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View Full Version : why do americans write with pencils?



yisk
05-29-2010, 06:36 AM
Why not pens?

gut
05-29-2010, 08:07 AM
because they are too difficult to sharpen when they get dull

yisk
05-29-2010, 08:48 AM
pencil _difficult_ to sharpen, _so_ people write with it?
this is a form of masochism, or i misunderstood?

Silfir
05-29-2010, 09:36 AM
Pens are difficult to sharpen. They also don't get dull, but run out of ink. That was gut performing an act of humour.

Also, if the wikipedia article is to be believed, about a quarter of the world's pens are used by Americans. There is also the story of how Americans spent millions of dollars on research to manifacture a pen that could write in space, while the Soviets just used pencils. So I'm not too sure if Americans really tend to prefer pencils; they seem to like their pens just fine.

Cash
05-29-2010, 05:19 PM
Why not pens?

you ask this based on what?

gut
05-29-2010, 06:12 PM
The one time I don't use attributions...

> Why not pens?

Because they are too difficult to sharpen : )

*Ba dum chink*

I prefer pencils to pens for the following reasons.

- Erasability. Yes, pens claim to have it in theory, but in practice,
white-out is the only thing pens respect.

- Tactile sensation. Pens are too glidey, um, smooth... whatever.
Pencils on the other hand give a pleasant feel, not gritty-scratchy
like chalk, but not slippery like nasty pens are.

- Being an art enthusiast, pencils account for much, if not most
of my early creative endeavors. They have been used and respected
by some of the finest masters the world has ever produced. Maybe
a few degenerate artists did try pens from time to time, but they
always went back to pencils in the end.

- There is a wider array of pencil properties and types in which one
can be interested: charcoal, colored, 4B, 6B, 2H, mechanical...
resisting urge to go grab my art supply catalog. With pens you only
get color, and tip width. Pfft.

- The affinity toward pencils is cultivated from an earlier age. They
don't give pens to kids, as they will wind up with ink all over
themselves, their classmates, and everything else. You only begin
to use ugly ink pens at a later date, and some of us don't care much
for that transition at all. "Where is your loyalty!?"

- Pencils will never burst on you, ruining your clothing.

- Pencils will never unexpectedly run dry on you. Sure, they do wear
out, but at least they have the courtesy to give you a little warning.
Pens have no such courtesy.

- Go on, just try doing crossword puzzles in ink.

- Pencils don't need drying time. That is no problem for normal
humans, but you have to remember the birth-defected left-handers
in our populace. They have to write left-to-right, the same as we
normal people do. That means they drag their ugly, malformed,
unholy hands over every symbol they have just demon-scratched
onto their papers. The result looks like something a drunken
illiterate quickling drunk would have produced.

- If a paper gets wet, you better hope you used pencil.

- Pencils are environmentally friendly. Sure, they use wood, but
only a bit, and that is a renewable resource. Pens use a combination
of plastic (which means flourocarbons), uranium, DDT, and baby
seal livers.

The list goes on and on, and I'm tired of typing. Not to seem
unreasonable though, I will list the one and only justification
there will ever be for the existance of pens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy-j5XIYRcM&feature=fvst

yisk
05-29-2010, 07:17 PM
you ask this based on what?On the popular stereotype.
In American films pupils often write with pencils. In our schools, a pencil is used only for drawing.

gut
But your notebook will be dirty. No? Gray on gray.

Silfir
05-29-2010, 07:24 PM
I always do crosswords in ink - one I got a word wrong I clumsily strike through the letters and write the correct ones in a corner, miniature-sized. Granted, I also give up once I got the second word wrong, and then just invent words for whatever is left missing. I'm not a crosswords person.

EDIT: Elementary school kids in Germany write with quill pens - a truly retarded idea that has lead to countless of ruined books, clothes and children coming home covered all over in ink. Using pencils instead would be quite smart.

Travis Prue
05-30-2010, 04:05 AM
- Pencils don't need drying time. That is no problem for normal
humans, but you have to remember the birth-defected left-handers
in our populace. They have to write left-to-right, the same as we
normal people do. That means they drag their ugly, malformed,
unholy hands over every symbol they have just demon-scratched
onto their papers. The result looks like something a drunken
illiterate quickling drunk would have produced.

