Can A Fountain Pen Writer Not Be A Fp Nerd?

[PacificCoastPen]

Forget the labels, use the pen, and forget about everyone else.

[camoandconcrete]

They don't have to be nerds, in fact most of us are not. But I usually get labelled as one by people who think fountain pens are useless. However, in my experience in architecture school we artsy types tend to go for them and the ones who don't like them soon get converted.

[inkspot]

 

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.

 

We should set up a donation area in the Marketplace where people can donate unwanted pens for others to fix up and give out to school kids! If the pens motivate them to work, it would certainly be a worthy cause!

[rockspyder]

... in my world, the title Nerd is a compliment

I agree.

One of the most important life lessons a 93-year old lady once told me: "What other people think of you, is none of your business"

Edited January 16, 2011 by rockspyder

[rockspyder]

 

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.

 

We should set up a donation area in the Marketplace where people can donate unwanted pens for others to fix up and give out to school kids! If the pens motivate them to work, it would certainly be a worthy cause!

+1, great idea!

[corchromatique]

It would be extremely difficult since an fp user has to have explanations ready for everyone who notices the pen.

[nightwing]

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

 

+1

[Possum Hill]

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

 

...and a pocket full of sharp pointy things that could squirt ink.

[Zaarin]

I think this is simply cultural. Fountain pens are not normal items any more, and any item which passes out of cultural normality will be primarily kept alive by enthusiasts who seem overly, perhaps even manically, dedicated to those outside.

 

The only 'pure user' I have ever known personally is an elderly relative who has been using primarily the same Parker 51 (I think) since the late 1940s. To him this is natural, because when he grew up Pen by default = Fountain Pen. Not true nowadays, but true for him. He even has a relative himself - from another domain of his family - who is apparently an FPN-type pen collector, but has never himself gone in that direction or anywhere remotely near it. He just writes with his pen, because that is normal to him.

 

Note how certain seriously expensive and, by common sense, specialist items are seen as quite normal in public because of some kind of general social uptake (of the concept if not of the item itself) - iPads seem to be the new exemplar of this, but there have been plenty. Fountain pens being strange to the young is (regardless of the cause) a cultural construct like any other.

[Zenas]

No my friend, I would say you are mature beyond your years and that is rarely understand even at my more seasoned age. In my time I have been involved with football for an eleven year run, wrestling, college rugby, baseball, and karate, among other things and have found it takes much more courage to be who you were created to be than it does to do any of the former things that I put so much of my personal resources in to prove my manhood. Now I seek God, love family, am faithful to my wife and friends, and treat others the way I desire to be treated, and find myself much more content and less worried about what others think about me.

 

Cheers

Z

[Parse Error]

I ended up having to use fountain pen for writing anything longer than my name after a really bad day. (Matt)

 

Wake up:

6 AM: brush teeth in awkward position

6:30: eat breakfast while doing some awkward texting. Not fun.

7-10: classes=intense note taking

10-1PM: Starcraft seige. The first 5 minutes were lazy and OK, but after the first attack at 5 minutes, it became a huge high APM game, cult of the offensive style.)

1PM: quickly go to lunch. More texting and awkward handling of tongs and stuff because of long lines. (Wrist strain much?)

lunch: text out an email to mom. While eating.

1:30-6PM: Mores tarcraft, this time a series of shorter games. No break in the middle except for a bathroom break and trying to eat ramen during a game. Trying to attack move a unit while slurping on ramen isn't the best thing in the world.

6PM-6:30 -- back to dinner and more texting while eating.

6:30-11PM -- more starcraft.

 

I go take a shower, go to bed, and next day, it's a really busted wrist. (Don't know what starcraft feels like with high apm? it's

bp bp bp bp bp bp 3a (space)(space)4a 5a 6a 7a 8a 00 zzzz zzzz dddd dddd dddd dddd 2 t 2 t 2 t 2 t (ctrl)3 (ctrl)4 (ctrl)5 (ctrl)6 (ctrl)7 (ctrl)8 (ctrl)9 (ctrl)0 11 22

 

in 20 seconds along with clicking (denoted by spaces)

 

So one week to nurse my hand back into shape, and eh... I stuck with fountain pens ever since. I still play starcraft, but with much lower APM during longer games.

 

And as always, since I love stationery, I bought a couple pens afterwards.

[jBeckett]

The really cool kind---the artists.

 

I suppose I fell (as a teenager) and currently continue to fall (as a 20-something) into this. I couldn't really care less about fountain pen history or the detailed mechanics of a P51. I like fountain pens as a tool, if I was a nerd about anything FP(N) related it'd be inks which isn't exclusively pen related. I'm hardly a monogamist when it comes to transferring words and images to a surface.

 

On a related note, I've found when you carry around a travel watercolor tray, markers, colored pencils, brushes and 2 different pads of paper at minimum, people don't really question why you're using a pen with a weird tip to write with.

[dweit]

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?

 

Ah, c'mon, folks. I think we all know the real answer to that question "can a fountain pen writer not be a FP nerd" is - NOPE! And proud of it! You may have and enjoy one pen now, but sooner or later the sirens will be calling! And then the fun really begins. Don't fight it - damn the torpedos and full steam ahead!

[beak]

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?

 

All kinds, I should say.

 

How much you want to delve into the specifics is entirely a personal choice, whatever type you may be. I should think we're all on different rungs of a very tall ladder ascending from casual user to acknowledged world expert, and we all find a place for ourselves on it at which we are comfortable at the time. There are no rules IMO.

 

Like others here, I don't find interest in the details of anything to be 'nerdish'. That word may be a cop-out or mask for the user, like the dismissive 'whatever', which you may generally translate as; 'You've won this argument but if I say this word I can pretend that I never cared in the first place'.

Edited February 18, 2011 by beak

[Martius]

I believe it is more likely that the young fountain pen user today is a writing-tool nerd. There is a disconnect between the tradition of using fountain pens and most young people, so most people don't see them around too much. It takes research and patience to wend your way to a good Sheaffer or Pelikan, whereas the casual who buys a no-name FP at the office supply store is likely to become discouraged after it stops writing.

Edited February 18, 2011 by Martius

[orangezorki]

I know a few people who are quite happy writing with a Parker Vector or Lamy Safari. They produce great writing and I doubt that they even think of getting a more expensive pen. It is actually these people that give me the most hope that a FP can continue to be a basic, no-frills prerequisite to do a good days work.

 

David

[cubic archon]

There are lots of young people who are keen on stationery of all sorts - it was like that when I was at school, and judging by the clientele of my local Paperchase, it's still the case. Fountain pens are generally quite obscure nowadays and also priced over the average schoolkid's discretionary purchase level, but I'm sure that if they knew about them and could afford them they'd be all over them.

[rockspyder]

This, a nerd? :hmm1: Hmmm yeah right!!! 18 years old:

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab102/rockspyder7/thinus_153.jpg

[corchromatique]

I actually think the appropriate word is probably geek. See the diagram below.

 

 

 

In order to be a nerd, you must exhibit social ineptitude along with being FP savvy and obsessed.

 

Quod Erat Demonstrandum

[UltraMagnus]

I think today, a young person that uses a fountain pen would have to be an enthusiast (sounds better than "nerd"), simply because it is something you have to seek out rather than be forced into at school.

 

(I say this as a 21 year old that used a fountain pen for the first time a couple of weeks ago)