Using Your Tongue?!

[Biber]

I've always wondered why you see some people, usually in old movies or shows, touch the tip of a pencil or other writing instrument to the tongue before writting. Well it just dawned on me that the practice may indeed go back to fountain pen usage, as a way of getting a dried nib or a hard starting nib going. Maybe just out of habit when done with pencils? Yes, I've tried it and it works. I had a Pilot Cavalier that wouldn't flow so, being too lazy to get up to get some water, I touched the tip of the nib to my tongue and sure enough i was able to get the ink to flow! Is there anything to this or did I just make up a new practice?

[robofkent]

I've always wondered why you see some people, usually in old movies or shows, touch the tip of a pencil or other writing instrument to the tongue before writting. Well it just dawned on me that the practice may indeed go back to fountain pen usage, as a way of getting a dried nib or a hard starting nib going. Maybe just out of habit when done with pencils? Yes, I've tried it and it works. I had a Pilot Cavalier that wouldn't flow so, being too lazy to get up to get some water, I touched the tip of the nib to my tongue and sure enough i was able to get the ink to flow! Is there anything to this or did I just make up a new practice?

 

I do that too with a slow starter pen! It seems to work for me........

[Wikoster]

I do it all the time... now I've started to carry a contact lens thingy, the little tiny ones, with black ink in one side and water in the other. Helps a lot, but tongue is quick and dirty. (Just, most of my inks are blue and so... well, blue tongue ftw.)

[rwilsonedn]

I understand that the practice we see in old movies was actually just used for pencils: the kind that were made from various amalgams after the supply of high-quality graphite in England was worked out. You had to lick the amalgam to form a slurry that would transfer to the paper well, as I understand it. I don't think the practice was transferred to fountain pens until people who had never experienced a really rotten pencil saw it in the movies and misunderstood.

But that is hearsay, and may be incorrect.

ron

[OakIris]

I haven't quite gotten around to actually using my tongue for this, but have put saliva on my finger and then finger to pen nib/feed. I'm sure my finger is cleaner than the nib.... Or maybe I just think I will not like the taste of ink.

 

Anyway, spit does work - it is highly recommended for dip pen nibs as well, as it helps the ink to adhere to the pen nib. Really! (Well, that's what I have read, anyway.)

 

Holly

 

(Interesting thread title, by the way. )

Edited March 16, 2012 by OakIris

[jewel7742]

I've always done this!

[Laura N]

Let me be the dissenter. Ew, gross.

[humblescribbler]

Often useful from my experience with slow starters. Only been caught once by a work colleague when, during a meeting he got a look on his face and couldn't help himself, "Your tongue has a large blue spot on it, are you ok?" Had to 'fess up. Talk about hearing the "Ewww"s then!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Buy a postage stamp moistener.

A wet sponge is very helpful to some one with too many pens inked.

It was one of my wiser buys.

 

A pen that has been used, the day before and you are out in the wilderness, should start easily.

 

So you got to see why your pen don't 'start' unless you hand crank it like a Model T. :mad:

[ArnimFritsch]

I do this as well. Only once has my wife asked me why I have a blue spot on my tongue. It works very well, indeed!

[cuza]

I've actually developed a taste for the scented J Herbin inks. Especially nice are the Apple and Orange. I am looking for the Diamine Guinness Stout I've heard so much about.

 

 

 

cuza

[hiredgun]

I've actually developed a taste for the scented J Herbin inks. Especially nice are the Apple and Orange. I am looking for the Diamine Guinness Stout I've heard so much about.

cuza

 

:roflmho:

 

Very funny. I used my tongue last night to kick start a newly filled pen. It didn't taste good though.

[Wikoster]

I just kick started an old BHCR pen with Noodler's Navy... Now, the navy ink tastes... well, fine for inks... but oh my... that old rubber? Tastes like something that had festered in a warm moist spot for years... Like, a burned chocolate chess pie in South Carolina for a year.

[paperskater]

I'm quite a germophobe, so just the thought of doing something like that just squicks me out. Ick.

[whitedot]

Let me be the dissenter. Ew, gross.

 

+1. Not in my life.

[Wikoster]

I guess just make sure you don't try to tongue-start an iron gall inked pen... that could be bad.

[Scylax]

I'll confess to doing this whenever one of my pens (of any type) won't start, or when I'm trying to get ink through a new pen. I've never really tasted the ink, although the scented handwriting pens Berol made for a while tasted great - especially the chocolate one :roflmho:

[professionaldilettante]

I don't do this, because if you're worried about STIB, your mouth would be the first place I'd think something would come from. I've never had a case of STIB, so I wouldn't know what is the root of it. Second, I really think that if your pen is drying out after a day, there is an issue. Third, if I'm bringing my pens around in a hospital, I don't care if it's just a pen nib, I wouldn't be sticking things in my mouth willy nily. However, I do have a small container with just a teaspoon of water that I have for dipping a poor performing pen.

[Pengrump]

I'd be afraid the pen would catch my germs! Mustn't expose the baby to infection.

[fabrimedeiros]

Saliva helps to add capillarity to the ink which is close to the tip. It particularly helps in cartridges pens when you need to shake the pen to start. However if your pen has a good ink flow and you fill from a bottle, you will never need shake your pen or lick the tip or add salive with your forefinger.

Lick the nib slit is not a healthy habit.

Edited March 17, 2012 by fabrimedeiros