Jump to content

How Are Fountain Pens Generally Viewed In Your Country/region?


cjabbott

Recommended Posts

In Mexico nobody seems to use fountain pens with two major exceptions: executives that carry a Mont Blanc very visible and students of design and architecture that mainly use Lamy pens. So FPs are seen as a status symbol or a specialized designer tools.

 

So far in my company I only know of two other people using FPs (out of about 500!).

 

People reacts very strange to FPs. Some think that it is a cool retro thing, others a sign of eccentricity and some others as a crude attempt to get some attention by being different. But everybody appreciate a nice pen even if they do not believe that somebody can pay more than US$10 for a pen.

I have been told that there are some private schools that still ask their students to use only fountain pens as a way to teach them calligraphy.

In a normal school the first 3 grades the students only use pencils and at 4th grade they are upgraded to ballpoint pens. No FPs. I guess because some fear of ink spills.

In public schools cursive is no longer taught. I am part of the last generation that did but in 1973 when I entered 4th grade there was a reformation on the public schools program and I had to leave cursive writing and learn to write in block letters. Since then no more cursive writing on public schools at all.

 

Now with my liking of fountain pens I have tried to write in cursive again but I can do it fine with some letters only ("a", "c", "s", "d" and some more) while with others ("f", "m", "n") it is a mess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 168
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Ispriluc

    5

  • beak

    4

  • impossiblebird

    3

  • eds

    3

apparently the very presence of a fountain pen gives you special treatment in most countries.

 

Is that a Montblanc in your pocket? Right this way, sir...

Visconti Homo Sapiens; Lamy 2000; Unicomp Endurapro keyboard.

 

Free your mind -- go write

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found that people who notice I'm using a fountain pen at all will generally make some comment about it being a nice pen. One Starbucks manager who say me make a note with one liked it so much that she later bought her own. Much of the time a I carry a Parker 51, though, and people don't even notice it is a fountain pen--even when they've borrowed it to write with themselves.

 

Regarding the subject of handwriting instruction: when I was in prison a public elementary school in the 1970s they still "taught" handwriting. As a result, my handwriting was almost completely illegible, even to me, until around six years ago when I bought a rather useful book titled "Write Now" and made an concerted effort to improve it. I'd have to say that dropping handwriting instruction can only be an improvement over the level of instruction in the 70s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most schools in my area stopped teaching handwriting decades ago, with the exception of parochial schools, which still teach cursive and handwriting. It was a standard part of the curriculum, and all students were required to use cursive only by 3rd grade. In the public system, I ran into many students that could not read or write cursive, even in high school.

 

What?!?!?! Are you JOKING? you mean... there are places in the western world in which handwriting is not taught at school? You mean ... they don't teach children how to write?

mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif

that's the most surprising thing I'm ever read...

High school students who can't write and read in cursive? I just can't believe it.

Very sad, but very true. And a complete mystery to older people. I wish someone who was on the 'It's not necessary any more' team would let us know why they think that! See also previous threads on this topic - they will amaze you.

Perhaps it's because today's new teachers don't themselves know how to write and read cursive. :gaah:

“If you believe yourself unfortunate because you have loved and lost, perish the thought. One who has loved truly, can never lose entirely.” ~Napoleon Hill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My older brother, who actually studied calligraphy for a while, regards them as too expensive because he loses his pens too often.

 

Most people just use what is readily available. To a certain extent they are better off without fountain pens. The idea of being gentle with a tool seems to have mostly faded or is totally absent from the minds of the people I know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Malaysia, FPs are often used by the bigwigs to sign things. The Gen Y (and some of the Gen X) working crowd seems to think that a Mont Blanc ball point is the ultimate status symbol. I've rarely seen people use it for daily writing except for a professor in a local University who was rocking a 'F' nibbed Safari. I do get strange stares in meetings when I pull out one of my pens and take notes. Also, FPs are viewed as leaky and messy to use on a daily basis by most of the people here. There are a few blog postings by people who fondly reminisce about the good old days of using Hero pens and Parker Quink Blue Black ink. (in Giant bottles that stood at one corner of the office where everyone would come to fill their pens)

