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What Do People Say To You When You Whip Out That Pen?


GabrielleDuVent

Common perceptions  

464 members have voted

  1. 1. What do people say to you when you get out your FP?

    • "My, that's a weird looking pen."
      50
    • "That's a cool pen!"
      167
    • "Is that a fountain pen?"
      182
    • "Is that a weapon?"
      12
    • "Can I borrow it?"
      40
    • "Do you use fountain pens? I do too! (goes off into a monologue)"
      19
    • "That's a very posh pen."
      55
    • Other (write them in the posts!)
      97


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I's more a problem about what typ of pen i carry. The mormal raction is nothing as most people

don't care.

But if i carry a Meisterstück MB there are often the usual comments. Unfortunately the formerly

mentioned "judging your class by your pen" thing appears quite often then. I really hate that

the marketing strategy of MB worked that good, so i use a Meisterstück less often when i am

at wort or on travel.

To make it competely absurd, when i'm using my Verne or Faulkner in most cases nobody cares

again as long the white star isn't noticed (i usually don't post and use pen pouches, so the chance

Is good for that). As if people were trained to some kind of MB-bling as Pavlov's' dog to food...

 

 

Odd views too, while weraring an metal-t-shirt and using a MB - class juding dont work then.

Edited by scratchofapen
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  • 3 weeks later...

Yesterday wan in a Prometric Training Center to finish an another Microsoft Certification, and for that I needed to sign a few things. As I not seen any pen in near by, reached to mine, used my simple Matte Black Sonnet GT with Diamine's Imperial Purple. The exam administrator was so wondered, she noted that's a very beautiful pen and how differently and more beautifully writes, as well rarely see fountain pens any more... I was just smiling.

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Went to order some flowers from my local florist recently and was jotting down the pick up date and opening times in my pocket notebook. She noted my "old fashioned" handwriting and the stub nib I was using. She had to have a go; eventually the pen pouch came out and I had to damn near prise my Sheaffer Imperial from her hand. I think she appreciated that someone in their mid 20s still goes to the effort of writing down random everyday notes with a fine writing instrument instead of a disposable iPad or Bic.

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Went to order some flowers from my local florist recently and was jotting down the pick up date and opening times in my pocket notebook. She noted my "old fashioned" handwriting and the stub nib I was using. She had to have a go; eventually the pen pouch came out and I had to damn near prise my Sheaffer Imperial from her hand. I think she appreciated that someone in their mid 20s still goes to the effort of writing down random everyday notes with a fine writing instrument instead of a disposable iPad or Bic.

Chances are you've made a convert....

 

D.ick

~

KEEP SAFE, WEAR A MASK, KEEP A DISTANCE.

Freedom exists by virtue of self limitation.

~

 

 

 

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"Whoa!"-Longfellow Middle School friends.

-William S. Park

“My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane. - Graham Greene

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The one time I was so bored I brought an oblique pen holder, a bottle of ink, and a few nibs to school, back when I was still a college student:

"Oi, Apple (my nickname)! I think your pen's broken! :yikes: "

"Why is it shaped like that? Is it for lefties? You're not a lefty though."

"What the heck, Apple? I can't believe you actually brought a dip nib to school :lticaptd: "

That last one was an older friend of mine who was taking his second course. He was familiar with dip pens on account of his being friends with an artist who still inked their sketches using dip pens and sumi ink, so when I got around to talking fountain pens with him, he joked that I should just have a quill and inkwell at my desk for taking notes instead of carrying around my fountain pens. To be fair, dip pens are less archaic than quills, but most people wouldn't bother with that distinction, haha.

 

Oh, and everywhere I go in this country people invariably start calling my fountain pens "Jose Rizal pens", even though he lived in the late 1800s, when quills were still a more prolific type of writing implement. Well, at least they were in colonial Philippines; no idea about other countries.

 

 

Cheers!

Kevin

"The price of an object should not only be what you had to pay for it, but also what you've had to sacrifice in order to obtain it." - <i>The Wisdom of The Internet</i><p class='bbc_center'><center><img src="http://i59.tinypic.com/jr4g43.jpg"/></center>

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I had a few more students notice my pens yesterday. One came up and basically asked for a rundown of how they worked and then asked where he could buy them. The entire time, about six other students were intently listening. I think I may have to give a pen to the student who asked about them before the session is over.

