Wouldn’t your penultimate paragraph be arguing for a return to the quill?

I’d sign on to your campaign, but someone seems to have absconded with my $47 Waterman fountain pen.

Question: I love the idea of a fountain pen for life, but how do you keep from losing it? I am always losing pens, which is why I buy the cheap ones.
I agree that progress is not so good and that tradition is best. So, Scot (and the shadowy Kris) whom we love, how about going back to old JC site? Just for tradition’s sake ….

Scot, in your coaching days, did the fountain pen work pretty well in combination with your baseball uniform, active boys, and the dust, sweat and grime of the dugout?
If I were richer, less absent-minded, and right-handed, I would invest in such a pen and would enjoy writing just for the sheer pleasure of it. Perhaps I would write the Instructions of Amenemope just to feel connected to the learning and language from the ancients until today. Alas, I can’t afford it, would lose it, and would smear it. Sure, in theory, left-handers can use these things but it hasn’t worked out so well for me. So all you ink-dipping snobs enjoy yourselves. I’m going to steal another Pilot pen from work for those few occasions when a keyboard isn’t available!

MatthewS – Perhaps the solution is a move to Tel Aviv? Now we know why Scot goes for Greek not Hebrew.
Pilot please!

I think the fountain pen I got for my Bar Mitzvah is stored away with my slide rule.

Of course in the interests of full disclosure – I must admit that I have never used a fountain pen, except in a Junior High art class, oh so many years ago.
Now I’ve lost all expectation of respect … without the weight of history and tradition behind my writing, why bother?

You are aware that there are ballpoint pens you can keep for the rest of your life, yes?
I have handwriting like the stereotypical doctor; I need the finest writing tip I can find.

Who buys pens? I haven’t bought a pen in years…they’re just always around. Symptoms of what Scot is talking about, I guess, but I’m not paying a hundred dollars for a pen, even if it pays for itself over my lifetime or whatever.
I’m going back to cuneiform. Got my wet clay, my stylus. Ready to go.

Travis, LOL. Your resume can have a line showing your extra skill of 5 words per minute cuneiform.
Unrelated: I would be curious to know if beliefnet could use a service like Akisment. Spam would be relegated to the spam folder and it would be invisible to users.

what about leftys? Is there any way I can use a fountain pen without making a huge mess?

As someone who travels a lot, Scot, how do you carry the pen. I have trouble with it leaking which I have attributed to altitude.

Besides the fact that fountain pens are green, they are better for everyone’s writing, because they don’t require so much pressure. Fountain pen (and rollerball) ink is water based; ballpoint ink is waxy. Using a fountain pen is like using a brush, and you don’t have to pay $100 to get one. Lefties can write with fountain pens, too, but it’s more difficult if you hook your hand over your writing. Nearly every pen retailer will let you try fountain pens before you buy them – check them out!

Good grief. With all due respect, this sounds to qb like a soft form of @lit1sm, thinly disguised as environmental sensitivity, which belongs in the ash heap along with this “fair trade coffee” pabulum that often ends up having the opposite effect of the one intended.
Viva Bic! Viva $0.50 Pilot G-2 rollerballs!
populist qb

Scot, you crack me up. I’m not going to use a fountain pen (though I do enjoy a quality ballpoint and even a felt on occasion–just for a change of feel) chiefly for one reason: my handwriting, though improved over the years, is likely forever short of anything even approaching beautiful. I can occasionally write something short in a card that isn’t offensive to look at, if I really concentrate.
Using a fountain pen for my scratchings would just make me think I was making Big Macs with beef tenderloin. It might be a bit better, but it’s just not right.

I’m with qb. I like the idea of a fountain pen, but I must say
the Bic abides.

QB, I’m curious as to how you read elitism into the discussion? Fountain pens are not expensive, anyone can own them. There are even disposable fountain pens (if you don’t care about environmental issues) for a few bucks.

Too funny! Using good stewardship of the environment as a call to use a fountain pen… smooth move. While I probably would enjoy using a fountain pen, someone would have to buy one for me spontaneously. I don’t think I’d ever really ask for one as a gift, but I wouldn’t mind receiving one as a gift

qb – Can you enlighten me regarding how buying fair trade coffee ends up having a negative effect?