 

A conversation with a pen shop owner confirms my first sentence and tho student pens are sold in Malaysia (Pelikans and Steadlers), kids rarely use them to learn writing. I read a blog post written by a lady the other day that said in the past in Malaysia, kids wrote with pencils and only when their writing was nice and neat, were they then allowed to use a fountain pen (around the time when they are 10 years old). So, it was a competition among the kids to see who would 'graduate' to be allowed to use fountain pens. *sigh* guess those days are gone cus all I remember in school were those damn ballpoints! :mad:

 

Imagine the look on my friends face when they saw my Wality 69T. Now I gotta get them each one the next time Mom pops over to Chennai :lol:

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards. - Robert Heinlein

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+ some sample size (I didn't read the entire thread response). My people at work "enjoy" my use of FPs. The owners actually bought me a Pilot Vanishing Point for Christmas, but I suspect all but the oldest engineers think my use of a fountain pen is really, really old school. And I'm not that old.

 

As a quirky anachronism.

 

(kinda the same way I am viewed too)

Hard times don't last, but hard people do.

 

Thank a Veteran.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm 16, most other people my age have never seen a fountain pen before, they think my Safari is some new high-tech pen.

 

If the younger ones think your Safari is something new and high tech -- there is hope yet!!!

 

Chris

 

Right, in my high school (northeast United States, since this is supposed to be a regional focus), very few of my classmates have seen a fountain pen, but when they do see my pens, my friends most often think they're something "cool" rather than something old and outdated. It's almost as though once something becomes outdated enough, it's datedness wraps back around and it becomes something cool and modern. :)

Edited by Cnulhu
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ran into many students that could not read or write cursive,

 

So...how DO they write? just by puting letters side by side? i mean, like this?

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Fp6oXDE6ljw/TTU2cxXxVOI/AAAAAAAABZw/2gPIYc_bG8o/s512/letter_form.gif

Parker 51 Vacumatic 0.7 Masuyama stub; TWSBI 540 M; TWSBI 580 1.1; Mabie, Todd and Bard 3200 stub; Waterman 14 Eyedropper F; 2 x Hero 616; several flexible dip nibs

owned for a time: Parker 45 flighter Pendleton stub, Parker 51 aerometric F, Parker 51 Special 0.7 Binder stub, Sheaffer Valiant Snorkel M, Lamy Joy Calligraphy 1.5 mm, Pelikan M200 M, Parker Vacumatic US Azure Blue M, Parker Vacumatic Canada Burgundy F, Waterman 12 Eyedropper, Mabie Todd SF2 flexible F

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Australia, every child enrolled in a public high school is given a laptop from the government, there's really no need for pen and paper anymore.

Edited by ohexploitable
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most schools in my area stopped teaching handwriting decades ago, with the exception of parochial schools, which still teach cursive and handwriting. It was a standard part of the curriculum, and all students were required to use cursive only by 3rd grade. In the public system, I ran into many students that could not read or write cursive, even in high school.

 

What?!?!?! Are you JOKING? you mean... there are places in the western world in which handwriting is not taught at school? You mean ... they don't teach children how to write?

mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif mellow.gif

that's the most surprising thing I'm ever read...

High school students who can't write and read in cursive? I just can't believe it.

Very sad, but very true. And a complete mystery to older people. I wish someone who was on the 'It's not necessary any more' team would let us know why they think that! See also previous threads on this topic - they will amaze you.

 

It would really help if people would write legibly. Maybe I'm just too picky, but most cursive writing is beyond my comprehension. It was incomprehensible to me 20 years ago when my mother tried to teach me, and to a large extent remains so today, even after a month of daily practice and dozens of hours of study.

The script itself is fine, show me cursive on a computer and I can read it almost as well as anything else. The problem is that people don't write cursive. If you compare the letter forms in a writing manual with the forms that usually end up on paper, far too often they are nothing alike (go watch

for a better idea of what I'm talking about). At least in printing you have individual letters that, even if severely malformed, can be interpreted as the letter they are meant to represent.

