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in Q & A, inkhorn came up.. and i touch on pens, and ink, and thought about all the words i use for writting.. and then about other words for writting.. and there are so many.. it might be fun to explore what we use to mark a surface, and what surfaces we mark, and how, with what.. open to all technologies.. from the oldest to the most up to date..
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ink horns= ink bottles.. i have some pens that i fill from an ink bottle, and few pens that i dip into an ink bottte to use. my every day fountain pens tend to use cartridges.. (purple ink,at the present) or are pilot disposable fountain pens.
bottled ink is india (black)--a pint size bottle, half used, and a small bottle, (2 oz.?) in what used to be called peacock blue, but is now called "de mar" --sea blue.
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I have a Mont Blanc presentation pen, inherited from Dad, that I use for real letters and I fill it from a bottle of ink from the Mont Blanc company.
I use ball point, roller balls et.al. for notes and other stuff and indelible markers where needed - like addressing packages, marking lower hems on linen with purchase date, and their clothes when boys were young and went on ski trips.
I also use China markers for glass and plastic and on glossy photos to ID them (you know the crayon-like markers that have a string so you can unravel the covering to expose more marker.)
When I was a reporter I was always searching for good pens that did not "drag" on the paper and allow for fast note taking!I love using Dad's Mont Blanc pen... it writes beautifully and I seem to think more about what I am writing and proceed as a slower pace than I do when jotting a note.
Here's a handy device someone told me about years ago : if someone asks to borrow a pen -- and you need it back -- hold on to the cap! It works.
But I would *never lend the Mont Blanc fountain pen - the point is worn just right for my hand.
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old hand
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Chalk on sidewalks is always fun.
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In looking for etymology of "inkhorn" I came across a dandy synonym for it: it had been mentioned three times, but never defined.
Euphuism is an exaggeratedly fancy English style. It was
invented by John Lyly for his novel Euphues (1578), and
involves the use of abstruse classical allusion and figures
of speech of every kind, particularly similes, extravagant
metaphors, alliteration and assonance. Lyly's books were
enormously popular and his style was widely imitated.
Indeed, even Shakespeare (who sends it up in the
utterances of Fluellen and Pistol in Henry V and the
Sir-Topas swanking of Feste in Twelfth Night) was not
immune to it. In later English literature, the most
successful uses of it are Sir Thomas Urquhart's
magnificently engorged, 17th-century translation of
Rabelais, and the 19th-century, poetical extravagance of
Swinburne and his imitators (such as James Elroy Flecker).
It also underlies the dandified utterance of Restoration
comedy, and is most satisfyingly mocked by Sheridan (for
example in Mrs Malaprop's assaults on the language in The
Rivals) and by Joyce (in the parodies of romantic literature
in Ulysses).
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i find it interesting the i still use a stylus to write.. Palm, and other PDA's all use a styluss. Modern technology, using ancient tools!
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I still cherish the crack the president of Parker Pen made about the ball point fifty years ago, that it was the only pen that would make a half dozen carbon copies but no original. I would not take an ink pen as a gift anymore.
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I would not take an ink pen as a gift anymore.
an ink pen? well what kind of pen do you use? a non-ink pen? only pencils? or do you mean a fountain type pen.. since i use liquid ink roller ball type pens all the time.. i love them..
or maybe you only use fine pointed sharpies.. which is a generation marker almost in my nieghborhood. all techies and kids know and love sharpies.. but non techs and those over 40 tend to say "Huh?" and know what you mean eventually, after you spend way too much time explaining.
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Faldage, could you remind us what 'inkhorn' means, philologically speaking? For those dwindling few of us who are *generally more interested in words than in memoirs? (or am I missing something here?) 
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It has been pointed out that an inkhorn was an ink bottle. Functionally, perhaps. To the best of my understanding it was indeed a horn, but it did function as a receptacle for ink into which the quill was dipped. The phrase "inkhorn terms" was born to evoke a picture of words which seemed to flow as freely from the inkhorns of the scholars as the ink itself.
