Do You Have A "test Phrase"?

[tonybelding]

For a quick test: "a minimum of fifty"

 

I've also done many of the others already listed: my signature, the name of my pen and ink, The quick brown fox..., Four score and seven years..., Now is the time for all good men... printing out numerals and letters...

 

However, a proper evaluation of a pen and ink really requires writing at least a full page, not mere test phrases.

[pajaro]

En boca cerrada no entran moscas.

 

Poderoso caballero es Don Dinero.

[PAKMAN]

When I go with my buddy to pen shows to sell pens while he repairs pens I get to see a lot of people try out pens. We like to get folks to try our pens and make sure they like the feel of the pen and how the nib writes before they buy. I'm always careful to rip up and throw away the pages that they write on because almost every one that tests a pen writes their signature at least once. One fellow came up and told me his name was John Hancock and then proceded to write the most perfect copy of the famous John Handcock signature you have ever seen! He used a flex nib, it was just stunning!

[fncll]

I always fall back to the pen details (brand, nib size, color, etc), name of ink, and the alternative to "The quick brown fox" pangram that I chose years ago:

 

"The five boxing wizards jump quickly"

[corniche]

Greetings all,

 

"Diesel fuel for free! Woo-hoo!"

 

Which is odd, because I don't own a diesel and never have; however, I do like the smell of diesel fumes, (from cars and trucks; buses, not at all).

 

All the best,

 

Sean

 

PS: The "woo-hoo" is a recent addition.

Edited September 1, 2013 by S. P. Colfer

[meblamy]

Kind of a fun topic.

 

Since I learned to type a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

 

My first choice is usually "Now is the time..." as that was one of those typing drills we all learned, and I still remember!

 

Second is usually the first line of one of the greatest pieces of prose in the English language... "When in the course of human events..."

 

I try not to sign my name, but when I do, I usually tear the sheet off and take it with me!

[Sudhir]

When I use a phrase, it usually is "Of all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these - It might have been."

 

I was introduced to this phrase in a P. G. Wodehouse novel and was fascinated by the way the quote fell so neatly into context. Only later learnt that the original is by John Whittier and Plum merely borrowed it.

 

Otherwise, it is just the name of the pen, the ink, the paper - sometimes followed by whatever thoughts swirl around in my head. Earlier habit was to write my name and signature - for a long time - but haven't done that in the last few months.

[Badtser]

I like to do my signature a few times and also just make long series of curls like eeeeeeeeeeeee or lllllllllllllllllll rapidly.

 

However this thread is full of lovely ideas to test.

[JesterKat]

I'm glad that someone else learned that the fox was red and the dog was brown! This place was starting to make me doubt my sanity. Plus, I've never seen a brown fox, red or gray (black), but not brown.

One of my favorites has been to use Coleridge:

In Xanadu did Kubllai Khan

A stately pleasure dome decree.

Where Alph the sacred river ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers girdled round

 

And then I tend to forget the rest - I used to be able to rip this off the tip of my tongue. I keep looking it up and trying to re-learn the rest, but it just won't stay in my poor, addled brain.

Oh well, there are always the 5,000,000 early 60s songs that my brain has decided are important to remember, even the awful ones.

 

Katie

[pencils+pens]

 

 

there are always the 5,000,000 early 60s songs that my brain has decided are important to remember

 

For some reason the two other songs that pop up in my mind, after Alice's Restaurant, begin:

 

"Now somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy named ...." and

 

"Desmond has a barrow in the market place
Molly is the singer in a band
Desmond says to Molly, "Girl I like your face"
And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand"

[Lone Coyote]

I state the date, "test drive" number. And proceed to write where I am, and what am I doing.

 

Afterward I close with my name

[flatline]

"Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.

While these fleas flew freezy breeze blew.

Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.

Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze.

That's what made these three free fleas sneeze."

 

Oddly enough, it's easier to write than it is to type.

 

--flatline

[Houston]

I have, for the past few years, been using something I read somewhere, but can't remember the source: "The pen is the finger of God."

 

But I think I'm going to switch to "Why shouldn't a quixotic Kazakh vampire jog barefoot?"

 

Still being romanced by imperfect pangrams.

[Avetikus]

For a single line I too stick with the hoary fox and aged hound, but I always seem to write out the first paragraph of the Dec- and the preamble to the Const- when I get a few free moments.

 

Then, when I have a new sheet in front of me out comes the poem I had to memorize back in high school, some 30 years ago.

 

'Twas brillig and the slithy toves / did gyre and gimble in the wabe / all mimsy were the borogroves / and the mome wraiths outgrabe.

 

All the way through. Dunno. I kinda like the thing. :-)

[krz]

My favorite flex test lines are: "Charles Montgomery Burns" and "Merrie Melodies".

Also; "Now is the time for all good pens".

[Shangas]

I generally quote Chamberlain's Declaration of War.

 

"This morning, the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note, stating that unless we heard from them, by 11 o'clock, that they were prepared at once, to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently, this country is at war with Germany".

[sexauerw]

I generally use as much of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as I have room on the paper for:

 

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/RDzyMjNANzkD0M/3623307.0/org/p/Writing_Sample%2C_Sheaffer_Targa_1001%2C_Gettysburg_Address.jpg

 

[flatline]

Do all you people really have the Gettysburg Address memorized?

 

--flatline

[collectingfool]

Sure. It's not that long. I know all the words to "American Pie" and that's much longer. Know at least twice the amount of lines from "The Raven". We are collectors, and are therefore compulsive by nature. Add a dash of history geek (why else would we be drawn to fountain pens) and you have your answer. This is what we do.

[pencils+pens]

 

 

Do all you people really have the Gettysburg Address memorized?

 

The Catholic school I attended from 3rd thru 8th grade made us memorize it. We also had to memorize the preamble to the Constitution and the first part of the Declaration of Independence.

 

We also memorized some of Shakespeare's soliloquies. I remember having to memorize Hamlet's famous speech and Portia's speech to the court in the Merchant of Venice. I don't remember which one we had to memorize from King Lear.