It gets really irritating trying to read ink reviews on this forum when people don't type out everything they wrote. If you have consistent spacing, write your "e" "r" and "s" in very separate and distinct forms, and you know how to dot an "i", that's great, I will be able to read your writing. Most of the time, however, only half the words people put on paper are legible. Reading a sentence becomes a matter of making assumptions as to what the words are based on the context of the surrounding sentences. At that point I may as well be reading a different language.

 

If you're writing notes for yourself, go nuts, use shorthand for all I care (according to Wikipedia, the speed of shorthand in comparable to touch typing). If your writing is meant to be read by other people, please do your best to write in a manner that resembles the script you were taught.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Australia, every child enrolled in a public high school is given a laptop from the government, there's really no need for pen and paper any more.

 

I guess this topic has been, and is being, covered in several other threads, so we shouldn't take up much space here, but , with respect, this statement, to many of us, will be way off. The idea that owning a laptop negates the requirement to be able to write cleanly and fairly quickly by hand is in no way proved.

 

The fact that many do not write very legibly does not negate the practice either, in my view, not that anyone said that it did. I think that all who write by hand are in some way or other trying to improve their skills, and not just for the sake of their health. There are good reasons to complain of the poor readability of many people's scripts, and I sympathize. It is a basic requirement that handwriting be practised until it is reliably legible. Most things worth having require effort, and the easy way is not often the best way, in my experience.

Sincerely, beak.

 

God does not work in mysterious ways – he works in ways that are indistinguishable from his non-existence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Bangalore, India- What I posted in a different thread earlier

 

I'm from India and would like to add my perspective.

 

When I was in school, it was mandatory for students to use fountain pens after a certain class with only blue, blue black and in some cases black ink. Red was reserved for teachers and green for principals and such senior academicians. Many schools today have relaxed their rules and allow the use of ball pens and felt tip pens.

 

Almost all stationary shops sell fountain pens. They however are of the inexpensive ED kind along with a few converter, cartridge or piston fillers (All with steel nibs). There are many inexpensive brands that write well e.g.- Camlin, Chelpark, Reynolds, Flair etc. Many students consider Hero pens (which are also commonly available) to be a good brand.

 

Most would not even dream of spending more than INR 50 on a daily writer and INR 100- 200 on a 'good' pen.This is mainly because we are a nation obsessed with getting value for the money we pay. A few brands considered to be good and in the 'higher price range' are Parker (widely available) and Pierre Cardin. A range of Chinese made pens are also available; though they are more of a hit or miss.

 

Most people who use FPs do not use brands like Guider, Rathnam or Brahmam. I myself heard of them only recently.

 

I currently have two Camlin pens as my daily writers. I have ground the nibs myself to a medium italic and they serve me well.

 

Dr. Watson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was growing up, I remember finding one of my dad's pen's. Probably a Sheaffer. It was to me, the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen at that point haha. Now, and I'm not old, still a teenager, I remember I had brought the Noodler's flex pen to school. When a girl asked what it was and I showed her, the look on her face probably resembled my childhood expression. I have a bit of a reputation for handwriting, namely that I do those *fancy letters*.

 

FP's are known by nearly all of the adults in my life, even a good portion of my peers. I don't use them in front of other people because writing in front of other people is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but when other people see the pens, their reaction is usually a confluence of "wow!" and "You seriously paid that much?" Not a great deviation from the other posts here, but it's my two cents. Also, I'm in a small town about 30 minutes from San Diego. Very middle class town which is probably why a lot of people know what a fountain pen is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I currently work at a university in Aachen, Germany. ....

What came as a surprise to me is that there are at least five stores in Aachen that sell fountain pens. Now thats some number for such a small city.

 

This might be partly because fountainpens and ink are still regarded as school supply.