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I was interested in the words used to define writing instument.. Stylus has come up at work with a roll out of Palm PDA's, and a surprizing number of well educated people didn't know the word..
and then ink horns came up.. and i thought of all the defining words for pens.. dip pens, quills, fountain pens, markers.. (to me, ink is stored in a well, and my india ink is poured into one for use..) and there is a special word for the stick inks used in asia.. but i don't know it..do you?
and i still don't understant what Dr. Bill meant when he said Ink Pens.
and i haven't scratched the surface.. which leads nicely into the kinds of surfaces.. in my school, we called them black boards.. but they were green...
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I just splurged on a nice pen for the first time in my life, a roller ball pen from the Levenger catalog. I don't think I could bear to go back to using ball point pens again.
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Pens have a very high turnover rate in my employ. I get the cheapest kind I can as long as they don't blot. I run one out of ink once in a puce moon.
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crossing threads a bit, Jackie responded to "a clump of words" by pointing out, when she sit down to right, organization is the first step. for me, the writing impliment makes a big difference. there are certain words, that require special writing impliments.. i positively hate writing in pencil. Pencils are okay for doodling or drawing..
i remember being taught that is was rude to send a typed personal letter, but now days, about half my letters to family are composed on a PC, and printed..
Alex, what is it about your new roller ball pen makes is special- how does effect your relationship to the words you write?
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The best pens I have ever used were a brand called "Stylist" pens. The architect's office where I used to work used them almost exclusively. They are like a Cross  between a felt-tip and a Sharpie, but more durable than a felt-tip and they don't bleed as much as a Sharpie. They also come in tons of neat colors (burgundy, lavender, sky...) They gave me a box of them when I left (I often expressed my love for the Stylists) and I'm almost out. <sob> I think I like them so much because I just feel so... professional using them. Anything I write or draw with them seems that much more polished. Purely psychological, I'm sure. It was my first job out of college and will always be equated with professionalism in my mind.
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I really like those fine, felt-tipped pens - they make precise lines without the hair-thin white trails you sometimes see in lines made by ballpoint pens where the ink didn't get. And the texture is so nice. I'm an aspiring techie, but I'm not sure what a "Sharpie" is - perhaps I just described one.
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veteran
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I don't know about your part of the U.S., but in this area the expression "ink pen" is exclusively a black English (Ebonics  )word for "pen" [of any type as opposed to a pencil, crayon or other writing instrument] and "pen" is not used by itself by black English speakers.
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When I read the term "ink pen" I immediately assumed fountain pen.
While on the subject, I have a really nice (and not cheap) Pelikan Toledo that sits in its pen case waiting for the time when I can autograph my first published book. (Might be a while :(>). I normally use a fountain pen (Waterman with medium gold nib) just because I like the way it feels in my hand.
TEd
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When I read the term "ink pen" I immediately assumed fountain pen.
I heard this term as a youth in Chicago and admit I was always confused. I have since heard on reliable authority that in some parts of the country pronunciation of the words pen and pin are indistiguishable, so the modifier ink would be used to distinguish it from, say, Aint Bea's brooch.
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fountain pens-- real fountain pen, not like my Waterman that uses cartridges, are becoming collectors items. and cursive writing, (script) is also falling by the way side.. it is no longer a required part of the curriculum in NYC, and many kids never really learn it.
when i was a child, we spent a half hour a day learning and practicing and were always graded on it.
i recognize 4(5?) kinds of "liquid ink pens".. 1 Dip pens, (which are dipped into an ink well) 2 fountain pens, with a "fountain" mechanism to fill them from inks wells, 3 cartridge pens, similar to fountain pens, but filled with cartridges, 4 liquid ink roller balls, (ie, Uni ball, pilot V ball or V7,) or 5 gel writers. (Oh I forgot, dispossable fountain pens.)
i am not sure if gel writers are different enough to be a seperate category.
there are also ball point pens--click to expose point, (with a sticky type ink) and "sticks" (ie a bic stick). felt tip pens, (flair or sharpies). Brush type markers, both water based and permenent ink.