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Yesterday, was in a meeting and someone said:

 

"Wow, you're using a fountain pen!....didn't know they were still around....bit old fashioned..."

 

and laughed.......

 

But 99% of the time at work, no one says anything....the other 1%, I get either something like the above comment or occasionally "What a beautiful pen!".....

 

:)

FP Addict & Pretty Nice Guy

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was meeting with a colleague yesterday, and pulled the pen out to take notes, and he commented on it. He was stuggling to come up with the term for it. He said, " that's one of those ... uh." So I had to tell him it was a fountain pen. He thought the two I had on me were cool.

_______________________________________

"Over the Mountain

Of the Moon

Down the Valley of the Shadow

Ride, boldly ride,"

The shade replied,

"If you seek for Eldorado." - E. A. Poe

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  • 2 years later...

I was telling one of my friends about my fountain pen I bought with christmas money and my thoughts of maybe trying to make one. the response I got was "is it a fancy one with mermaids and dolphins?" I am still confused.

Maybe he knew what he was talking about. There is a Montegrappa model, "La sirena" ("the mermaid"), which actually has en engraved silver mermaid and sea animals on the barrel and cap, check it out:

https://www.amazon.es/Estilografica-MONTEGRAPPA-Edicion-Limitada-SIRENA/dp/B017XFNKSS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481456353&sr=8-1&keywords=montegrappa+la+sirena

 

Lovely piece of art, isn't it :) ?

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Most people just stare for a second. then some people ask to try it (they always get a straightforward "no"), and a minority wonder that I am not stained of ink allover.

Apparently the perception most people have of fountain pens is based on the crappy pens that were used at schools yesteryears. They appear to ignore that quality fountain pens don't have any of the problems (scratchiness, messiness, leakiness...) that such pens had. But then, only people who are really interested in the topic are willing to make the investment that is required to get a good quality, lasting pen.

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I's more a problem about what typ of pen i carry. The mormal raction is nothing as most people

don't care.

But if i carry a Meisterstück MB there are often the usual comments. Unfortunately the formerly

mentioned "judging your class by your pen" thing appears quite often then. I really hate that

the marketing strategy of MB worked that good, so i use a Meisterstück less often when i am

at wort or on travel.

To make it competely absurd, when i'm using my Verne or Faulkner in most cases nobody cares

again as long the white star isn't noticed (i usually don't post and use pen pouches, so the chance

Is good for that). As if people were trained to some kind of MB-bling as Pavlov's' dog to food...

 

 

Odd views too, while weraring an metal-t-shirt and using a MB - class juding dont work then.

I dislike Mb because of that, because they have spread that notion of fountain pens as being something elitist. I have one Mb, which I didn't even buy myself, it was given as a gift, and rarely (if ever) gets out of home, and wouldn't recommend to anybody to buy a Mb. It is a brand that, indeed, makes excellent pens, but you can have just as good quality pens and even better for way less.

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"How old is that pen?"

 

"I had one of those a long time ago. It leaked."

 

This. It's either no reaction or it's always "I had one of those a long time ago, but it leaked".

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Most people just stare for a second. then some people ask to try it (they always get a straightforward "no"), and a minority wonder that I am not stained of ink allover.

Apparently the perception most people have of fountain pens is based on the crappy pens that were used at schools yesteryears. They appear to ignore that quality fountain pens don't have any of the problems (scratchiness, messiness, leakiness...) that such pens had. But then, only people who are really interested in the topic are willing to make the investment that is required to get a good quality, lasting pen.

 

My experience is somewhat like this, with questions about leaking. Others want to know "what kind of pen is that?" Then the next question is "Can I try it?" I usually keep in my purse an inked Jinhao 599 (nib tweaked), and will let them write with that one. So far I have been able to recruit three new fountain pen hobbyists. At my local Post Office they call me the "Fountain Pen Lady", and always want me to open the pkg to see the new FP. The last pen picked up at the PO was the Picasso 915, and there were many 'oohs & aahs'! One of the staff wants to chat with me about ordering a FP, and where to get ink.

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On Friday, I was picking up my mail at my local privately-owned mail service on Magazine St. Signed off for a package with a Bexley Elegancia in red. New lady behind the counter asked "Is that a fountain pen?" She is is probably 35ish in age.

Jeffery

In the Irish Channel of

New Orleans, LA

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