Do You Carry Your Pen In Your Shirt Pocket?

[rhosygell]

Bugger fashion. Stick your pen somewhere get atable. Your shirt pocket usually.

[Scriver]

Bugger fashion.

 

I disagree. To paraphrase Jefferson: In matters of fashion, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. But in either case, do it with style.

[Trebster]

A fishing shirt - used as an oberhemd - has plenty of pockets to safely stow a pen.

[framos917]

This was a fun thread. I had been aware of the no pockets on "gentlemen" shirts. As I read, that is why Ralph Lauren's basic long sleeve shirt has no front pocket only the emblem. He also got the Polo name, as I read, from the habit of Polo players sewing down the corners of their shirt collars so they would not flap in the wind as they played Polo. That model shirt and collar was originally called the “Tennis” collar.

For about 12 years I wore a suit every work day. I also settled on 1 brand of suit that had, in addition to left and right inside pockets, 2 additional left inside pockets an ideal size for a pen and business cards. I always carried a ball point in that specialized pocket and then 2 fountain pens and a “cahier” size note book in my right inside pocket. In my shirt pocket, I carried a few 3 by 5 blank cards for quick notes. Now that I am more business casual, I wear a sport coat almost every day. The lack of pockets on golf and knit shirts was driving me nuts. The sport coats are either linen or wool, so I do not come off too “dressy”, I think.

As a young man I watched my father put a pen in his shirt pocket during the day, but then in his inside coat pocket in the evening or at a non-work event. I asked him why he did that, and he said, for him he felt dressier and more formal if a pen was not showing and some situation called for that. Of course, he had the style to wear his handkerchiefs, folded and ironed in his outside front coat pocket. I couldn’t pull it off. Regrettably, I did not inherit his style, just the habit of not letting a pen show.

[framos917]

This thread really got into "style", which has been interesting to read. I enjoy reading how people carry their pens.

 

I read a quote a while back, can not remember the source. If a man has style he has 1 of three. That being Dapper, Dashing, or Daring. It was easy to remember so I alwasy have it in my head. I never thought I had style, until a few years back, at a fund raiser, a lady asked to borrow my pen. I said of course, however I only have a fountain pen. She said, "Oh, how stylish." Now I am wondering whether she meant; Dapper, Dashing, or Daring

[KrazyIvan]

I use polo style shirts a lot which do not have pockets. I just clip a pen between the bottom and second button and tuck it inside my shirt. The only time I have issues with it is when I get in the car and put my seat belt on. The belt sits on top of the pen and I feel it is a safety issue if I am ever in an accident. I just take the pen out and set it on my center console pocket during the drive.

[rogerb]

It is interesting, especially to read how 'prescriptive' some people are about what is 'right and proper'

 

We are an international bunch, from very varied backgrounds .... and, probably 'social strata' ... so what is or was considered 'proper' will vary widely, and there appears to be little common ground, except that, being FP users, many of us find a shirt pocket to be a convenient 'parking place'

(I might agree if a stitched 'pen-pocket' were more common, but, without, I just don't find them sufficiently 'secure').

 

We never carried a pen in our Air Force uniform shirts... it would have produced negative comment. A BP/FP in the pocket, in the brief-case, or inside the jacket was the norm for us , in the 60s.

 

I remember thinking how odd button-down collars looked when I first saw them

And those skin-tight, flowery shirts, with rounded collars, from Carnaby Street, never, IIRC, had pockets

(If they had, you could possibly have squeezed-in a few Rizla papers and some grass!!!!)

 

Sorry, Jerome, I see we have posted many of the same points :embarrassed_smile:

Edited May 13, 2011 by rogerb

[kazoolaw]

Would we all be happier if we said formal dress shirts don't have pockets? Any more a long sleeve shirt worn with a tie is a dress shirt. And to be clear, I'm not a formal dress kinda guy.

 

I messed up a MB 146 nib when I clipped the pen to the placket of a polo shirt, caught the clip, catapulting the pen into the air, at which time the cap came off the pen which had nearly completely unscrewed from the barrel, causing the pen to dive onto the tile floor nib downward.

 

I think too highly of protecting myself to put pens into my pants pockets.