Ink can be india type-- which is thicker, and more opaque, or liquid ink, (waterman, or other brands) and clear liquid "paint". the last type can be used to color caligraphy illuminations. It can be purchased or bought. (many kinds of plant material can be mashed in pure alcohol to create these kinds of inks. an opal blue comes from pink and blue batchelor buttons flowers, in alcohol base; golden yellow, from onion skins.)
but i have never made old fashioned black ink (iron and gaul in acid).
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For a decent stick pen, disposable, try the pen "Blackfoot Indian" pen manufactured by the Native American tribe of the same name. Lasts a long time which was an important feature for a reporter in the field. Found my first one in a military post exchange but have seen then in stationery stores since then. Good all 'rounders at a moderate price. They make other types of pens, too.
The only thing I could find for a link was a description in a travel piece (as follows)
"The Blackfeet's tribal headquarters and main commercial center is Browning (pop. 1,170), located on US-2 near the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park. Like many reservation towns, Browning has a desolate and depressing feel to it, but there are a couple of places worth stopping at, including the Museum of the Plains Indian (daily 9 AM-5 PM June-Sept., Mon.-Fri. 10 AM-4:30 PM rest of the year; free), near the west end of town at the junction of US-2 and US-89. Operated by the U.S. government's Bureau of Indian Affairs, the bland building contains a small collection of Plains Indian arts and crafts, mostly blankets and jewelry. Much more interesting, though harder to find, is the Blackfoot Indian Writing Company —maker of the finest Number 2s in the country, as well as Lindy pens—which you can tour informally (Mon.-Fri. 8 AM-2 PM; free; 406/338-2535 or 800/392-7326) They have a catalogue. The factory lies a mile off US-2 on the southeast edge of town, on the road to Heart Butte."
(bold and italic added by wow)
Edit: Tried the 800 number - no longer in service. Sorry!
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Just for fun: http://www.rit.edu/~cyberwww/8.htmOr Google "The Lead Pencil Club" for several links. One thing to be said for lead pencils - they don't leak ink at high altitudes.
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enthusiast
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Thanks so much for starting this thread, Helen! I love pens. My current favorites are the Pilot V-5 Extra Fine Point roller ball pens, which come in lots of colors. They're great for taking notes in class because they write smoothly and the ink dries super-fast.
I would like to get a fountain pen from Levenger (hi Alex) eventually, but I'm not sure it will fit into my student's budget at the moment.
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You can buy tons of pens, and put them around, BUT when you need a pen - usually near the telephone -
NO ONE is available. So - if you are lucky - you can steal the coloured pencils of the children, or the pencil for the eyes..
When it is too late, they suddenly appear again.
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Dear Emanuela: many years ago I read a very amusing essay by Robert Haven Schauffler, entitled "The Malice of Objects." Alas, no can find on Internet. But someone has usurped his title, and some of his ideas: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/ArchiveMalice.html
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Dear Max: I can't find the dates for Robert Haven Schauffler, but one of his princpal malicious objects was the collar button that always managed to find the darkest corner under the dresser. Outside of a few ministers I don't remember anybody wearing collar buttons in the thirties. I didn't mean "usurp" to sound harsh. I was just feeling frustrated at being unable to locate the essay I read, which was in an American magazine, can't remember which one. At that date American magazines were not as often read in UK as they are now, so I don't suspect plagiarism.
P.S. I finally found his dates:1879 - 1969. Seems entirely possible that he wrote the essay prior to the thirties.
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Pens are one thing; use of them is another. I'm hopeless at handwriting and always have been. It's almost as if I was born to be a doctor. When I was lecturing, my students awarded me the wooden spoon prize for the worst handwriting every semester. It got to the point where I would have been disappointed if it had gone elsewhere ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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>collar button that always managed to find the darkest corner under the dresser.
OOOOH. You gave me a chance to tie two threads together. In our household it has been empirically established that our clothes dryer has transmutational qualities, some of which should bear warning labels relating to quantum physics.
The heat of our dryer turns socks into wire clothes hangers. That's why our socks disappear and we are overrun with hangers.
