capillary Action.
Released to the press months in advance of public
sales.
June, 1945: Less than a month after
Eversharp/Eberhard close the deal with Eterpen,
Chicago businessman, Milton Reynolds visits Buenos
Aires. While in a store, he sees the Biro pen and
recognizes the pen’s sales potential. He buys a few
pens as samples. Reynolds returns to America and
starts the Reynolds International Pen Company,
ignoring Eversharp’s patent rights.
October 29, 1945: Reynolds copies the product in
four months and sells his product Reynold's Rocket
at Gimbel’s department store in New York City.
Reynolds’ imitation beats Eversharp to market.
Reynolds’ pen is immediately successful: Priced at
$12.50, $100,000 worth sold the first day on the
market.
December, 1945: Britain was not far behind with the
first ballpoint pens available to the public sold
at Christmas by the Miles-Martin Pen company.
The ballpoint pen becomes a fad.
Ballpoint pens guaranteed to write for two years
without refilling, claimed to be smear proof.
Reynolds advertised it as the pen "to write under
water."
Eversharp sued Reynolds for copying the design it
had acquired legally.
The previous 1888 patent by John Loud would
have invalidated everyone's claims. But no
one knew that at the time.
Sales skyrocketed for both competitors. But the
Reynolds’ pen leaked, skipped and often failed to
write. Eversharp’s pen did not live up to its own
advertisements. A very high volume of pen returns
occurred for both Eversharp and Reynolds.
The ballpoint pen fad ended - due to consumer
unhappiness
1948: Frequent price wars, poor quality products,
and heavy advertising costs hurt each side. Sales
did a nosedive. The original asking price of $12.50
dropped to less than 50 cents per pen.
1950: The French Baron called Bich, drops the h and
starts BIC® and starts selling pens.
1951: The ballpoint pen dies a consumer death.
Fountain pens are number one again. Reynolds folds.
The battle is won.
January, 1954: Parker Pens introduces its first
ballpoint pen, the Jotter. The Jotter wrote five
times longer than the Eversharp or Reynolds pens.
It had a variety of point sizes, a rotating
cartridge and large-capacity ink refills. Best of
all, it worked. Parker sold 3.5 million Jotters @
$2.95 to $8.75 in less then one year.
TEd
OP
Anyone know if this is true?
Sparteye?
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