Re: OT More pens (was Re: Phoneme winnowing continues)

> Christophe wrote:
> > I've been reading this thread with wonder: do you really mean that
> fountain
> > pens are uncommon in America?!!!!!
>
> I think that is indeed what he means.  AFAIK, they're enjoying a sort-of
> come-back, but as status symbols (hence the expensive Mont Blancs et al.).
> Having been away from the elementary school scene for a very long time, I
> don't know anymore how,or even if, handwriting is taught.  The evidence
> suggests that, like spelling, it isn't.(In fairness, despite weekly
drills,
> neither my classmates nor I ended up with very legible handwriting
either.)
> (And I'm always amused at the irony of the Natl. Spelling Bee champions
> being, usually, of non-native origin-- I'll suppose they can write legibly
> too :-)))).
Speaking as a fairly young person (18,) handwriting was hardly taught when I
was young. We learned cursive in third grade and had to mime perfectly these
endless sheets of letters, adn that was that. From then on we had to do
things "in ink, in handwriting" (I don't know why handwriting = cursive, is
this a prevalent US thing or just where I live? Anyway...) through about
eighth grade, but we were never taught any more handwriting. It was never
enforced that we had to have good penmanship though teachers constantly
complained if you didn't-- my writing was terrible. In high school everyone
has reverted to pencil giant girly bubbly printing or the all-caps variety
(mine) since we do everything else on the computer. I've had a fountain pen
for as long as I can remember, though I never used them in school until
recently, and my handwriting has always been atrocious. I actually like my
cursive now, though nobody can read it. I'm not sure whether that's due to
nobody using cursive or if my writing really IS bad.
I'm curious though, what kind of drills did they make you do? Did you just
have to copy things down perfectly or something? Doing that in third grade
sucked hardcore because we had to write so big and by that time I wanted to
be writing on notebook paper, not the massive 1-inch high lines that they
gave us. I am rambling so much! I love pens and ink. I like writing with dip
pens but the dipping bothers me.     I want a pen I can put ink into so I
can mix fun colors :P

> >All fountain pens we usually have are empty, and you put
> > small plastic ink reserves in them to use them.
> Those used to be available here, but obviously didn't catch on.
I have a few of them. I want a really nice foutnain pen but I don't know
where to find one. I'm impressed that you still have to learn to write with
fountain pens in France, though I guess I shouldn't be. Man, I really want
to go to France for some reason.

-Kendra
http://refrigeratedcake.com
"We que sont adieu....uh...la toilette..." - Amy's
shining moment in French poetry writing
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Mills" <romilly@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2003 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: OT More pens (was Re: Phoneme winnowing continues)


>
> ObConculture:  As nearly as I can tell, the Kash have only 1, maybe 2,
> brands of car, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc. They do, however, use
electric
> blowers to dry the fur after bathing (an early Gwr invention).
>
>

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