TEd
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I agree with Emanuela's law! It also holds for flashlights and scissors and needle-nose pliers (why do I suddenly want to break into a chorus of "My Favorite Things"?). I'm hopeless at handwritingYou are not, sir!  Several years ago, my husband and my brother- and sister-in-law dragged me to see somebody I'd barely heard of, but he turned out to be pretty funny. I think it was George Carlin. Anyway, one of the things we still talk about is his explanation that, somewhere in the universe, there is a humongous pile of Lost Things: millions of odd socks, etc. So Ted, if you can just locate this pile, you'll find all the socks. Oh--also, it is not known how the things get TO the pile--they just appear.
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The thing I find mysterious - and I'm absolutely certain that it must be tied very closely to the physics surrounding Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle - is the way that physical and inert things turn up precisely one minute after you don't need them any more. It must be related somehow to the mental situation where you can't remember a name when you meet someone, um and ah to cover up for the fact that you have forgotten their name, then remember it as you walk away ... 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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What a beautifully evocative thread!
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.
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My handwriting is also pretty dire, and printing is not much better. Any pen or pencil that gets into my hands is probably going to get into my mouth as well, so expensive ones are best avoided. The ink in a cheapish biro tends to run out at about the same time as the cap finally breaks into pieces from the continual chewing.
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On a program on Maine PBS and education, it was said that
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 ...
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RE:.. reprove the accuracy of the word "black" as a adjectifier to "English"
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.
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Well, I have to say that the approximate Appalachian variant would be something like "uh eenk pay-en".
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Here's a capsule history from an insert included with a Goose Quill Pen recently purchased for use in the 19th century one-room schoolhouse I interpret: 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
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Carpal Tunnel
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The article you cited said the ballpoint pen was "widespread by the early 20th century" 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
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OP
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That was wonderful WO'N-- and reminded me, the care and "sharping" of quill nibs, and the removal of the feathers, required a knife, a small pen knife small pocket knives are still called pen knives, even if they are almost never used to cut a pen.
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I have been told that the lecterns used by lawyers appearing before the U.S. Supreme Court have, on the lectern, an old fashion ink well and a quill pen and that after arguement before the court the lawyer is allowed to take (is given) the pen -- an elegant white feather Quill Pen -- as a souvenir of the occasion.
Anyone know if this is true?
Sparteye?
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member
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flashlights and scissors and needle-nose pliers (why do I suddenly want to break into a chorus of "My Favorite Things"?).Flashlights and scissors and needle-nose pliers, Scotch tape dispensers and things to cut wires, Wite-Out and batt'ries and old keychain rings, These are a few of my oft-missing things!
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Hey, that was good, Pi! Didja eat some of your brother's birthday cake?
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member
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Thanks!
Um...what brother's cake?
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enthusiast
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Thanks!
Um...what brother's cake?
I think Jackie confused you with the other Pi, 3.14159 (the erstwhile JimthedogII), whose brother Jimthedog just celebrated a birthday.
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Since there's a bit of thread resurrection going on, here's an old gem I always meant to revive since it's a wonderful read and understandably petered out through the distraction of 9/11/01. And it also, somehow, has been scarce in mention of past "best" threads here. I think new folks will find it a treat, and those around then will enjoy the reread, too. And, hopefully, some new posts will add to its treasure.
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Carpal Tunnel
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wonderful. especially this, from Rhuby: 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. it reminded me of one of my favorite books: the View from Saturday, by E. L. Konigsburg. one of the boys learns calligraphy from his aunt(grandmother? I'll need to read it again. yippee!), and it always starts with the preparation of the materials, not with the pen first hitting the paper...
formerly known as etaoin...
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old hand
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One of my favourite writers - Kipling - wrote an idiosyncratic autobiography Something of myself in which he describes, at length and with great fondness, the act of setting himself up to write - the pen, the ink (ground India ink, if I remember rightly), and so on. Most enlightening is his description of his editing process. He let the dæmon take him and wrote whatever came, and then, over a period of time, he would sit with the draft, and his pen, and black out words. As he tells it, he never added a word, but always, over three or so revisions, deleted words. Some critics feel that this may be the reaon for the increasingly elliptical nature of his stories in the latter half of his life ("Mrs Bathurst" being so elliptical and enigmatic that even today most critics disagree on what the story is 'about').
