Mi6 And Green Ink.

[pawnraider]

I watched a program about MI6 and one of the people on the program stated that one of the enduring traditions of MI6 is that its head writes in the log with green ink. It's a tradition carried over from the founder for when he was in the Royal Navy and their captains wrote with green ink. I'm just curious if anyone here writes with green ink and why?

 

[Notgatherox]

I do, but not on a regular basis.

 

I use it for two reasons, one, my friend's favourite colour is green and I incorporate green in my letters to her. Two, green symbolised hope to one of my favourite poets Pablo Neruda.

 

 

 

~Epic

Edited July 23, 2015 by Lord Epic

[arrScott]

I'd love to know more about the Royal Navy angle. I've read a lot of historical fiction about the Royal Navy - much just romanticized fluff, but some, like the Aubrey-Maturin novels, based on the author's immersive period research - and never encountered that detail.

[Bobby Check]

I really like Pilot's Syo-ro ink and use it regularly.

 

Bobby

[pawnraider]

I'd love to know more about the Royal Navy angle. I've read a lot of historical fiction about the Royal Navy - much just romanticized fluff, but some, like the Aubrey-Maturin novels, based on the author's immersive period research - and never encountered that detail.

All I know about it is what I've seen on the video. I believe that the founder of MI6 was in the Royal Navy and writing in the log book in green ink is a tradition that he brought over with him when he founded MI6. Whether he uses green ink in all of his correspondence or for just writing in the log book wasn't made very clear in the video. Another unrelated tradition is that the head of MI6 always signs his correspondence with "C" since the founder's last name began with C and that's how he signed his name. That's why "M" in the James Bond novels is known as "M".

[Barkingpig]

J Herbin's "Vert Empire" was one of my first ink purchases & has been joined by probably 25 others. I like them all from Sailor's Bung Box "Happiness" to the muted & murky "Cigar" and hard to identify Noodler's "El Lawrence" or "Zhivago." My other favorite ink colors are orange & brown so "green" is just a nice alternative to the "Blues" of my youth. AND I enjoyed hearing that in the US many view it as an ink for the "out there" or disturbed writers who frequently address their "Letters to the Editor" in same ink & thereby usually risk "rejection without opening" BECAUSE of their ink color "choice!" Seemed like another "good" reason.

Edited July 22, 2015 by Barkingpig

[ac12]

I use green.

Green has become my personal ink color, vs. business inks of black and blue.

I find green to be nicer to look at than blue and not as harsh as black.

[amberleadavis]

I have at least two pens inked with green on my desk at all times.

 

• I need at least 2 greens for perfect doodles;
• My family was in the tree business for more than 50 years, our ledgers and our receipts were always printed in green;
• My parents worked for Mr. Croc and our trucks were always green when we landscaped the restaurants;
• I associate green, with times when my family made money (Spring); and
• Green makes me happy.

[carlos.q]

Apparently, in some countries, the color of the ink reveals who in the military or beaurocratic hierarchy signs or writes comments on a document. A few months ago an FPN member informed me the following color scheme for the German military:

 

In the Army the standard setup is:

 

Green = Commanding officer or general

Red = Deputy Commander

Magenta = Chief of Staff

Brown = Head of Branch

Blue = Head of Sub-Branch

Blue = everyone else

[musicman123]

I often write notes and homework in green, just because I can, and the color makes me feel happy.

 

My greens:

 

PR Spearmint

Caran d'ache Vibrant Green

Noodler's General of the Armies

[Venator]

I remember hearing about that on an episode of QI. The original C's name was Mansfield Smith Cumming and was responsible for the observation regarding invisible ink that 'Every man has his own stylo.'

 

I like green. It's a very pleasing colour to my eyes, most of them look good on either cream or white paper and it's a good counterpart to the more sober colours. I am a big fan of Diamine Sherwood Green and Rohrer & Klingner Alt-goldgrun. Diamine Graphite is okay and I haven't particularly liked Iroshizuku's chiku-rin and ku-jaku, nor Sailor's tokiwa-matsu for the price they come at. Though I've only just started playing with the last and I'm hoping it will grow on me.

[fly_us]

Green is my last year favorite before the purple hit me . My favorite greens are Diamine Safari, might have some feathering on low-quality papers but great on Rhodia and Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun, but it is not really a green. I also like R&K Alt-Goldrun and Iroshizuku Chiku-rin, but they are far less practical than the Safari and Fuyu-Syogun.

[Dhruv_Sood]

I used to write with green ink in school before the teachers asked me to change to blue.

I do have a private reserve Sherwood green but I am unable to find any use for it.

[The Good Captain]

Diamine Salamander amongst others and Sailor Epinard/Tokiwa-matsu are favourite, at the moment. I'm really toying with Montblanc Irish Green, for the future. Pelikan Adventurine is 'bright'...!

[PS104]

I like green ink, especially the darker, musky-looking shades. It's a change, however subtle, from the black, blue-black spectrum. However I can't stand the bright, Irish greens. Hurts my eyes.

[mallymal1]

Mission - should you wish to accept it: To find out which green 'C' uses in the log.

 

[pawnraider]

Mission - should you wish to accept it: To find out which green 'C' uses in the log.

 

I would like to know that myself as well. Unfortunately, the program doesn't specify what kind or type of green ink was and is used. Although, the bottle or whatever you call it in which the actor posing as "C" is dipping his dip pen in looks like a Pelikan bottle and as he's writing "C" it does look like the brilliant green that Pelikan currently sells.

[jmccarty3]

My favorite greens: Noodler's Gruene Cactus Eel, Caran d'Ache Vibrant Green, Akkerman Hofkwartier Groen. I know I need to investigate some of the darker and mossier greens, but I have so little opportunity to write now that it's hard to justify adding to my huge stash of ink.

[pawnraider]

my huge stash of ink.

Rather glad to know that I'm not the only one with a huge stash.

[jmccarty3]

To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill: "So many inks, and so little time."