For check writing, I only have to warn the recipient to wait until it dries.
For check writing, I only have to warn the recipient to wait until it dries.
BlkWhiteFilmPix (July 13th, 2019)
As usual, I ensured the ink was dry before handing the form back to her. Yes, I wonder if the animosity was directed at me. I had queried a particular detail and I get an impression she doesn't like being asked to explain herself.
And since I work as a freelance, perhaps there's a bit of outsider status / insider discontent thing going on there, too.
But she could have objected to so many other things; it was the pens that got the hate.
In fact I wouldn't have used the fountain pen if she'd given me the entire form to read through instead of just asking me to fill in certain details with the form already open to the relevant page - "You don't need to worry about the rest". If I'd read the entire form I would have read the request for ballpoint to be used in the small print at the bottom of the first page. (Don't worry; I was filling in financial numbers, not signing anything I hadn't read.)
Biros are biros in the UK, Bics in France, and ballpoints in the US. Is there a nickname for Kugelschreiber too?
Last edited by amk; July 11th, 2019 at 01:35 AM.
amk (July 14th, 2019), calamus (July 11th, 2019), NDAzone (August 8th, 2019), NibsForScript (July 28th, 2019), Sailor Kenshin (July 11th, 2019)
.................................................. .................................................. .
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136145166@N02/albums
amk (July 14th, 2019), BlkWhiteFilmPix (July 13th, 2019)
Around the 3:50 mark:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=11neMoelz8g
kazoolaw..Hear Hear.....
This person who talked to the OP...Is an honest asshole....You learned something about her....Except it for what it is and move on.....
Much Ado About Nothing........Every day a curve ball is thrown at us..catch it...move on...........
Fred
amk (July 23rd, 2019), Brilliant Bill (July 13th, 2019)
"I had queried a particular detail and I get an impression she doesn't like being asked to explain herself."
So she lashed out at that.
Keep on using your pens.
bonne journée,
Bob
Making the world a more peaceful place, one fine art print and one handwritten letter at a time.
“If ‘To hold a pen is to be at war’ as Voltaire said, Montblanc suggests you show up in full dress uniform, ready to go down like an officer and a gentleman among the Bic-wielding hordes.” - Chris Wright
Paper cuts through the noise – Richard Moross, MOO CEO
Indiana Jones used a notebook in the map room, not an app.
www.bobsoltys.net/fountainpens
SchaumburgSwan (July 13th, 2019)
Thank you Jens - I should have realised that - I have a few Rotring Tintenkuli!
SchaumburgSwan (July 20th, 2019)
Biro is the word I learned for a ball point pen. They were all biros, even if Parker made them.
Kaputnik (July 23rd, 2019)
Let's be honest: the majority of humanity has moved on from fountain pens to ballpoints. Even if they were subjected to lots of advertising propaganda, it is undeniable that ballpoints have certain advantages. Puzzlement at someone still using a precedent technology is therefore justified, just like with a cyclist insisting on riding a penny farthing. That's fine. Normally I explain that already at the age of eight I hated having to press hard on paper with ballpoints and so gladly took over my father's humble Pilot fountain pen (the office he worked at moved from fountain pens to ballpoints at that time) and never looked back. The practical inconveniences of fluid ink are a small price to pay in comparison to the constant irritation of having to emboss paper to write. I don't expect them to get enthused and switch to fountain pens, too, only to understand that different people have different priorities. If they fail to understand or listen, it's their own problem. The world is filled with intolerant, boring people . I have no time for their stupidity.
Kaputnik (July 23rd, 2019), Morgaine (August 11th, 2019), SchaumburgSwan (July 30th, 2019)
My favourite Biro is a Bic.
p.s.
I am another who still has to deal with so-called carbon copies as a daily de rigeur...
Scrawler (July 23rd, 2019)
There's a fair number of people who think it's either (a) pretentious or (b) it's a superficial "hipster" type thing. It's not a majority of people, but they're out there. Just don't get concerned with people's reactions. Write and reactions be damned. Bother to leave the house and you're bound to offend someone at some point.
I started using fountain pens 20-25 years ago and prefer them by a lot over ballpoints. What is annoying is the fact that so many places these days use bad paper for their forms, and the fountain pen ink bleeds and feathers on the paper.
On the whole, I think that indifference is the most common reaction to my use of fountain pens. And some of that indifference may actually be a complete failure to notice that I'm using them, it's hard to say.
In an earlier post, I mentioned the co-worker who thought that I was writing outside my social class by using a fountain pen, but again, I didn't interpret this as hostility, although perhaps he was a bit impolite about it. And again, there can be a reaction when somebody asks to borrow a pen and I give them a ballpoint rather than the fountain pen that they see in my pocket. But in that case, it's just a momentary pique that I don't trust them with my "good" pen. And it's never gotten out of hand.
But part of it may be that I'm older than most of the people I work with (62), and there simply isn't the same expectation of fitting in. To the really young ones I must seem like an antique codger indeed; they probably wouldn't be surprised to see me pull out an inkwell and a goose quill. And people my own age, although they use ballpoints themselves, are a bit more understanding of individual eccentricities.
"If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
G.K. Chesterton
The thing that strikes me about it is that the British people I've heard saying it pronounce it "Bye-row". But the name of the Hungarian inventor of the first practical ballpoint was pronounced more like "Bee-row". Poor Mr. Biró. He was conned out of most of the profits for his invention. And the Birome company that he co-founded is now out of business, anyway.
Regardless, I know what is meant.
"If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
G.K. Chesterton
amk (July 25th, 2019)
Because fountain pens are old school and therefore stupid, backwards and useless? At least that seems to be the line of reasoning some people use. A coworker once said a number of times "Why are you using an old ink pen? You should use a regular pen." Another coworker was intrigued by my pen, and started using a fountain pen himself.
My mother used to use fountain pens in the 1950s, had a strong dislike of them, and very much preferred to use a ballpoint. Her job, with the US government, mandated that only fountain pens with black ink could be used. Her biggest complaints were that fountain pens leaked, were sometimes hard to get started, and were messy. Ballpoints just worked and refilling simply meant swapping an old refill out for a new one. She dislikes fountain pens to this day.
There are some people who use pricey fountain pens as status symbols, in much the same way as an expensive watch or luxury car. Such individuals are seen as snobs, which creates resentment. The problem is that anybody with a fancy fountain pen can be seen as snobbish, even when they are not. Montblancs and their owners seem to be the target of particular ire, and for many years were excoriated even on the pen forums. A form of pen poor pride, it seems.Then delivered herself of the sentiment that by using a fountain pen I am somehow putting myself above other people and being arrogant.
The above is not really all that relevant, though. What is relevant is that the person in question was giving you a hard time for no reason. Maybe she needs to be sent to obedience school? Better yet, why not give her an inexpensive but good pen, a Wing Sung 601 for example, and a bottle of ink. Show her how to fill and use the pen, compliment her handwriting even if it looks like cuneiform, and you might have a new convert.
Anyone could despise fountain pens if they had used some of the Wearevers I used when I was in school.
VertOlive (August 12th, 2019)
Thanks guys for all the responses! I was feeling pretty irritated and low when I posted - you've given me lots of food for thought and more importantly made me feel 100% that it's not the fault of my lovely fountain pens.
So I just celebrated by buying a new one :-)
I used to listen to the Erasable pencil podcast. One its three regulars seemed to genuinely hate fountain pens. I think it offended him that people would spend so much on a writing instrument when they could use the wonderful and humble wooden pencil. I also got the impression he thought that it was fountain pens that kept more people from being fans/users of wood pencils. Strange.
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