 

People do care about their writing instruments. Yesterday I had been in a meeting with our sales stuff. One was using some advert ballpoint. Another one our companies advert ballpoint. Two had been using our companies pencil - you have to "steal" them from the meeting rooms. Our office supply offers cheaper pencils. Another one was using a Lamy ballpoint we had as an expensive giveaway about 12 (!!) years ago. The last one was using his MB 146 rollerball. I had been the only one with a fountainpen (tortoise Pelikan 400) but except for one ballpoint and the MB everyone was using writing instruments with our company logo. Not bad for sales people. ;)

 

And there had been some nice notebooks, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the impression that it's not as much a kind of caring about their writing instruments as it used to be years ago. In my company most use ball points they got as adverts and if it does not work anymore they throw it away and that's it. There is just one other person using a fountain pen and that is our managing director with a €300+ Mont Blanc. I also have the impression that many think of a real pen as something cheap for school kids or as the overpriced symbol of people wo are also wearing a Rolex.

 

When I was a child, it was a bit different, even if it is not that long ago. But in the GDR a good pen was something like a Pelican coming as a gift from Western Germany and therefore was in itself something precious to be cared and loved. We had also pens made in the GDR but, well they had not the quality and also not the "coolness" factor to be from the West. So if you had one, you kept it. I know some people who used their school pens even years later at work, just because of fond memories. Nowadays most younger people stop to use real pens when they get out of school. I've never seen one of our trainees using a pen it was the same with fellow students at the university.

Edited by Lucky Sheaffer

But don't you see? The pen is mightier than the sword.

- Marcus Brody in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Australia, every child enrolled in a public high school is given a laptop from the government, there's really no need for pen and paper anymore.

 

Until, you know, the Sun spits out a huge CME and cooks everything with a circuit - and we're left scratching in the dirt. ;)

 

I do believe the evolution of man has rounded the peak - and now heading down the backside of the slope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hesiod said the same more than 2,000 years ago, well he was wrong. Others told the people the same thing over and over through the centuries and all were wrong. Considering the general development of man, it still goes up. Don't let yourself being dragged down by consuming modern news. Only bad news are good news for the media companies, so good things aren't worth mentioning.

Edited by Lucky Sheaffer

But don't you see? The pen is mightier than the sword.

- Marcus Brody in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

as far as i know, there's nobody else than me who uses a fountain pen on a regular basis where i live. at school, one of my friends started using a sheaffer viewpoint, then stopped two week later. most of the comments i get are "Why don't you just use a ballpoint? it's a waste of time." or "Why do you bring something this expensive at school?". my 24$ ipg pen is more useful at school than a 200$ ipod, which are banned from my school anyways.

-Eclipse Flat Top-|-Parker "51" Aero-|-Sheaffer's Snorkel Sentinel-|-Esterbrook SJ-|-Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe TD-|-Sheaffer 330-|-Reform 1745-|-PenUsa Genesis-|-Hero 616-|-Noodler's Flex-|-Schneider Voice-|-TWSBI Vac 700-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only solution is that we lobby for a sustainable pen culture. If (especially disposable) ballpoints and the like are made illegal and fountain pen collecting compulsory, then we can finally change the world. ;-)

 

I second that motion!

 

 

 

A few more anecdotes, from the US --

 

In high school in the 80s I worked at a pretentious "French" restaurant, and one of the full-time waiters, in his 30s, sometimes talked about getting a 149 for taking orders; most of the other waiters knew what he was talking about.

 

In college, in the late 80s, I let a friend borrow my fp to jot something down, and she tried to write with it upside down - obviously she'd never seen one before.

 

Today, I still see fps quite often being used by professors (usually a 149 or, less often, Pelikan), and occasionally by lawyers. But I don't like to use my fps in public, because I worry that it will be taken as pretentious.

 

In Scotland in the 90s I saw a few students my age using fps, and I had 2 German roommates who used them - a low-end MB (him) and a Pelikan (her).

 

So apparently central and south-east Europe is fp ground zero?

Current line-up: Pelikan M805 (EF), Aurora 88 (F), Parker Duofold (F), Delta Titanio (F)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...