>_> remind me to destroy you

JellySlayer
05-30-2010, 05:23 AM
Pencils don't need drying time. That is no problem for normal
humans, but you have to remember the birth-defected left-handers
in our populace. They have to write left-to-right, the same as we
normal people do. That means they drag their ugly, malformed,
unholy hands over every symbol they have just demon-scratched
onto their papers. The result looks like something a drunken
illiterate quickling drunk would have produced.

Or you could just write right to left. That's my preference if I'm forced to use a pen that has ink that's likely to smear. Mirror image is easiest, but with practice and consistent writing, you can start at the end word of the line and just write the line the way out without reversing the letters or word order. Normally, I'd just use pencil though.

Albahan
05-30-2010, 06:59 AM
On the popular stereotype.
In American films pupils often write with pencils. In our schools, a pencil is used only for drawing.


Well in most schools in America we like to use bubble sheets when we take multiple choice tests and for those we use pencils so that we can erases mistakes and probably for the machine that reads the sheets. That's my best guess for why they are depicted that way. I personally prefer using pens because I like the way it looks better and i tend to press too hard so they break often.

gut
05-30-2010, 07:59 AM
> you could just write right to left. That's my preference

I had you pegged for a lefty from day 1.

Evil Knievel
05-30-2010, 08:34 AM
The statistical distribution of pencil and pen users surely matches the one of people that do math and those that don't.

BlkDucky
05-30-2010, 03:29 PM
- Pencils don't need drying time. That is no problem for normal
humans, but you have to remember the birth-defected left-handers
in our populace. They have to write left-to-right, the same as we
normal people do. That means they drag their ugly, malformed,
unholy hands over every symbol they have just demon-scratched
onto their papers. The result looks like something a drunken
illiterate quickling drunk would have produced.

Must... destroy. :mad:

Edit: But yeah. It is kinda hard to write with ink without smudging. :(

yisk
05-30-2010, 04:01 PM
Discrimination against left-handers is negligible in comparison with the discrimination against redheads. I've always been sorry for them.

Silfir
05-30-2010, 04:10 PM
The most miserable sons of bitches are the left-handed redheads :(

gut
05-30-2010, 07:25 PM
My attempt to flush out the lefties among us has been
successful. Let the purging begin.

Redheads we will keep, but only the gals.

Travis Prue
05-30-2010, 10:33 PM
Edit: But yeah. It is kinda hard to write with ink without smudging. :(
i never have that problem, i was taught how to write correctly

Also, gut is probably catholic.

gut
05-31-2010, 02:17 AM
I'm all for purging the catholics too. Then the methodists.
Then the vegetarians. Then the environmentalists. Then
the dog-haters. No wait, we should start with the dog-haters.

Travis Prue
05-31-2010, 02:28 AM
gut, you're no fun to counter-troll >_>

Silfir
05-31-2010, 09:49 AM
Jesus Christ I fucking hate dogs

vogonpoet
05-31-2010, 02:22 PM
The most miserable sons of bitches are the left-handed redheads :(

I resemble this comment :)

Grey
05-31-2010, 02:46 PM
It's no coincidence that the word 'sinister' comes from the Latin word for 'left-handed' (whilst on the opposite side 'righteous' has an obvious source). Lefties are evil and must be utterly eliminated.

However, first we need to deal with the vegans.

Dudley
05-31-2010, 03:35 PM
What about democrats? And shooter game players?

yisk
05-31-2010, 06:37 PM
zionists should be killed first.
they are shitting everywhere.

fazisi
05-31-2010, 07:00 PM
I think we should begin by eradicating forum posters... oh wait-

BlkDucky
06-01-2010, 12:32 AM
However, first we need to deal with the vegans.

They won't last long without proper nutrition. And yes, I am purposefully ignoring the rest of your post.

Theym
06-09-2010, 04:08 AM
Well in most schools in America we like to use bubble sheets when we take multiple choice tests and for those we use pencils so that we can erases mistakes and probably for the machine that reads the sheets. That's my best guess for why they are depicted that way. I personally prefer using pens because I like the way it looks better and i tend to press too hard so they break often.

At first I thought that you were refering to bubble wrap :/

meekrab
06-10-2010, 03:18 AM
I'm an American and I use pencil for math homework and notes. Other than that, I don't really handwrite anything other than greeting cards.

garyd
08-02-2010, 05:45 AM
When you write as much as I used to it is far eaiser to go back and make insertions and change things if you write in pencil. I prefer the smallest diameter of lead mechanical pencil you can buy. You can fit more words in less space that way and still be legible.

gut
08-02-2010, 09:05 AM
On a wierd side note, I once tried to see how small I could write.
I forget why, but I think I saw something in guiness book of world
records...

