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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
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TEd
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
In reply to:
But permanent markers are permanent. What about all those markers that are used for coloring by kids and teachers? We aren't allowed to use permanent markers because the ink is toxic.
I agree. Your basic Crayola felt tip pen is a "magic marker" or just "marker." There's also the dry-erase marker, whose smell I hate worse than a permanent marker. Instant headache.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
I'm having way too much fun with these colors. Takes the edge off oncology...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
I've actually taken to calling them Sharpies, Magic Markers are *so* 5 minutes ago!  
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Sharpies and Magic Markers are two very different things. Sharpies are gazelles, Magic Markers are moose.
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
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addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
I have always called them big felts and crayon felts, because that is how they were divided up at nursery school. On the subject of brand names, is biro a brand name? I have a feeling it is. What would the generic name be?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Biro is a brand name. USns call them ball point pens. FWIW ball point pen might its own self be a trade mark. The first pen to be called a ball point pen was what we call a fountain pen. It had to do with the shape of the nib.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Faldage: A fountain pen used liquid ink contained in a rubber bladder that was
compressed to drive out air, and let resulting vacuum draw up ink. A leading maker
of liquid in pens said that the ballpoint was the only pen that would make six carbon
copies but no original. The ball points sixty years ago were maddeningly unreliable.
The Parkers I spent big bucks on then are now junk.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
yes, long ago, feathers were cut into pens with pen knives, and as they got worn, they were re-cut into a sharp point, and carefully split. then, sometime during the industrial revolution, steel nibs, that could slip into wooden holder became popular, and these, had pointed nibs, just like the feather ones.. but steel is much harder than a quill, and you had to write with a light hand.(and nibs were made out of other metal, most popular gold) or risk tearing the paper, or making a blot.
then someone (parker? waterman?) designed a ball tip to a steel nib. it was safer, smoother, and less likely to tear the paper.. Most fountain pens today have this style nib.
(pen's were also made out of glass!)
(as a curiosity, i have a "teacher's supply" box of steel nibs, and several of the wooden pen bodies to hold them.. as well as a number of different pens and nibs for caligraphy. i have even made my own inks.. (batchalor buttons, crushed in alcohol (denatured) make the pretties blue ink.. darker than sky, but still pretty light blue)
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The secret of the Parker, Waterman and other pens when I was young, was that the nib
tip was a split globule of iridium, which had a very long life. I would not call it a ball.
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