Moleskine

[The Kid Line]

So I was looking around the Moleskine website last night, when it struck me. . . how the heck do you say it?

 

The "rules" of English (rules insofar as you can have rules dictating English) would indicate that the 'e' at the end of skine would make the 'i' long as in. . . Mole-sky-n

 

However, the 'e' could just as well be silent and you pronounce it as Mole-skin

 

Then again, it could be a stylish 'e' like in the word 'olde' which would still be silent and not pronounced (yes, I am looking at you Mythbusters. . . it is not old-ee!)

 

However, using the last paragraph, it could just as easily be Mol-ee-skin-ee.

 

So what say you FPN?

[GreenVelvet]

I have always wondered about this, too! No insight from me, but I stand eager to read the responses.

[jakespeed]

I tend to want to avoid the whole pretentious prig route, so I just pronounce it Mole-skin, when I need to. I think the correct pronunciation is Mol-a-skeen-a, but that's much too much work for me.

 

Aaron

[Donald594]

I tend to want to avoid the whole pretentious prig route, so I just pronounce it Mole-skin, when I need to. I think the correct pronunciation is Mol-a-skeen-a, but that's much too much work for me.

 

Aaron

I believe is Mol-e-skin-e, however... I just say moleskin and get it over with.

[inkypete]

I use the literal Latin translation - "overpriced notebook with inconsistent rubbish paper"

[Bearcat]

Just forget about this and buy the ones that are spelled R-h-o-d-i-a.

 

Your fountain pens will thank you.

[tawanda]

It is correctly pronounced Moll-es-keen-a. And ignore the detractors, the overall experience of using a 'Mole' cannot be beaten. I love it for so many reasons, and I'm happy to forgive it its FP fussiness because Moleskine have never proported it to be aimed at the FP market, which is, afterall, a very small proportion overall.

 

These books are durable (esp the hard covers) they lie flat, the narrow ruling is fantastic (although I prefer the quad ruled personally), not to mention the creamy pages, back inside pocket, ribbon and elastic closure. They also come in a great variety of shapes and sizes (my own fav is the quad ruled large reporter's notebook).

 

They can't be all that bad when you consider how many other manufacturers copy the design features (eg Picadilly)

[macaddicted]

They can't be all that bad when you consider how many other manufacturers copy the design features (eg Picadilly)

 

Which for me isn't saying a lot as I dislike the Picadilly's too.

[jmkeuning]

mool skine

 

Not mule, mOOl. Skine rhymes with line.

[DAYoung]

A Mole by Any Other Name

The name “Moleskine” has been a source of some confusion. As nearly as I can determine, the derivation is as follows. There’s an ordinary English word, moleskin, which, as you might guess, originally referred to the skin of a mole. About a century ago, the term was extended to apply to a type of cotton fabric that looked and felt a bit like natural moleskin. Strictly speaking, the oilcloth that’s used for covering notebooks is not moleskin—it isn’t fuzzy—but for whatever reason, that’s what it’s called. When moleskin migrated into French, it picked up an e on the end, which would have given it the pronunciation “mo-lə-SKEEN.” Be that as it may, the name is now a trademark of the Italian company Modo & Modo, which complicates its pronunciation for us poor foreigners.

 

A lot of Web sites (including that of Moleskine USA), in a misguided attempt to be helpful, say that the word is pronounced “mole-a-SKEEN-a.” Well, that could be approximately right, depending on whether you interpret the a sounds as being a long a (correct) or a schwa sound (incorrect). As a result of this ambiguity, other Web sites that have attempted to be even more helpful by using a phonetic alphabet have assumed the schwa pronunciation, so that it comes out roughly as “mole-ə-SKEEN-ə.” But that doesn’t follow the pronunciation rules of English, French, or Italian. (Despite the word’s English-by-way-of-French origin, Moleskine is now a nominally Italian term, and the final e is never a schwa sound in Italian. It’s more like eh, which is almost—but not quite—the English long a sound.) So let’s settle this once and for all: in Italian, it’s “mo-leh-SKEE-neh”; in French, it’s “mo-lə-SKEEN”; and in English, it’s “those little notebooks with the oilcloth covers.”

 

-from http://itotd.com/articles/565/moleskine-notebooks/

[krandallkraus]

It's an Italian pronunciation. Their web site has the pronunciation spelled out in transliteration. It is pronounced mole-a-skin-ay.

[limesally]

A Mole by Any Other Name

The name “Moleskine” has been a source of some confusion. As nearly as I can determine, the derivation is as follows. There’s an ordinary English word, moleskin, which, as you might guess, originally referred to the skin of a mole. About a century ago, the term was extended to apply to a type of cotton fabric that looked and felt a bit like natural moleskin. Strictly speaking, the oilcloth that’s used for covering notebooks is not moleskin—it isn’t fuzzy—but for whatever reason, that’s what it’s called. When moleskin migrated into French, it picked up an e on the end, which would have given it the pronunciation “mo-lə-SKEEN.” Be that as it may, the name is now a trademark of the Italian company Modo & Modo, which complicates its pronunciation for us poor foreigners.

 

So, the "proper" pronunciation is actually an Romantic language-ization of an English word?

Right, now I feel justified in calling it a mole skin.

