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What Do People Say To You When You Whip Out That Pen?


GabrielleDuVent

Common perceptions  

464 members have voted

  1. 1. What do people say to you when you get out your FP?

    • "My, that's a weird looking pen."
      50
    • "That's a cool pen!"
      167
    • "Is that a fountain pen?"
      182
    • "Is that a weapon?"
      12
    • "Can I borrow it?"
      40
    • "Do you use fountain pens? I do too! (goes off into a monologue)"
      19
    • "That's a very posh pen."
      55
    • Other (write them in the posts!)
      97


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Fountain pens are like quills, in that you never see them any more. So what do people say when you whip out that pen to make a memo?

 

I've personally had things from "you think you're classy because you use a weird pen, don't you?" (?!?!?!) to "is that a weapon?". I've only had a few people identify them as fountain pens.

Edited by GabrielleDuVent

Tes rires retroussés comme à son bord la rose,


Effacent mon dépit de ta métamorphose;


Tu t'éveilles, alors le rêve est oublié.



-Jean Cocteau, from Plaint-Chant, 1923

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I don't think anybody really cares. I'm old, I use old pens.

Edited by pajaro

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Older people: "I haven't seen one of them in a long time."

 

Younger people: "What's that?"

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I get..."what the hell is that!?" or " the 19th century called and wants their pen back! " or "wow! Can I see it? Can I try it? ".

 

Most younger folks have never seen one up close and most of the older folks I know don't remember using them. Such a shame.

 

David

For so long as one hundred men remain alive,we shall never under any conditions submit to the

domination of the English. It is not for glory or riches or honours that we fight, but only for liberty, which

no good man will consent to lose but with his life.

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"What a waste being used by you"

 

Somebody said that to you?!

Tes rires retroussés comme à son bord la rose,


Effacent mon dépit de ta métamorphose;


Tu t'éveilles, alors le rêve est oublié.



-Jean Cocteau, from Plaint-Chant, 1923

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Usually: nothing.

 

Once: that's a fantastic pen! (Fellow fountain pen user)

journaling / tinkering with pens / sailing / photography / software development

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"I haven't seen one of those in a long time."

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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I find most people are totally indifferent to pens, and don't even notice. :(

Whatever is true,whatever is noble,whatever is right,whatever is pure,whatever is lovely,whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Philippians 4.8

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Same here sadly, so far since getting back into using fountain pens and 'nice' pens have had no one make a comment!

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"Whow, what a nice pen!" (Lamy 80)

 

and:

 

"I can't use fountain pens, I'd be stained with ink all the time."

 

The last time I heard that, I said: "Just try it" an handed over my Sheaffer Touchdown. The next thing I heard, was: "See?" My friend was right, and when I got home, I took the Touchdown out of my handbag, cleaned it as good as I could, and then put it in the box which has written "Fountain pens" on top.

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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Most people want to know (1) what is that? (2) why am I using it? Being such a techie, it confuses most people.

 

 

Myste

I'm a geek with a fountain pen.

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I get one of two mostly:

 

1) You know, you might be in the reenactment society, but you can use biros...

 

2) I think your pen is broken

You can spot a writer a mile off, they're the ones meandering in the wrong direction muttering to themselves and almost walking into every second lamppost.

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I get one of two mostly:

 

1) You know, you might be in the reenactment society, but you can use biros...

 

2) I think your pen is broken

 

#2 was kinda funny, actually XD

 

Anyway, I get a lot of jibes about being this famous Filipino author (Jose P. Rizal, national hero— he used dip pens and quills though, since fountain pens weren't exactly the norm at the time he was around) whenever people at school see me using a fountain pen. The fact that I have really weird handwriting only strengthens the image.

 

Lots of other people usually compliment me for using them, oddly enough, though I got one instance of someone talking me down for having a fancy "ballpen" (I know, it irritated me to no end).

"The price of an object should not only be what you had to pay for it, but also what you've had to sacrifice in order to obtain it." - <i>The Wisdom of The Internet</i><p class='bbc_center'><center><img src="http://i59.tinypic.com/jr4g43.jpg"/></center>

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Am I the only one who got the weapon question? My entire Latin class was firmly convinced that my fountain pen was a knife. I nearly got sent to the headmaster's office. The writing etiquette teacher had to testify that no, I can't stab people with it, and yes, it's a writing instrument (it was a Lamy).

 

The place I got the "whazzat" question the least was Japan and France. I'm seeing more and more of "whazzat" people in the UK... US it's almost a guaranteed question.

Tes rires retroussés comme à son bord la rose,


Effacent mon dépit de ta métamorphose;


Tu t'éveilles, alors le rêve est oublié.



-Jean Cocteau, from Plaint-Chant, 1923

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It is kind of surprising to me that, at least in Colorado and California, millennials seem to be almost universally complimentary of my pens, typically when I use them to sign the ubiquitous credit card receipts. When one comments on a pen, I will always give a short description of it and the ink, which at least one time in four gets further questions. In meetings at work I am routinely asked what pen I'm using today. Maybe I am just dealing with a small subset of more inquisitive people, but it is kinda nice and a little bit unexpected.

 

When I was in college, back in the 70s and 80s, people tended to be more dismissive of my pen peculiarities, though I was routinely complimented on my penmanship. Most of my contemporaries typed - or had someone else type - their papers.

 

Retro is cool, at least in places.

 

Will

-----------------

 

Will von Dauster

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