Pretentious, or Not?

[Ghost Plane]

Hey - now it matches the mend in my glasses! :clap1: :roflmho:

[nickyd]

Add a bit of precious duct tape and, voila...no more pretentiousness.

 

 

Nice one, Bill!

What he said.

 

Wait a minute! I've just spent £146 ( that's approx. $208 US) just having my #146 repaired and re-nibbed by MB in the UK.

Think I'll use it a lot when I have it returned to me.--Why not?!

 

[Bill]

Wait a minute! I've just spent £146 ( that's approx. $208 US) just having my #146 repaired and re-nibbed...

 

Whoa, that's more than I paid for the 146 in the photo!

 

Bill

[wspohn]

Wait a minute! I've just spent £146 ( that's approx. $208 US) just having my #146 repaired and re-nibbed...

 

Whoa, that's more than I paid for the 146 in the photo!

 

Bill

 

 

I thought you got a deal because it was the 'Stealth Star' model..... :hmm1:

[Bleep]

Add a bit of precious duct tape and, voila...no more pretentiousness.

 

Although one appreciates the comedic value of this image, one feels compelled to draw attention to the fact that "pretentious" is the adjective/adverb derived from the noun "pretention". The post should therefore have read:

 

"Add a bit of precious duct tape and, voila...no more pretention."

[Lefthander]

Take Montblanc, if only because it is a good example of a pen that has a high portion of pretentious ownership.

 

I find these strings about Montblanc interesting. Out of curiosity and to kill some time I just went to Fahrney's Pens Website and selected FPs in High-Low cost order. Very interesting. I had to go down to #45 to find a Montblanc - the 2008 POA Francois I FP. #44 was a Pelikan - Limited Lighthouse of Alexandria FP. The number one listing - Parker Esparto Gold FP at $13,000. Rounding out the top five were Cartier LE Lovebird Exceptional, a Dupont 5 item set, Cartier LE Blue Dragon Decor, and Caran D'Ache Limited Chinese Poem FP. Many other companies were represented before Montblanc - Tibaldi, Krone, Namiki, David Oscarman, Michel Perchin, Stipula, Pelikan (several times), Classic Pens, Visconti, and Waterman just to name some of them.

 

So what's the point? Well I guess I'll leave that to you

 

I'm not going to worry about carrying around my new MB146P, and I'm not going to be ashamed to pull it out. If anyone says anything or gives me any strange looks, I'll just chalk one up to the source.

 

edit - added "leave" to complete sentence

Edited April 21, 2009 by Lefthander

[Bill]

Add a bit of precious duct tape and, voila...no more pretentiousness.

 

Although one appreciates the comedic value of this image, one feels compelled to draw attention to the fact that "pretentious" is the adjective/adverb derived from the noun "pretention". The post should therefore have read:

 

"Add a bit of precious duct tape and, voila...no more pretention."

 

Okay, you made me look. I spent fifteen minutes surfing online dictionaries and learned about pretention, pretension, pretentiousness, French law, "false appearance of great worth", claiming unjustified positions of worth, being "marked by an extravagant outward show" , and much more.

 

I also learned that both of our nouns are in use in the English language.

 

Then it took me an additional five minutes to get the joke. Some days I'm a bit slow.

 

Bill

[wspohn]

I find these strings about Montblanc interesting. Out of curiosity and to kill some time I just went to Fahrney's Pens Website and selected FPs in High-Low cost order. Very interesting. I had to go down to #45 to find a Montblanc - the 2008 POA Francois I FP. #44 was a Pelikan - Limited Lighthouse of Alexandria FP. The number one listing - Parker Esparto Gold FP at $13,000. Rounding out the top five were Cartier LE Lovebird Exceptional, a Dupont 5 item set, Cartier LE Blue Dragon Decor, and Caran D'Ache Limited Chinese Poem FP. Many other companies were represented before Montblanc - Tibaldi, Krone, Namiki, David Oscarman, Michel Perchin, Stipula, Pelikan (several times), Classic Pens, Visconti, and Waterman just to name some of them.

