Thought of this forum when I read this essay this morning:
https://bookriot.com/2020/03/07/the-...s-perfect-pen/
Thought of this forum when I read this essay this morning:
https://bookriot.com/2020/03/07/the-...s-perfect-pen/
Fortibus es in ero
BlkWhiteFilmPix (March 26th, 2023), Chuck Naill (March 9th, 2020), vdiantonio (January 28th, 2022), welch (December 1st, 2023)
Thank you for posting. I was reminded of Steinbeck's Blackwing pencil being dark and requiring minimal pressure or the value of using longhand because it makes you stop to think.
It's astounding that such a wordsmith as Ted Hughes couldn't spell Sheaffer. Why do people have so much trouble with that word? I've seen some very inventive spellings of it. Schaffer is a recent one.
What writer writes with the "scratch of a raspy pen hitting paper"? What writer needs to?
"Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little." -Epicurus-
Ah, but I do write with a Waterman's 18k nib gliding smoothly across the page. In fact, my Charleston, which I use with Waterman blue-black ink, writes forever on one of those long cartridges, and has become my go-to pen for creative writing.
Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
(What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke’s on you.)
I've seen some very inventive spellings of the word Sheaffer too. I don't know if it's still the case but even ebay.co.uk had it spelled incorrectly in their list of pen brands.
Maybe it starts off with pronunciation? The person decides to pronounce it as "shay fer" then they try to spell it like they pronounce it. So they often make the first mistake of putting the a before the e. Some don't put an e in there. Then they don't know if it has one f or two. It all seems to go downhill from there.
It's probably better to not bother trying the pronunciation. Just start off with the word "sheaf" then add "fer" to the end of it. Simple.![]()
Regards, Chrissy| My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
Forums are funny in how they can turn an interesting essay into a misspelling discussion. So, is it better to have something interesting to say/communicate or produce a collection of words that are spelled correctly?
I would have thought one should always strive for spelling and grammar accuracy. Surely communication is important enough to make the effort to do it properly to ensure that what we have to say is easily understood by others?
I don't disagree, Deb, but whether one spells the a before the e or reverse, we know the context. For months I have been spelling the Parker Aerometric as Aeromatic. It was based on ignorance and not from being sloppy. Yes, one should always strive, but at times we must forget the finger pointing and consider the intent.
You do what you want. In these situations I tend to finger-point and that's not likely to change.
There was discussion of this very concept in the book* I just finished: https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...l=1#post287490
*Free for postage if anyone would like to delve into the matter of precision versus intent for spelling and grammar in today's world.
When it is clearly someone's second language I would not be critical of spelling errors. We have the most eccentric spelling of any language. I haven't seen it here very much but in FPN some years ago there was some spelling so bad the meaning was indecipherable and it was usually someone asking for help or advice. The unwillingness to use a spell checker and leave your readers to try to puzzle out what you want is just discourtesy.
I wouldn't nit-pick about the odd spelling mistake. My original comment was one of surprise. Words are a poet's stock-in-trade and they are not usually so word-blind. Sheaffer, for no reason that is convincing, appears to be one of the most commonly misspelled words in the language. It's almost a surprise to see it spelled as it should be.
Of corse thee abuv wil bee fild with speeling mistaiks. The doom of the pedant.
If language interest you, allow me to suggest one of the most delightful books on that or any other subject that I've ever read: The Mother Tongue -- English and How It Got that Way by Bill Bryson.
Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
(What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke’s on you.)
I've read that one - very good.
I've been more interested in the rooms and desks that certain writers used. And their handwriting. Oddly, not so much their pens.
An ink pen tends to be the writer's choice. By and large, a pencil is the editor's writing implement of choice. That said: A pencil can be enormously enjoyable to use for writing on quality notebook paper.
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welch (December 1st, 2023)
Strangely, a pen characteristic that I like is its smoothness the ease with which I slides across a page while what I like the most about using a pencil is the drag of the lead as it wears down to leave its mark. Both are pleasurable in very different ways.
I also seem to write better with a penci. That may be because it is more practiced.
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