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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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My latest experience was again at the local Post Office. I was using my yellow Pilot Lucina, and our new teller said 'can I see that pen?' He pulled out a piece of paper, and he began writing with the nib upside down. After getting things in order, he was surprised at how nice it felt to write with a FP. It is always fun to promote the use of fountain pens to those who have never seen one.

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*pulls out TWSBI eco*

 

"Wow, that thing's awesome! I didn't know you vape!"

 

And then I take the cap off and let them just puzzle about it for a while. :D

 

But when people do recognize them for what they are, I usually have more of a reaction than they do. "Oh, you know what fountain pens are? Here, check this one out! Its got an italic nib. And this one is a piston filler demonstrator! You can see all the insides! Pretty cool huh? Check out all these different inks I have, they're so cool!"

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  • 3 months later...

When I'm at work:

"You are left-handed but you use a fountain pen? How brave is that!"

 

When I'm at school, the other students don't really notice, but when they do:

"Hey, what the hell is that? Is that some sort of a pen? I've never seen anything like it."

"What kind of pen is that? It looks very cool."

 

One of my professors borrowed a pen. When I gave him an Esterbrook, he replied:

"Give me a normal pen, not a fountain pen please."

― I was quite surprised because he was an old guy.

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My latest : when I am filling a form to get some parts stock from the warehouse in the logistic controller's office ; she remarks - " isn't this a bit troublesome and tedious to use " referring to my Recife Reservoir which had an screw cap that require a full seven and a half turn to uncap. I can't help but answer " indeed , some time "

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Never had any comments about my pens - I do living history and people have seen me do far weirder things in public.

 

But I did have problems quite a few times when researching at a local archive. Not pens though - mechanical pencils. Every time I whipped out my ancient silver Eversharp (or a modern plastic mechanical pencil), a security guard who must be watching the room on a CCTV monitor, always came in and told me off for using a pen next to the valuable books. I constantly had to pass it to them to show them it was a pencil. Odd how they never seem to have seen one before when they are on every high st, in W.H.Smiths, or Paperchase, or wherever... And their reactions suggested it wasn't just because, from a distance it looked like a pen, but even after you showed them it they'd still seem really shocked people had such new fangled pencils, when you can get a stripy Staedtler one in any supermarket...

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*pulls out TWSBI eco*

 

"Wow, that thing's awesome! I didn't know you vape!"

 

 

Funily enough a colleague of mine (25) asked me the other day if I was giving up smoking. She replied to my puzzled look by pointing at the TWSBI 580 (Red, blue and white) and saying "I just noticed your Vape". :rolleyes: :lticaptd:

 

 

One of my professors borrowed a pen. When I gave him an Esterbrook, he replied:

"Give me a normal pen, not a fountain pen please."

― I was quite surprised because he was an old guy.

 

Don't be surprised. It is very likely that he has remembered the old advice about never lending your FP to anyone.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No one at work says much about my pens these days. They're used to me having "fancy" pens. As a matter of fact, it's now gotten to the point where I no longer have to worry about leaving pens out on my desk. I have four writing implements I regularly use -- a mechanical pencil, a 3.8 mm Pilot Parallel filled with yellow (my highlighter), a nice ballpoint pen given to me by my ex-husband, and a roller ball. At the moment, I don't take my fountain pens to work because we don't do much writing any more (we're trying to go paperless... in a print shop). However, because they never really know whether any one of those might be an FP, no one wants to use my "fancy" pens so they leave all my pens alone. And, thankfully, I no longer have to go hunting for my pens.

Your life is the result of the choices you make. If you don’t like your life, it’s time to start making better choices.


- unknown -


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I think that most people have enough reserve and politeness to let other people's use of a pen pass without comment. Those who know pens will have an idea of what the pen is, and the others will not likely comment unless they know you well, or unless they are juvenile and without self discipline.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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At a job fair. Person at the table saw me pull out my Pelikan 140 and commented. "I haven't seen one of those in a long time" or something to that effect. This was a person that was young enough to be my daughter. Another person at the same event (maybe same table) said her dad used Mont Blanc pens.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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Got out a Wing Sung 698 in front of a friend of 40 something years, a few days ago, his comment was "do they still make those pens, are they hard to find". I had a real chuckle over this.

 

Then I got out a couple of presentation boxes of more collectable pens I own and my friend could hardly believe his eyes.

 

As time marches on I guess comments like this will only become more common!

 

 

Greg

Edited by inkeverywhere

"may our fingers remain ink stained"

Handwriting - one of life's pure pleasures

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I remember a compliment that I got:

 

In a conference, I was one of the head organizators, hence I'm always kinda busy. I was carrying a Lamy Al-Star grey, and writing down a lot of stuff. One of my colleagues came, and while talking about the organization he said "X is always wanting pens from people to write small stuff, and here you are always carrying a fountain pen. This shows all the difference between you and him".

 

I never carried something to show-off or to be different, but this observation left a mark in my life.

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  • 2 years later...

This morning I was signing in for a bit of a tootle around a small racetrack (laps, not racing) when the fairly young person over the counter unexpectedly commented on my pen. I was using a fairly bland grey Onoto K4 in preference to their proffered ballpoint.

 

He had recently bought a Parker fountain pen from Officeworks, an office supplies chain in this country, and admired the Onoto. I mentioned FPN. He said he is not on here, having only the one pen but two fast cars and a lot of camera gear. :)

I gave him conflicting advice that FPN was to be avoided if he wanted to keep to one pen, but on the other hand pens were usually cheaper than cars and lenses.

X

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" do you actually really use that to write ? "

 

from a young waitress in one of the cafe I frequent ; after talking to her it seems she's thinking its a rather difficult tool to get a hang on. I correct her on the misconception and later gift her a pair to start her on the hobby

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Nada, nothing, bizingo, zilch.

Actually...that's not quite true. More recently I heard......'Why won't this open?' she said, tugging on the screw cap.

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