Just thought I'd throw that in...
(And yes, my favourite ever pen was my Mont Blanc - pressie from my dad for my BA exams. Like most of my other stuff, lost a few years ago. I know have a few cheaper, but still rather nice, pens - a Pelikan and a couple of Lamys. Have never been able to get used to pens with balls in the tip, they slide over the page to promiscuously to allow for decent control. Only necessary for writing through copies, and shunned for all other purposes. I also affect a mechanical pencil - I love their versatility, even though the writing line doesn't have the density of ink.)
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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Do y'all do crosswords in pen or pencil?
I too love mechanical pencils, shanks, and wouldn't use any other kind. Unless I were on a desert island or something.
I also dislike ballpoints but sometimes I'm forced to use them, not only for forms with copies (love your use of "promiscuously"!). Since I'm left-handed, and unlike Leonardo da Vinci, write from left to right, if I use a felt or ink [sic] pen whose ink doesn't dry immediately I find the heel of my hand blackened or blued by the time I'm done.
Fascinating story about Kipling!
Here's a tidbit: I don't know what kind of writing instrument he used, but Goethe wrote everything standing up at a kind of draftsman's table.
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old hand
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Mmm, pens! A favorite subject!
I prefer a ballpoint pen for writing. Its flow matches the speed of my writing. I have found that the ink pens, such as Uniball, Gel, liquid ink roller balls, etc. flow too fast for me and therefore cause my handwriting to get sloppy.
I love Sharpies and mechanical pencils, too!
Here’s my history on the love of the fountain pen: my mother has a beautiful Parker pen that she used to write with, and I admired it when I was a child. One year for Christmas I received my own Parker fountain pen. I used it all through junior high and high school until something happened to it and I could never get it to work right. After college, I bought my own Schaeffer pen – a lovely, slim design.
This year at Christmas my mother gave me a fountain pen (which I had admired on her desk). The pen is marked Conklin by ENDURA, and belonged to my great-grandfather, Harry Needham. It sits on a marble base, in a holder, and his name is engraved on a small plaque. It dates from the mid 1920’s. He died in 1948 at the age of 75.
I’m digressing here, but I also possess the flute which belong to his father, Winford Needham. Winford played in a Union regiment in the US Civil War. It’s a rosewood flute with an ivory headpiece. Interesting, huh? It’s quite a museum piece.
So anyway, this pen of Harry’s is the kind that has the little lever which draws the ink up into a rubber sac. I haven’t tried it to see if it works, since I’ve assumed it won’t and I don’t want to get it (and me) all messy trying.
To answer AnnaS, I do crosswords in pencil. My friend who is left-handed (a sinister fellow!) prefers the Pilot V-5 pens which, as was noted in an earlier post, dry quickly and do not smudge on his paper or on his hand. Maybe Goethe had a bad back???
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old hand
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ASp
Being sinistral too, and having the habit of hooking my hand over the top of the page, I too have come across the smudging problem. My solution is too hook my hand even farther over, thereby giving me a run at two or three lines' worth before the bas of my hand comes into contact with the ink - thereby giving it a reasonable amount of time in which to dry. Not for everybody, though...
And I do crosswords with whatever implement comes to hand!
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RE: this pen of Harry’s is the kind that has the little lever which draws the ink up into a rubber sac. I haven’t tried it to see if it works, since I’ve assumed it won’t and I don’t want to get it (and me) all messy trying.
This style of pen was still common when i was a child, and yes, the rubber ink bladder can dry out, and get small holes (try plain warm water.. and see if it leaks.--sometimes dried ink in the pen needs to be washed out too, and plain warm (baby bath temp) water is fine.
if it does, there are places that repair/replace the bladders (or it can be 'retro fitted' to hold cartidges.) --the pump lever will remain, but will no longer function.
you might find you also have to replace the nib(if you want to use the pen) , because as WOW pointed out above, nib of pens (like shoes) come to 'fit a hand'. many pens have easy to replace nibs and the best are gold (which quickly mold to fit you 'hand'.