 

So what's the point? Well I guess I'll leave that to you

 

Yup, that why I said that MB was simply an example (probably the best known one). I doubt anyone would have understood in the same way if I had said that I found the use of a Cartier Lovebird Exceptional BP to be a possible indicator of pretention while a FP didn't strike me the same way. :hmm1:

 

Kind of like watches, where everyone knows what a Rolex is, but fewer people would know a Vacherin or Le Coultre.

[ismellarat]

I do judge people, and I judge them hard. I do not judge them on their possessions, but I judge them more on their clothes, hair (neatness is the main quailty), and how they talk. When I see a writing sample I judge them too, not on their handwriting, but on their use of punctuation and grammar, and general spelling.

 

When I see someone using an exceptionally expensive whatever (be it a pen or a phone) and they flaunt it or call attention to it that would not normally be brought upon it then I get the instant thought "They are full of themselves". Of course, their actions may change my thoughts, but I am normally right about most people on my first thought.

[Deirdre]

I do judge people, and I judge them hard. I do not judge them on their possessions, but I judge them more on their clothes, hair (neatness is the main quailty), and how they talk. When I see a writing sample I judge them too, not on their handwriting, but on their use of punctuation and grammar, and general spelling.

 

As someone who has hair that escapes at the slightest hint of humidity and has completely given up on ever having anything unwrinkled (and thus gone to wearing linen because then I'd have a good excuse), I'd rather be judged on my pens.

 

I'm reminded of a similarly-wrinkled-clothing-and-frazzled-hair friend who died suddenly. They found a ribbon he'd been given for some service he'd done, and it too was wrinkled. When putting up a display of items at his memorial, one person asked if it should be ironed. The other said, "No, it's perfect the way it is, at least for Michael."

[a m a r g o]

by any means an object is pretentious (well a few might be... who could deny that the Pelikan Toledo or, the writer's special edition of Montblanc or, a purple Lamborghini aren't?); the individual is, on the way it uses that object. I'm an architect, and many times on the field you meet singular characters; unfortunately not just a few of those characters commit atrocious acts: like writing or sketching not conceived details with a Montblanc on wood panels at the construction site! that is simply a crime, it doesn't matter if you can afford a Montblanc per meeting, those fountain pens are designed exclusively for writing, drawing even on the smoothest paper it's a crime. I do not like Montblanc's because of it's overwhelming design, it is too much, only a few of the classic stuff are beautiful (I've written with a few of those items, and have to admit that are amazing writing instruments!); I own a Pelikan M605 and a Lamy 2000 which are simple and elegant designs, obviously in any judgement as this, personal taste is at hand!

[MidnightBlue]

Not really, but it is curious that "precious resin" is almost an anagram of pretentious

Thanks

[wspohn]

by any means an object is pretentious (well a few might be... who could deny that the Pelikan Toledo or, the writer's special edition of Montblanc or, a purple Lamborghini aren't?)

 

 

A purple Lamborghini is simply an offence against good taste. As are some pens.

 

Bill

(brown Lamborghini - hey, I didn't paint it, it is supposed to be silver, and will be again one day if I can just stop buying pens so I can afford to repaint it)

[BerneseMtDogEatsArco]

I have met people who could make a Mickey Mouse ball point pretentious!

 

 

 

[I am not a number]

Not really, but it is curious that "precious resin" is almost an anagram of pretentious

Whereas "precious resin" is an exact anagram of "user precision".

 

Just a thought to balance the day...

 

Also anagrams to "is nice or super" and "since superior".

[Deirdre]

Not really, but it is curious that "precious resin" is almost an anagram of pretentious

Whereas "precious resin" is an exact anagram of "user precision".

 

Just a thought to balance the day...

 

Also anagrams to "is nice or super" and "since superior".

Deirdre Saoirse Moen anagrams to red rose is a dire omen!

[ismellarat]

I do judge people, and I judge them hard. I do not judge them on their possessions, but I judge them more on their clothes, hair (neatness is the main quailty), and how they talk. When I see a writing sample I judge them too, not on their handwriting, but on their use of punctuation and grammar, and general spelling.