Your Name (17) – just a gut reaction to the humorous idea that Bic pens just don’t pass that lofty “[environmental] stewardship” test.
And that waxy, waxy ink! *faint*
Sounds kinda like Sheryl Crow insisting that we only use one square, if ya know what I mean.
qb

ScottC (19) – others on this estimable blog have done so far more eloquently than qb could do…and quite recently. Poke around and see what you can find.
BTW, what would you say if qb told you that vast increases in irrigation efficiency via low-pressure technology had actually INCREASED the rate of withdrawal from the virtually un-recharged Ogallala Aquifer? You’d say qb was a bona fide nut-job, right? But it belongs in the same category, in a way. So-called “improvements” sometimes make things worse, by some important measures.
Cheerfully,
qb

ScottC – you can poke around (lots of interesting stuff). Or you can try here:Should we buy fair trade coffee?

Scot, thank you for saying this. I was given a fountain pen by a friend about 4 years ago and I haven’t used a disposable pen since. I share your sentiment that using a discardable instrument has a connection with using discardable words, however, a timeless instrument may just foster a more timeless collection of words.

This post reminds me of the character in “You’ve Got Mail” who has the obsession with typewriters! ) I hear the logic, but honestly I type most everything anymore so I’m not sure the investment in a fountain pen would be worthwhile. I bought a box of Bic pens probably 3 years ago and still haven’t run out of them. However, I think it would be a lovely gift and environmentally conscious for someone who actually writes things down instead of sending an email, posting on Facebook, or using the Outlook calendar! Perhaps this is more of a commentary on the computer age than anything else.

Scot,
I share your love of fountain pens. I use mine for my journal all the time. Here’s a poem I wrote a few years ago that expresses my sentiments.
Marble Green Waterman Hemisphere Fountain Pen
By Arlyn Norris
From a vein that is always open
you bleed a winding trail
of indigo blood, a thin stain
that skips and twists, leaving
bruised tattoos in narrow
bands across the pale skin of paper.
My fingers grip your torso,
squeezing words, one letter
at a time from your single-
chambered heart. I know
whose blood this is. There?s
a price to pay for each drop
I use to stain the page.
Through an open window the dirge
of turtle doves drifts on crisp
morning air. The fragrance of coffee
mingled with chocolate steams
from my cup and the deep purple
of a hyacinth drifts on our backyard pond.
These droplets of life congeal
on the page, silhouettes flowing
from your mysterious entrails.
What will I divine from these strange
shapes? I look for healing as I think about joys
I have savored, pains I have endured.

Julie,
But computers give us electrons, pixels, and editability…
Fountain pens – permanence and artistry…
Just read this post. Could such eloquent expression have been composed on a crass computer?
Must be a Moleskine and a Pelikan.

Scot,
I share your love of fountain pens. I use mine with my journal every day! Here’s a poem that I wrote some years ago that expresses by sentiments.
Marble Green Waterman Hemisphere Fountain Pen
By Arlyn Norris
From a vein that is always open
you bleed a winding trail
of indigo blood, a thin stain
that skips and twists, leaving
bruised tattoos in narrow
bands across the pale skin of paper.
My fingers grip your torso,
squeezing words, one letter
at a time from your single-
chambered heart. I know
whose blood this is. There?s
a price to pay for each drop
I use to stain the page.
Through an open window the dirge
of turtle doves drifts on crisp
morning air. The fragrance of coffee
mingled with chocolate steams
from my cup and the deep purple
of a hyacinth drifts on our backyard pond.
These droplets of life congeal
on the page, silhouettes flowing
from your mysterious entrails.
What will I divine from these strange
shapes? I look for healing as I think about joys
I have savored, pains I have endured.

Hi Scot
I enjoyed reading your piece about fountain pens. I never use anything other than a fountain pen or a propelling pencil. I have three fountain pens and four or five pencil pens. I never use biros … unless ballpoint is required for an application form, etc.
I also enjoyed your slightly tongue in cheek comment about Calvin!!
Blessings from Northern Ireland.
George

Ah, Scot, a topic worthy and wonderful. I am using my 20 year old Waterman every day. It writes so smoothly I can actually leave it mid-sentence, go get a cup of coffee, return, and find that it has finished a paragraph alone and in better form than with my hand!

Great sales pitch. But… do they leak?

I once wrote a post about fountain pens and leaking, and said it had happened to me only once on a plane — and I didn’t even get anything on my shirt. But, I have to say this: a leaking splotch is a sign of distinction. It identifies one fountain pen to another. I’ve smiled at folks with splotches and they’ve smiled back. Kind of a … “we’re in this together, aren’t we!”
But, I don’t think they leak on air planes anymore. I always take a fountain pen with me on my flights and I never have trouble.
As for losing them… what can I say? Pay attention, it’s a friend. Think of it as one of your children.

Scot,
There is a problem with your beloved fountain pen. For those of us who are left-handed writing with such a device is completely counterproductive as all you get is several lines of smudges.
They are a tool of the right-handed majority to keep the left-handed minority down.