Can A Fountain Pen Writer Not Be A Fp Nerd?

[FPK]

I someone uses fountain pen as a everyday writing implement and is under 20 years of age, can they simply like to write with one but don't really care about specifics, or do they have to be a hardcore FP lover to do this? In other words, what kind of teenagers use Fountain pens?

[dsatco]

The really cool kind---the artists.

[inkyindi]

i was a teenage fp user but didn't have access to much more than shaeffer pens/cartridges. so there wasn't much opportunity for me to be a fp nerd. i have done some catching up since then though....

[WendyNC]

Nope, no nerdiness required. One pen, one ink is just fine as long as the pen does the job. Even cartridges are okay (if expensive).

[RedSox04]

The really cool kind---the artists.

 

Only if you include literature with that!

[jgrasty]

I spent my teenage years with a Sheaffer school pen and black Sheaffer cartridges and was perfectly happy at the time to have only that fountain pen. It wasn't until about 30 years later that I became a fountain pen aficionado.

[Albertine]

Fundamentally, nerds are people who worry about being nerds. End of story.

[farseer911]

hmm... never was called a nerd... nope never a nerd. But then again I had a much shorter fuse then....

[toomanypelikans]

I was in my very early 20s when I bought my first and still most expensive fountain pen (Waterman Preface Red Marbled) took me another 20 years before I purchased my 2nd through to 15th pen. FPN has a lot to answer for in those purchases as it opened my eyes to what type/styles of pens/nibs were out there. I like to write and my handwriting is much improved since I changed exclusively to FPs. I enjoyed writing for 20 years with one FP and one ink. I enjoy it much more now that I have 15 pens and 30 odd inks to cycle through.

 

I believe if you are under 20 and enjoy writing with a fountain pen you are not the norm.

 

All I know is that I strive to be a fountain pen aficionado but all I lack is the necessary amount of disposable income... :-)

Edited January 15, 2011 by justdaveyb

[Parker51]

Yes, my Daughter uses a Fountain Pen (she has two of them) and is not a Fp Nerd. Fountain Pens are my hobby, not hers, but she does use them to write with regularly. She also uses uses good roller balls, ball points and mechanical pencils. She actually is a little picky about all of her writing instruments. She is even more picky about paper, preferring to only use bagasse paper which she has stockpiled.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I've got the same back story as a couple of others, spending my teen years with no more than a succession of one-semester-stand Sheaffer cheapies. I think one can use FPs without diving headfirst into them the same way one can drive a car without becoming a mechanic. I also think that one is a happier user, car or pen, if one gets some kind of basic understanding of the function and maintenance of the object-- I went through all those Sheaffers because I didn't quite get the idea of regular cleaning, and I know there are people whose cars never get an oil change.

[inkspot]

You're only a nerd if you want to be one. And, in my world, the title Nerd is a compliment

[mholve]

Do whatever makes YOU happy. Everything else will fall into place.

[watch_art]

I give my students my cheaper fountain pens and ones I fix up but don't want. I've given out a sheaffer school pen as eyedropper, a sheaffer touchdown with the f1 nib, a couple of gui gauns, a couple of hero 616s, and a couple of daisos. The boy who got the sheaffer school pen has actually started taking notes in class (and showing them off!) because he's enjoying using his pen so much!! Nerd? No. Cool? heck yes.

 

Anything that actually encourages my kids to work, especially the underachievers, is a really really good thing. I wish I could afford more cheapish pens to give to my kids.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The pen should not cost the world...or you will be thought snobby or a target of a theft.

Don't tell them it cost $20...lie...A real good Ten dollar pen...was my birthday gift or something like that.

 

Not that I've had that problem, coming from the late '50's-60's when many to most had a fountain pen. I have read what a number of young folks said.

 

If I wasn't chasing Vintage pens....I saw the new model HauHong, that I spent some 15 minutes deciding which of the five color patterns I like best.....I knew I was never going to buy...but wished they had come out a year and a half ago....when I might have.

 

I have an old HauHong, a solid metal, well balanced, with a good lacquer.

The TWSBI, is also a good pen....with very neat colors and different colored aluminum pistons and sections....take a look at them....they hold a world of ink. A brand new pen, partially designed by the guys here. Also in clear demonstrators.

 

That though I doubt you can pass off as a $9.99 pen.

 

There are some good 'cheap' pens too, as others will tell you of them.

[FrankB]

A FP is a tool, like a hammer or screw driver. Just because a person uses a hammer, he does not need to be a tool nerd. Likewise with FP's. In my teens I was a nerd, and I still am because that is my personality. It was a natural step for me to be a FP nerd. But there were many students around me who simply used them as tools.

 

However, we are talking about self perception, I think. What others perceive of you can be quite different.

[51ISH]

I give my students my cheaper fountain pens and ones I fix up but don't want. I've given out a sheaffer school pen as eyedropper, a sheaffer touchdown with the f1 nib, a couple of gui gauns, a couple of hero 616s, and a couple of daisos. The boy who got the sheaffer school pen has actually started taking notes in class (and showing them off!) because he's enjoying using his pen so much!! Nerd? No. Cool? heck yes.

 

Anything that actually encourages my kids to work, especially the underachievers, is a really really good thing. I wish I could afford more cheapish pens to give to my kids.

 

I wish you had been a teacher at my school

[OldGriz]

Why does someone who uses a fountain pen have to be a nerd...

In fact I find it rather insulting that someone would consider me a nerd for the choice of writing instruments....

When I was in school all we had were fountain pens... ball points were just coming into production and wrote horribly..

[watch_art]

Why does someone who uses a fountain pen have to be a nerd...

In fact I find it rather insulting that someone would consider me a nerd for the choice of writing instruments....

When I was in school all we had were fountain pens... ball points were just coming into production and wrote horribly..

 

Just out of curiosity, have they gotten any better? Or I guess more appropriately, how could they be any worse?

 

thanks

[theblackpen]

I someone uses fountain pen as a everyday writing implement and is under 20 years of age, can they simply like to write with one but don't really care about specifics, or do they have to be a hardcore FP lover to do this? In other words, what kind of teenagers use Fountain pens?

 

You're over analizing this. Just write with it and stop thinking about the category using a fountain pen places you in. It's what you write or think or do that counts. A shopping list, even if it's written with a Montblanc, remains a shopping list. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Many of the girls in my grade want one.... " . That can't be bad, could it ?