Re: OT Nostalgic history of the pen (was Re: Phoneme winnowing continues

Roger Mills wrote at 2003-06-06 14:11:49 (-0400)

 >
 > Around the end of WW2, the ball-point appeared in the US (invented
 > by a Hungarian IIRC)-- the first were made by a Mr. Reynolds and
 > cost $5 (= a lot in today's money; a good Parker 5l cost the same).
 > I sent away for one (father was horrified at such a waste of
 > money)-- it looked like a small rocket ship and caused a major
 > sensation with classmates.  I think the ink supply lasted about 3
 > months, much of it used up in blotches and splatters or absorbed by
 > shirt-pockets.
 >
 > (I've never heard "biro" either-- sounds like a trade name.  For a
 > while we distinguished "Bics", but that's generally a cheap
 > cigarette lighter nowadays.)
 >

from the New Oxford Dictionary of English:

biro /"bAIr@U/ >noun (pl. -os) Brit. trademark a kind of ballpoint pen
- ORIGIN 1940s: named after László Jósef _Biró_ (1899-1985), Hungarian
inventor of the ballpoint.

á=a', ó=o'