Do You Refer To Your Pens By Style Or Name?

[AlohaLani787]

Nicknames, or pet names sound a little silly for a writing instrument. Yet I find myself asking for or referring to "The Spider," or the "Little One," or the "Big Rollerball." It's not something I consciously set out to do and I thought I can't be the only one to do this with my pens. It's easy to say "The fountain pen" if there's only one, but I am curious about people with several or what seems to me the population of a small town of pens.

 

How do you refer to your pens? Manufacturer, style number or name, or ?????

[BillH]

Never really thought of it... by manufacturer's names. No pet names here, except for my Sweetie and the Dinky Dog

[Tom Kellie]

~ Most fountain pens on my writing desk are Montblancs. There are also half a dozen Parker 51s and a couple of older Pelikans.

None have pet names but rather are referred to by their nibs, metals, or models.

Yubi is often called “Funny Puppy” or “Love Pooch”. That's about it.

Tom K.

[putteringpenman]

If I only have one pen by a manufacturer, then I call it by the manufacturer's name. For example, I write with my Nemosine or TWSBI. But if I have multiple pens from the same manufacturer, then I call the pen by its model (Metropolitan, 823, Prera for my Pilot pens). Even more confusing, when I have the same pen model with different colors or nibs, I get really specific: the gray (color) medium (nib size) Metropolitan.

[Cordovian]

There's only one pen I refer to with a name. It's a Visconti that alternates between skipping and gushing and nothing seems to fix it. I cannot repeat the name I use here.

[ThomasB]

We are quite formal here in the deep South and use first and last names usually preceded by a Mr. or Ms./Mrs.. As in in my case today I would introduce you to "Mr. Aurora 88" and "Ms. Pelikan 120".

[zaddick]

If I am talking to someone who knows nothing about pens, I call any pen just "a pen" as more specificity is unnecessary.

 

If I am talking to a pen friend then I refer to the brand of the pen and the model name. Nicknames would require greater familiarity than exists.

 

If I am referring to a pen in my own mind I just see an image of the pen and do not also tend to labe it.

[PAKMAN]

Manufacturer and model number/name generally for me.

[praxim]

As is well known, we call all of our pens Bruce.

 

 

 

 

 

I usually record the current pen and ink in the page margin, using brand, model, nib size and any necessary distinguishing feature (usually colour else serial) to differentiate it from another pen which I should really have sold as a duplicate by now.

[dubhe]

Martelé, Wilde, 1912, Exupery

I use abbreviated names

[Manalto]

There's only one pen I refer to with a name. It's a Visconti that alternates between skipping and gushing and nothing seems to fix it. I cannot repeat the name I use here.

 

It seems I have a few of Signore Visconti's relatives in my employ. I address them in a similarly expurgated fashion, but not without fervor or lacking syllables.

[Manalto]

There's only one pen I refer to with a name. It's a Visconti that alternates between skipping and gushing and nothing seems to fix it. I cannot repeat the name I use here.

Oops.

Edited August 18, 2018 by Manalto

[Manalto]

There's only one pen I refer to with a name. It's a Visconti that alternates between skipping and gushing and nothing seems to fix it. I cannot repeat the name I use here.

Oops X2

Edited August 18, 2018 by Manalto

[Arielle Finberg]

I do like naming things, especially my bigger/more expensive tools, computers, and vehicles. My grandpa used to call his beloved Ford Thunderbird "Betsy," and I liked that idea when I was a tiny girl. I always figured it was because when he and my grandmother had horses of necessity as youths, and, of course, their horses had names.

 

I think of my mobile phone as a personal assistant and call him "Chip." Now that he is paired with my Apple watch, I think he is kind of schizo, though.

 

I recently named my air plant "Norbert" after he accidentally got lost after his last watering, and I panicked when I thought my pet rabbit might have accidentally eaten him! Fortunately, Norbert had only accidentally been thrown in the trash in the paper towel he was draining on. In relief, I named him and put him back in his little container on the shelf.

 

When I told one of my friends, yesterday, I had named Norbert, she surprised me by telling me she had five air plants and all of them had names!

 

I have not named my fountain pens yet, though. Maybe I will now. Good idea.

[Mr. Pink]

By model name

[Parker51]

i refer to them by age, color and/or pattern and/or material, if that varies, followed by maker, followed by model followed by nib, if I have a pen identical in every way except for the nib.

I haven't decided what to call the pens that are identical in every way, other than the one that I am keeping and the ones I am selling and/or trading.

I don't have pet names for anything, but my wife and daughter have named the family cars and I will refer to them by those names and they are not identical at all.

I typically don't refer to anything other than by its most basic identifier, unless it is something that I and/or my wife collects and then the description matches what it is.

Some items that are different and that actually have model names I won't bother referring to by the model name, even if I do value the item, such as saws, hammers, screwdrivers, knives and mult-tools. I don't collect them, so don't think a lot about them, except when determining to buy them. I am picky in regard to my tools, refusing to buy junk, but I don't obsess about them.

[Pravda]

When I make an ink list, I use model names and if the models repeat I put letters to distinguish them:

 

1912

1914

Martele

 

for example then,

 

149R (red gold)

149P (platinum)

1906C (coral)

1906B (brown) etc

Edited August 18, 2018 by Pravda

[Amit.]

Prefer to call them by their actual model names.

[AlohaLani787]

Really interesting responses, everyone. I appreciate the logic of referring to pens by their model number and nib, and it really is the best way for people with a "population of a small town of pens." Otherwise naming would get ridiculous. I like adding a color designation after the model as Pravda indicated. Plus, documenting the collections is meaningful.

 

My calling one of my pens "The Little One" isn't meaningful to anyone but me and will become meaningless if I acquire another "Little One," which is likely.

 

Cordovian and Manalto - I hope to never own such a pen, but your responses made me laugh out loud.