 

The shirts I wear to work are long-sleeve, and have a deep enough pocket to hold a MB 149 or Delta Dolce Vita OS. I try to clip them at the sides of the pocket as it reduces pocket sag.

 

gary

[voop]

Real gentleman's shirts do certainly not have pockets, and on shirts that do, the pockets are for purely decorative purposes.

 

Pen in pen pocket on the left of suit jacket where it belongs.

 

I am a few decades younger than 62, and even I know and practice this...

[hbquikcomjamesl]

That being Dapper, Dashing, or Daring.

 

They forgot one: Geeky. And within 48 hours of now, I'll have, in my breast pocket:

 

Five fountain pens,

a Maglite,

a pocket notebook,

a San Francisco MUNI pass,

a San Francisco MUNI map,

and assorted notes and MasterCard chits.

 

Geeky enough for you?

 

My breast pocket is my office.

 

BTW, there was a "Pluggers" panel cartoon, earlier this year, about the demise of the American two-pocket dress shirt.

[New_Falcon]

Hello All,

 

It appears as my choice of words my have caused some offence or at least some irritation, for that I apologise. I didn't mean to annoy anyone it was a genuine question on my part, admittedly poorly phrased and a rushed posting.

Edited May 13, 2011 by New_Falcon

[hbquikcomjamesl]

No offense taken here; just (as I described it) morbid curiosity about a lack of a breast pocket being considered more proper, and some insight into same.

[framebaer]

Also not all shirts have a pocket but all trousers have pockets.

 

 

My spandex glitter pants don't have pockets.

 

 

:ltcapd:

Bruce in Ocala, FL -not that there's anything wrong with spandex glitter pants

 

Won't buy a shirt without at least one pocket, better 2!

 

Even my spandex glitter shirts!

[New_Falcon]

I should have added that I was brought up in England and at the time in primary school, at least ours anyway, fountain pen usage was mandatory and school uniform was the norm. Actually, I believe that school uniform is still the norm in England. Part of that uniform was the ever present blazer and that provided an easy place for keeping your pen.

 

De-merits were handed out for not using a fountain pen, so you daren't lose yours.

[kazoolaw]

Real gentleman's shirts do certainly not have pockets...

 

That explains it: I'm not a real gentleman, having descended from peasant stock from the plains of eastern Europe.

 

"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States..." Good enough for the folks as they came through Ellis Island.

 

gary, just a guy

[teej47]

If you carry your pen in the heated pen pocket of your kilt, you don't hae to worry about breaking the pen when you sit down. Or about the ink freezing solid. Or any number of other things. But I am looking into a multi-pocketed kilt, or possibly a pen-ready sporan.

 

(cross posted to the Lamy forum)

 

Hmm... now there's some food for thought. I've already given notice that next year I'll be getting a kilt (in Sinclair Hunting tartan) for my birthday (a mere 51-1/2 weeks from now). Pen pocket in the sporran might be kinda cool.

 

Of course, I guess my shirt will still have a pocket to carry my pen in...

 

Tim

[redisburning]

I wear t-shirts. Even if I wanted to wear a dress shirt I cant find one that fits (a modern "small" might as well be an XXL to me).

 

I use a case. Just slip a nice, slim 2 pen hard case into your back left pocket or something.

[RonB]

Real gentleman's shirts do certainly not have pockets, and on shirts that do, the pockets are for purely decorative purposes.

 

Pen in pen pocket on the left of suit jacket where it belongs.

 

I am a few decades younger than 62, and even I know and practice this...

 

What is your source for this, or is it just your opinion? Where do you live and work?

 

As all true gentlemen know (especially if they have read Anthony Trollope!), clothes and such do not make, or break, a gentleman. However, smoking a cigar with the band still on MAY disqualify one....

[hbquikcomjamesl]

However, smoking a cigar with the band still on MAY disqualify one....

Well, smoking anything may raise questions about one's sense of self-preservation.

(I have yet to understand how sucking on a burning poisonous plant could be worth sucking on a burning poisonous plant.)

[rogerb]

One doesn't have to be of aristocratic descent to be a gentleman (or gentlewoman!), IMO.....or wear any particular type of clothing.

It's about how you behave .... graciously and with courtesy.... which gives you away!