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i tend to do crossword puzzles in ink.. occational they become messy as a result, but more often, i get most of the crosses done, and end up with one corner with several blank squares. (i manage to complete the sunday NYTimes puzzle about 1 week in 3)
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Pooh-Bah
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I work in a hospital and we're required to write with black ink. They provide the cheapest pens available, you know, those clear plastic ones that crack around the point or explode. I tried taking decent pens of my own but they all disappeared. I complained so much about losing pens that my mom got me one that has a string on the cap to go around my neck. I felt such a fool walking around with the empty cap around my neck while I looked for the pen that I gave up. Recently some friends gave me a pack of click type pens in clear pastel colours which I velcro into my notebook. Between the velcro and the fact that my name is printed on them they have been finding their way home. I detest using a dull pencil so I bring my own mechanical pencils, cheap ones, from home. At home I use any pen that writes smoothly but I like to use gel pens as the colour emphasizes that I'm not at work, they also help me to slow down and think about my handwriting. Speaking of which, I still bless the high school teacher that told my parents that my handwriting was so bad because my hand couldn't keep up with my brain. After that when they complained I told them it was a sign of intelligence.
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stranger
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stranger
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I learned to write using a school pen and reams of blotting paper. The pen (hah!) had a wooden shaft and a replaceable metal nib - - awful. The ink was in a small bakelite inkwell recessed into the wooden desk. As ink monitor (?), it was my job to refill the inkwells every Monday morning. I had to mix a blue powder with water to produce the ink. Consequently, for the first half of the week, I had blue hands (woad).
Happy days
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stranger
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stranger
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I learned to write using a school pen and reams of blotting paper. The pen (hah!) had a wooden shaft and a replaceable metal nib - - awful. The ink was in a small bakelite inkwell recessed into the wooden desk. As ink monitor, it was my job to refill the inkwells every Monday morning. I had to mix a blue powder with water to produce the ink. Consequently, for the first half of the week, I had blue hands (woad).
Happy days
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Carpal Tunnel
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ah, dav-- i moved last year, and got rid of 90% of my worldly goods (a 6 room house(with attic, basement and garage) was condenced down to an 8 X 8 X8 storage locker!) but- i still have a extensive collection of just the pens you are talking about.. a half dozen or so wooden shafts, and whole box (a gross!) of nibs--they take up so little room!
my elementary schools had oak desks fitted with ink wells, but they were no longer being used when i was in school, we use fountain, or more likely cartrige loaded pens. (i have a collection of these too.. another half dozen, plus my cross pen (gold nib and cartridge style)
i also moved the bottle of india ink (a pint bottle, more than half full) --yes, i am kind of person that buys india ink in pint bottles.
my children are the same, they have fancy pens, and fancy inks, (and use them) too.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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We had the wooden pens, steel nibs and china ink wells let into the desk tops. The best fun was dipping little balls of blotting paper into the ink well and then flicking them across the room at a suitable target.
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Pooh-Bah
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Yes, with a ruler if the teacher's back was turned. Gave them ... velocity!
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addict
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addict
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My primary school was terribly old-fashioned so we did have scripture every day. We didn't have ink wells though, cartridge pens (which we called fountain pens, ignorant of any other kind) were the thing. Once at secondary school everyone used bics, to deface all available surfaces and shave their heads, and, very occasionally, to do their schoolwork. Looking at the work on the wall, it was easy to tell who had been to our primary school, we all retained a similar italic style. All my siblings went to differerent secondary schools, and this is very apparent in our accents, however, our handwriting is strikingly similar.
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everyone used bics, to deface all available surfaces and shave their heads Two different sorts of bics, no?
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From Faldage's link: Click here to discover our most recent advertising campaigns. Oh, gee, I can't wait...
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old hand
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Sounds like a sad-sack theme park, a la General Mills' Cereal Adventure at the Mall of America... 
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