Why Do People Really Want To Hold Fountain Pens Upside Down?

[tinysnail]

When I let my dad try one of my pens a few weeks ago, he started sketching out the pens he used to use in school for me (60s, 70s Croatia)... while using the pen upside down! He's a stubborn kind of guy, so when I corrected him, he said "no, this is just how I hold it."

[Tweel]

I think: (1) Intuition tells them that the functional-looking metal part should go downwards, in closest proximity to the paper, and (2) Held this way, with just the tip of the nib showing, the thing most closely resembles other writing tools like ballpoints and markers.

[Oldane]

Some nibs write with a F line when using it upside down. Richard Binder offer his "Italfine" customization where the pen writes as a cursive italic when held the normal way and as a F when held upside down. My favorite Pelikan nibs are "Italfine". Very useful - two pens in one.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Oldane

[pajaro]

I have some stubs that write more like a cursive italic upside down, and most of my pens write a finer line upside down.

 

If you think there is only one permissable way to hold a pen, and if you make fun of those who hold it differently, perhaps your thinking is a bit too narrow.

[dragos.mocanu]

I have some stubs that write more like a cursive italic upside down, and most of my pens write a finer line upside down.

 

If you think there is only one permissable way to hold a pen, and if you make fun of those who hold it differently, perhaps your thinking is a bit too narrow.

 

+1..remember the Feathertouch nibs from Sheaffer? They are supposed to write as smoothly when held with the feed up. I've been using fountain pens for as long as I can remember, and I recently had an Eversharp Skyline with a gushing 1.4mm stub, which was way too wet for any ink (Pel BlBk, Iron Gall...you name it, I've tried it all!) so I wrote with it upside down...it was very smooth that way too, the flow was drier and the lines were crisper, so win-win! Now every time I get a new pen, I also try to write with it upside down, just for fun

Edited October 24, 2014 by Murky

[penrivers]

They live in Australia.

[penrivers]

Its a movement of deference and respect to the nib, while keeping it up they are protecting the nib from I don't know and at the same time thinking in what they are going to write, and of course they all know which side is the writing side, I assume they are perfectly aware that write with the cap is imposible.

[shawndp]

It drives me nuts to see people do that - but I suppose they figure the feed would splatter ink from the ribs if it was facing down or something. All I can say is thank goodness for Laszlo Biro's invention - some people's life would just not be the same otherwise!

[chas0039]

I wrote with my Parker 45s that way all the time back in the 1960s. The XF nib was too fat, Parkers still are, and upide down was the only way to get a fine line. I still write upside down with Preppys today for the same reason, until I re-grind them.

Edited October 24, 2014 by chas0039

[Ergative]

Marc Drogin's book on Medieval Calligraphy specifies that he always holds his Platignum B4 nib (if I recall correctly) upside down to create the exemplar sheets. He likes the better crispness.

 

As for why other people do it (without being as experienced as Drogin), I agree with Tweel: nib goes onto the paper, right? Point the nib onto the paper. Metal part goes downward. It's perfectly logical, and a lot of pens will behave properly even upside down. My Pilot Varsities write quite nicely upside down.

[SouvenirCat]

As for why other people do it (without being as experienced as Drogin), I agree with Tweel: nib goes onto the paper, right? Point the nib onto the paper. Metal part goes downward. It's perfectly logical, and a lot of pens will behave properly even upside down.

 

I think so too.

 

But as a user of fountain pens I do this deliberately, just to get a thinner line.

 

[penrivers]

Its a movement of deference and respect to the nib, while keeping it up they are protecting the nib from I don't know and at the same time thinking in what they are going to write, and of course they all know which side is the writing side, I assume they are perfectly aware that write with the cap is imposible.

Well , so sorry I was talking about the whole fountain pen position up side. About the nib ?, let me think about it.

[imahawki]

I have a coworker with whom I coined the phrase hypovigilant. I think there are people in the world who just pay attention to pretty much NOTHING. I knew which way a fountain pen nib wrote as a child (not because of my age, I'm only 35) but I saw them in movies or whatever and because I'm observant, I just knew. Some people are just blindly walking through life.

[LeonW]

Well , so sorry I was talking about the whole fountain pen position up side. About the nib ?, let me think about it.

Eish, don't we look silly now, the correct answer to the OP seems to be that the people are creatures of a more modern time.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I've seen it too.

 

Even if I didn't know Jack about pens, it Still just doesn't even Look right.

 

 

I'm wondering if it isn't a minor indica that someone's a bark at the mooner.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[OcalaFlGuy]

I have a coworker with whom I coined the phrase hypovigilant. I think there are people in the world who just pay attention to pretty much NOTHING. Some people are just blindly walking through life.

 

I say they are just flitting from lilypad to lilypad in the river of life.

 

Well observed though hawki.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

Edited October 24, 2014 by OcalaFlGuy

[penrivers]

Well,... its reasonable, I mean , if I come from a world that never saw a fountain pen of course I would tend to protect the most sophisticated (aparentley) part of the section, the fins, and write with the obvious (aparently) writer part of the section: the upside. The op made one of the finest subtle questions I ever read in fpn,and specialy subtle because it admits many answers.

Edited October 25, 2014 by penrivers

[Chris Rozon]

Because you're all immediately experts at their hobbies too, right?

[TheDarkFaery]

Yeah... I honestly don't understand this odd occurrence.

[dgreenwood116]

Because you're all immediately experts at their hobbies too, right?

It's just a silly occurrence, that most people would generally have an inner chuckle at. Even brand new to fountain pens, not having interacted or seen one, I just axiomatically knew which way it should write.