The computer and the pen

[Zhou (Mick)]

We all live in an age of computers, over-hyped "smart phones" and ready access to amazing amounts of information. But there is part of many of us that like to retain something from the past. For some it is vinyl records, for others it is cameras that use film. My excursion into the past is fountain pens and cursive writing.

In a day and age where most of us use computers to communicate I find pleasure in using an old fashioned fountain pen. I have also (re) discovered the art of handwiting.

Does anyone here still extensively write by hand? What are your personal retro-habits?

[Barrykgerdes]

I guess most of the modern generation don't even know what a fountain pen is.

My first fountain pen bought in the mid 40's was a "Platignum" A cheap brand that we used at school for about 3 years before the "Biro" took over. The "Platignum" was heaps easier to use than the then standard "Post office" pen with interchangeable nibs and much cleaner. Another well known brand was the "Parker". They cost about half a weeks pay in those days.

The last fountain pen I had was in a pen and pencil set I got for my 21st birthday in 1955

Barry

[Larryp (Laurie)]

I remember having ink wells in the school desks, and dipping the post office pen in it. One student was appointed to fill all the ink wells every morning.

[Astro_Bot]

I recall, not all that long ago, when the mark of an "executive gentleman" was a nice fountain pen, or so it was in my circle of acquaintances. I still have a nice Parker set - fountain pen and biro - from about 20 yeas ago. About 15 years ago, it was still common to give an engraved fountain pen as a leaving gift - I have two others that have never had ink in them. IIRC, Mont Blanc was the make of pen that most aspired to own.

It seems nice pens have nearly disappeared amongst the younger generations ... along with penmanship, grammar, spelling and expression ... IMHO, of course.

I still have quite a few vinyl LPs and singles. Alas, I presently have no turntable.

[Sarge (Rod)]

My wife was employed as a "cartographic tracer" (map drawing) and now one of her hobbies is calligraphy. She does some beautiful writing, with all sorts of fountain pens. Unbelievably she can write in a straight line - on plain paper without any lines!
Me - I write in capitals - cause no-one can read my writing, including me!

Clear skies

Rod

[Zhou (Mick)]

I went to primary school in England in the late 70's early 80's and we used fountain pens. When I returned to school in Australia in 1981 it was all ball point pen.

A fountain pen definately makes writing more of a pleasure than a ball point pen does.

[Zhou (Mick)]

Originally Posted by Sarge

My wife was employed as a "cartographic tracer" (map drawing) and now one of her hobbies is calligraphy. She does some beautiful writing, with all sorts of fountain pens. Unbelievably she can write in a straight line - on plain paper without any lines!
Me - I write in capitals - cause no-one can read my writing, including me!

Clear skies

Rod

I was in the RAAF back in the late eighties and nineties. One of my jobs (musterings) was air photo plotter. The old name for that particular occupation was cartographic tracer.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

I have a quite nice collection of fountain pens, from Arrows to Viscontis.
Despite learning calligraphy from an early age, my handwriting is atrocious.
Thirty plus years of typing into a PC has left me with nothing but the ability to sign my name.

[Ric]

Hi Mick
I still do a lot of writing by hand, I quite enjoy it.

Mostly it is notes in my garden diary from which I keep yearly notes about plantings, rotations in the vege garden and what grew best during each season.

It's a lot easier than trying to walk around with a laptop.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

I asked for and got given a fountain pen last Xmas (always liked them). I enjoy using it, makes me think before I write and for some weird reason I can read what I write afterwards. My script with a ballpoint can be totally illegible. I also tend to use better grammar and more appropriate terms with a fountain pen, no idea why ..

[taminga16 (Greg)]

I write to at least one of my three grandchildren once a week, even if it is only a quick post card and then wander down to the post box. The benefits are untold.
Greg.

[BPO]

There appears to be a minor fountain pen revival in progress, as several young(er) people I've encountered lately have been using them.

I do a lot of writing, most of it on computers, but I also write screeds of notes in longhand in exercise books. Just the process of writing in ink seems to help me, creatively-speaking.