Turns out, after a bit of practice, I could write 10 lines in a single
line of a wide-rule notebook. I just used a regular pencil though,
one might do better with a mechanical one.

vogonpoet
08-02-2010, 01:24 PM
What an American can do with the lead of his pencil (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/7916457/Pencil-sculptures-miniature-masterpieces-carved-into-graphite-by-Dalton-Ghetti.html)

moomoo
08-02-2010, 03:44 PM
On a wierd side note, I once tried to see how small I could write.
I forget why, but I think I saw something in guiness book of world
records...

Turns out, after a bit of practice, I could write 10 lines in a single
line of a wide-rule notebook. I just used a regular pencil though,
one might do better with a mechanical one.

My old french teacher insisted on us writing our homework with miniscule letters. I recall writing like 1mm high letters. I think she was sick in the head ;)



What an American can do with the lead of his pencil (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/7916457/Pencil-sculptures-miniature-masterpieces-carved-into-graphite-by-Dalton-Ghetti.html)

Holy sh** that's awesome.

fazisi
08-02-2010, 11:58 PM
What an American can do with the lead of his pencil (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/7916457/Pencil-sculptures-miniature-masterpieces-carved-into-graphite-by-Dalton-Ghetti.html)

He's Brazilian.

moomoo
08-03-2010, 04:34 AM
He's Brazilian.

And Brazilia is in south america ;)

vogonpoet
08-03-2010, 07:18 AM
Yeah, I seem to remember meeting some Canadians who got shirty about that sort of thing. Kinda like Scots getting wound up sometimes when people use England instead of Britain, some dudes from across the Atlantic who do not hail from the States get shirty when "America" is used for the US only. Anyway, the pencil geezer lives in Connecticut, and is from Brazil, ergo American. I am from Scotland, and live in Serbia, I am European.

The point was, cool pencils, and you can't do that with a pen :)

fazisi
08-03-2010, 08:37 AM
"Why do Argentinians write with pencils?" doesn't make any fucking sense. I assumed we were talking about yankees when this thread started instead of trying to converge two entire continents under one label.

gut
08-03-2010, 09:35 AM
> I am from Scotland, and live in Serbia, I am European.

aaaaaAAHA!

I *knew* I was right about anyone anywhere near England being a European!
Now, if only Soirana would admit to being Russian...

vogonpoet
08-03-2010, 11:01 AM
"Why do Argentinians write with pencils?" doesn't make any fucking sense. I assumed we were talking about yankees when this thread started instead of trying to converge two entire continents under one label.

:) "Why do Americans write with pencils?" doesn't make any sense either. I was previously unaware of any sort of pencil-using stereotype for the citizens of the USA. I thought both pens and pencils were completely superseded by keyboards these days.


> aaaaaAAHA!
I *knew* I was right about anyone anywhere near England being a European!
Now, if only Soirana would admit to being Russian...

I am not sure I understand this post.

gut
08-03-2010, 11:38 AM
http://www.adom.de/forums/showthread.php?t=10562#20

vogonpoet
08-03-2010, 12:41 PM
I see.

So it makes sense given your vague definition of "a bit further east", and the misapprehension that russia is a continent.

Here be dragons :)

gut
08-03-2010, 12:57 PM
Actually, I didn't say Russia was a continent, but
that's only because I didn't think of it. Would have
been funnier to have listed all 7 continents in that
post: USA, Europe, Russia, Japan, China, India,
and the Middleeast.

fazisi
08-03-2010, 08:18 PM
Wut's a southern hemisfere?

vogonpoet
08-04-2010, 07:46 AM
Some sort of round shaped radial experimental engine prototyped in the the 70s by a NASCAR team?

/Puns on hemi seem to be in short supply in english

AshKot
04-27-2015, 08:42 PM
Why not pens?

I prefer pens over pencils, you can take notes by multiple colors.
like
red: it's going to be in exam and its important concept.
green: well its an exam answer but not that important.
black: it's not exam question neither it's important
blue: Duh, I know that stuff

_Ln_
04-28-2015, 12:54 AM
That is one hell of a necropost.

The thread is hilarious BTW.