Edited September 21, 2009 by limesally

[voop]

It is correctly pronounced Moll-es-keen-a. And ignore the detractors, the overall experience of using a 'Mole' cannot be beaten. I love it for so many reasons, and I'm happy to forgive it its FP fussiness because Moleskine have never proported it to be aimed at the FP market, which is, afterall, a very small proportion overall.

 

These books are durable (esp the hard covers) they lie flat, the narrow ruling is fantastic (although I prefer the quad ruled personally), not to mention the creamy pages, back inside pocket, ribbon and elastic closure. They also come in a great variety of shapes and sizes (my own fav is the quad ruled large reporter's notebook).

 

They can't be all that bad when you consider how many other manufacturers copy the design features (eg Picadilly)

 

Odd, that. I've bought a *huge* pile of Moleskine's in France and in California over the years, and my FPs have all been playing very nice with them. No bleeding or feathering or any oddities -- even for those bought a couple of months back.

 

What gives? Do I just have good notebook-karma?

[The Kid Line]

And ignore the detractors, the overall experience of using a 'Mole' cannot be beaten. I love it for so many reasons, and I'm happy to forgive it its FP fussiness

 

Now, when you say that it suffers fussiness with a FP, how fussy are we talking?

[DAYoung]

A Mole by Any Other Name

The name “Moleskine” has been a source of some confusion. As nearly as I can determine, the derivation is as follows. There’s an ordinary English word, moleskin, which, as you might guess, originally referred to the skin of a mole. About a century ago, the term was extended to apply to a type of cotton fabric that looked and felt a bit like natural moleskin. Strictly speaking, the oilcloth that’s used for covering notebooks is not moleskin—it isn’t fuzzy—but for whatever reason, that’s what it’s called. When moleskin migrated into French, it picked up an e on the end, which would have given it the pronunciation “mo-lə-SKEEN.” Be that as it may, the name is now a trademark of the Italian company Modo & Modo, which complicates its pronunciation for us poor foreigners.

 

So, the "proper" pronunciation is actually an Romantic language-ization of an English word?

Right, now I feel justified in calling it a mole skin.

 

Yes, it makes the quest for an 'authentic' pronunciation a little odd.

[Inka]

Just forget about this and buy the ones that are spelled R-h-o-d-i-a.

 

Your fountain pens will thank you.

Agreed!

I just recently received a RHODIA #14 Bloc notebook in orange from an FPN friend, it's some of if not the BEST fountain pen paper I've used.

It feels as if touching pure silk, my nibs glide over it like no other paper I've yet tried [similar to the slickness of sugarcane bagasse but MUCH nicer].

The tactile sensations I get from writing on this RHODIA paper brings a new experience to writing with my fountain pens, it's nearly-transcendental to use.

Now I know why so many people swear by RHODIA paper, a new-form Vellum made from plasticized cotton fibers instead of the animal skin Vellum of the past, it's just great stuff!

Now that I've tried it, I'm spoiled, no other paper will ever feel the same to me now and I like Gold Fibre and a few other quality papers too, yet so far this RHODIA paper beats them all;

I want more!!!!!!!

So how is it pronounced, is it "Roe-Dee-AHHH", emphasis placed on the "AHHH..."?

[inkypete]

And ignore the detractors, the overall experience of using a 'Mole' cannot be beaten. I love it for so many reasons, and I'm happy to forgive it its FP fussiness

 

Now, when you say that it suffers fussiness with a FP, how fussy are we talking?

 

 

The paper feathers and bleeds with many fountain pen/ink combinations and the paper does vary between batches. If you want a great FP experience avoid them. If you are happy to compromise the writing experience then moleskin can be good. They open flat, are durable, nice paper colour and overall build is excellent. I don't reckon they are worth the price if you want to use fountain pen.

Edited September 21, 2009 by inkypete

[limesally]

And ignore the detractors, the overall experience of using a 'Mole' cannot be beaten. I love it for so many reasons, and I'm happy to forgive it its FP fussiness

 

Now, when you say that it suffers fussiness with a FP, how fussy are we talking?

 

About this fussy.

[Ladynib302]

At Blick's in Philadelphia; also at Border's Books, the pronunciation used is MOLE_SKEEN (consistently); both are major suppliers, particularly Blick's.

 

 

 

 

 

So I was looking around the Moleskine website last night, when it struck me. . . how the heck do you say it?

 

The "rules" of English (rules insofar as you can have rules dictating English) would indicate that the 'e' at the end of skine would make the 'i' long as in. . . Mole-sky-n

 

However, the 'e' could just as well be silent and you pronounce it as Mole-skin

 

Then again, it could be a stylish 'e' like in the word 'olde' which would still be silent and not pronounced (yes, I am looking at you Mythbusters. . . it is not old-ee!)

 

However, using the last paragraph, it could just as easily be Mol-ee-skin-ee.

 

So what say you FPN?

[The Kid Line]

Just forget about this and buy the ones that are spelled R-h-o-d-i-a.

 

Your fountain pens will thank you.

 

After trying out a Moleskine and a Rhodia at Phidon the other day, I see what you mean.

 

I picked up an Eccolo, but the Rhodia will hands down be the next journal I pick up.