[MattT]

We called Cursive Writing... Cursed Writing! Any left handers in the class ended up with a mess. Awful memories Mick long buried til I read this thread. My retro is vinyl records....nothing beats that analogue sound except live performance....CD's, iTunes, rubbish I say. Astro Bot no excuses, get a record player, still have mine from the 80's.
Matt...still having to type in manually.

[Zhou (Mick)]

Originally Posted by MattT

My retro is vinyl records....nothing beats that analogue sound except live performance....CD's, iTunes, rubbish I say.

I am quite the opposite, I prefer CD's.

I grew up with vinyl and in my day had a quite extensive collection of LP's, EP's and singles, I still retain some of my vinyl. I remember when CD's first came out as my family were early adaptors of this technology. To me, when I first heard CD's they were a breath of fresh air. There were no pops and scratches and noise was almost non existent (vinyl has a poor noise to signal ratio which incidently maybe the attraction of vinyl to many).

The vinyl vs CD argument is legendary, people on each side of the arguments trying to convince each other of the superiority of their chosen audio format. But, in the end what is the "superior" listening experience? It is a subjective and even emotional one. I loved buying vinyl LP's with the large artwork on the cover then carefully placing the LP on the turntable and cranking up the volume, fine memories indeed. However, for a complete audio experience I believe CD's are streets ahead of vinyl.

BTW, Mp3's are not that great and I tend not to buy them as the quality is lower than similar priced hard copy CD's. If you want the convenience of MP3's it is better the rip them from existing CD's (or vinyl).

[Nico13 (Ken)]

I love cursive writing and have done for many years. I recall the Post Office pens and being Ink Monitor etc.
My cursive style I learned from my dear departed mother but unfortunately as a tradesman my spelling deteriorated over time for various reasons, not enough reading being one and so I don't write as much as I would like for fear of the miss spelled word spoiling it all.

As for my retro habits I guess its repairing things rather than adopting the throw away practice of so many these days.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Cursive writing was an important part of my early primary schooling-anyone remember slope cards?

[ourkind (Carlos)]

The only time I write these days is when I prepare the shopping list or for birthday and wedding cards.

Despite that when I do write like to use my Mont Blanc fountain pen or ballpoint, I have several and I believe if you own something nice you should get the pleasure of using it when you get the chance.

As for retro habits well I prefer going to the listen to a symphonie orchestra rather than a rock or pop concert and good play at a theatre as opposed to sitting at the movies.

I have a thing for antique automatic windup time peices too.

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by Larryp

Cursive writing was an important part of my early primary schooling-anyone remember slope cards?

Up to 2nd class we always used printed characters but in 2nd class we were introduced to "running writing" This was a great morale booster because you were considered ready for advancement when you could do this.

We got a new head master when I went into 4th class and he introduced slope cards. Up to that time my writing was attrocious and I could get about 10 words on a line. When we got slope cards I could only get about 7 words on a line and my writing was still attrocious. Writing was worth quite a few marks in the exam. I seldem got more than 65%. I needed excellent scores in other subjects to remain at the top of the class.

Incidently my writing has got progressively worse since then so that even I can't read it. These days I am reduced to printed characters when manually puting "pen to paper"

Barry

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Printing, then slope and joined, .. then Italics for me. Wide nibbed pen and black or green ink. Bit of a change from blue. We had a teacher who was into Italics and it was a good exercise in control and discipline.

When I read The Hobbit and LOTR the first time it was quite cool to see Dwarvish and it's runes and glyphs. Did Latin and French at secondary and read heaps. I find language and script evolution quite interesting.

I am still the one who normally writes any invites or cards to be sent which is weird because my note taking script is rubbish but I can turn my hand to something quite elegant when needed.

[Barrykgerdes]

A littl bit of trivia

When the "Biro" first came out in the mid 40's it cost 59/6, an awful lot of money and they were supposed to last forever so there were no refils.

Within a year or two refils became available for the new line of "Biro"s. These had an ink tube that folded back on itself and cost 2/11. We all had "Platignums" (the standard) that had broken nibs etc and it was found that with a bit of fiddling and inginuity the "biro" refils could be inserted into the "Platignum" case. These home made pens soon became the norm.

Oh yes we still used post office pens for class work and refillable ink wells that ensured you went home from school with blue fingers.

Barry