What sort of *philey are we?

[vans4444]

If philately is the collection of postage stamps and notaphily is the collection of currency. If there a phily for the collection of fountain pens? What do you call a fountain pen collector?

Edited April 7, 2009 by vans4444

[Jerome Tarshis]

The word "stylophile" is widely used. "Fountain-pen nut" tells the story, in a sense, although it doesn't have the same dignified tone as "numismatist" or "philatelist." There is arguably something a little medical verging upon the pathological about "stylophilia."

 

This is a rather new area of human activity and we are still feeling our way. Stylophile will do, but newcomers should consider themselves encouraged to come up with a word that will put our hobby on the map. Bringing universal peace and prosperity would be a bonus.

[vans4444]

The word "stylophile" is widely used. "Fountain-pen nut" tells the story, in a sense, although it doesn't have the same dignified tone as "numismatist" or "philatelist." There is arguably something a little medical verging upon the pathological about "stylophilia."

 

This is a rather new area of human activity and we are still feeling our way. Stylophile will do, but newcomers should consider themselves encouraged to come up with a word that will put our hobby on the map. Bringing universal peace and prosperity would be a bonus.

 

 

OK, her goes the first try. I have never studied Greek but Google tells me "creno-, cren-, crauno-, crouno- (Greek: well head, spring, fountain, mineral spring)".

 

So if crauno is fountain

 

I assume stylophile is pen lover (in a wholesome way)

 

Would craunostylophile be a lover of fountain pens?

 

I think this word has a real chance of bringing universal peace and prosperity to all. Who would't want to be a craunostylophile

[HDoug]

I assume stylophile is pen lover (in a wholesome way)

 

And "stylophiliac" in an unwholesome way...?

 

Doug

[Silvermink]

And "stylophiliac" in an unwholesome way...?

 

Love your pens - don't love your pens.

[FrankB]

Doug wrote:

 

" ... "stylophiliac" ..."

 

:roflmho: :roflmho: :roflmho: :roflmho:

[Jerome Tarshis]

I think either "stylophile" or anything else ending with "-phile" is going to create a difficulty in choosing a suffix. For example, an ailurophile is a lover of cats and an audiophile is a lover of good equipment for reproducing recorded sound, but there isn't in either case a word ending in "-y" to describe the pursuit. Yes, we do have philately as that which philatelists do, but I'm not sure this idea is infinitely extensible.

 

What's more, "fountain" may not be the idea currently in use to distinguish between one kind of pen and another. "Stylo-plume" is "fountain pen" in French, taken together with "stylo-bille" for a ball-point pen. In this case the distinction is between a pen that uses a nib ("plume" means feather, and nibs used to be made by sharpening the end of a feather) and a pen that uses a ball, or bille.

 

To make things a bit more confusing, my Robert French-English dictionary translates "fountain pen" as "stylo a encre," which sounds like "ink pen," a usage I have always considered bizarre. Both fountain pens and ball-point pens use ink, and in fact there are Web ads for ball-point pens that call them ink pens. So why "ink pen"? That is a tangent, however.

 

FPN can continue without answering the original question. Nevertheless, I applaud every effort to find a broadly acceptable name for our little preference, or hobby, or mild, forgivable obsession. By contrast it is, for example, coin collecting, watch collecting, and automobile collecting that call for classification as mental illnesses.