 

As someone who has hair that escapes at the slightest hint of humidity and has completely given up on ever having anything unwrinkled (and thus gone to wearing linen because then I'd have a good excuse), I'd rather be judged on my pens.

 

I'm reminded of a similarly-wrinkled-clothing-and-frazzled-hair friend who died suddenly. They found a ribbon he'd been given for some service he'd done, and it too was wrinkled. When putting up a display of items at his memorial, one person asked if it should be ironed. The other said, "No, it's perfect the way it is, at least for Michael."

Oh trust me, I have given up on keeping my hair straight as mine is straight for a while and the second it hits the outside air (San Antonio is the most humid, non coastal, area of south texas... some days into the 90%s) I can feel it curl and frizz. You can have frazzled (I kinda like that word) and crazy hair, and still have it be considered neat. I know a girl with a giant fro, and I still consider it neat because... well... It just looks "neat".

 

I am sorry for your loss though, that is quite an interesting story.

[georges zaslavsky]

The pens I find pretentious are these 2000$ limited editions regardless opf the brand that need more than a lot of tlc and that can't write perfectly just like a standard pelikan 1000, mb 149 or omas arte italiana paragon. It is not because one owns a 2000$ limited edition pen or a solid gold pen that he is a better individual or better employee or boss than one who has a plain jane or stock fountain pen and perhaps more brains and more versatility in his work and relationships with his colleagues. Those are just my two cents to take with a grain of salt.

[bardharlock]

Interesting discussion. I'd like to relate a tale of my father and let folks decide if he is pretentious based on his carrying a MB BP. My dad grew up poor in a small East Texas town during the years of segregation and even subsequent desegregation. This town literally had the proverbial "other side of the tracks" where people of color lived. My grandparents house was just across the tracks in the poorest part of town. My father grew up working various jobs from sweating in 100 degree humidity and heat picking watermelons in the melon fields, to driving a bread truck. He even once had a beloved pet freeze to death in the family living room because they could not afford to heat their entire house.

 

At 18 years of age, right out of High School, my father moved to Irving, TX, now consumed by the DFW Metroplex. He got a job at GTE. A few months later he was drafted and served in the 101 Airborne division in Vietnam. He returned home and went back to work for GTE who considered his time served in the military as time with the company. He worked his way up from a cable splicer's helper to management and eventually to contract negotiations and some lobbying in the state capital of Austin, TX.

 

He stayed with GTE over 30 years and for that he received company awards. I recall a gold watch he wore when I was a child. When I was in college, toward the end of his career, he chose a MB Pen set. It is either BP or RB, I am unsure. But, my dad was very proud to have earned those pens, and earn them he did. For him they were a status symbol. A symbol that he overcame the grips of poverty so stark that he seldom had anything new to call his own unless he worked his butt off for it himself.

 

Just two weeks ago as I was at my mom and dad's house, my dad noticed the Lamy AL-Star I was writing down an address with. He asked to see it and we began talking about pens. I asked if he still had his Montblancs and he said that he indeed did. He brought them out and showed them to me as well as a matching pencil that my mother had acquired for him one year as a Christmas present. He loves them still and his affection for these symbols showed through. He went on to inform me that he intended me to have them someday. My brother cares little about such things as fine pens, but Dad knows that they mean something to me.

 

I will eventually get a Montblanc Fountain Pen to match the set. I will be proud to carry those instruments. That they were treasured by my father will make them all the more special to me, even if it is a ballpoint. I do not own a single Montblanc now, but will carry a full set with the utmost in pride and humble remembrance of a man who overcame the odds, served his country with honor, and raised me into the man I have become.

 

So, tell me, are these pens what makes a man pretentious?

[ZeissIkon]

So, tell me, are these pens what makes a man pretentious?

 

Absolutely not.

 

Those same pens, however, would be pretentious if you purchased them (or even got them from your father) just to show how affluent you are, as proof you can afford a Mont Blanc and nothing more.