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The wording of this article is very strange. All references to fountain pens happen in the past tense, as if they did not exist anymore. Millions of people st

The wording of this article is very strange. All references to fountain pens happen in the past tense, as if they did not exist anymore. Millions of people still use fountain pens every day. The author lives in a bubble of ballpoint users or what?

ta8645 6y ago
Don't most of us live in a bubble of ballpoint users? It is the most pervasive pen by a pretty wide margin.
- enriquto 6y ago
  I don't think so. I have lived, studied, and taught in three different European countries and everywhere, a sizeable proportion of students used fountain pens (a large majority in the case of France). For my part, I use mostly rollers and fountain pens, and I hate the high pressure needed to use ballpoints. EDIT: In any case, even if most people use only ballpoint pens, it seems very hard to live without ever crossing a fountain pen user (as seems to be the case for the author of this article).
  - umanwizard 6y ago
    This definitely varies by country. In the US, fountain pen use is common among people who have a particular interest in pens (e.g. collecting them), and almost zero among everyone else. I’d say they’re roughly comparable to mechanical keyboards in this respect. No one at any level of school is required to use fountain pens; typically, students use a mix of graphite pencils, ballpoint pens, and rollerballs. I would expect a large fraction of Americans, maybe even the majority, to be surprised to learn that fountain pens are still in common use anywhere in the world.
  - GrumpyYoungMan 6y ago
    I reside in the US and have met only one person over the past 25 years who used a fountain pen.
  - plorkyeran 6y ago
    I don't think I've ever seen someone use a fountain pen in person. In school most people used pencils almost exclusively, and the exceptions used ballpoint or gel pens.
  - flak48 6y ago
    Growing up in India it was pretty common to see others in school use fountain pens, although most (including me) used gel pens due to the impracticality and cost of fountain pens. Gel pens feel so much better than regular ball point pens and are still almost as cheap.
  - Sharlin 6y ago
    In Finland at least I have never seen anybody use a fountain pen in real life. I’m pretty sure almost nobody even knows how to use one. Not that schools make pupils use ballpoints either—it’s 100% pencils here.
  - msh 6y ago
    I am born in 1981 in denmark, I have never ever seen a fountain pen in use in my schooling or anywhere else in real life (maybe on TV or something). Its always been pencils or ballpoint (or more modern versions of that.)
watwut 6y ago
I most definitely do. Fountain pens are used by first graders and second graders. Everyone else is using ball point pen. People even draw with them.
dokem 6y ago
You, sir, live in the bubble.
Polylactic_acid 6y ago
I'm not exactly deep in the fountain pen community but it looks like to me that fountain pens are the pen version of mechanical keyboards or mechanical watches. The ordinary person doesn't own one and would likely see no benefit from one but a bunch of enthusiasts continue to keep them going.
- Symbiote 6y ago
  Not quite, as in some countries they are used almost universally by school children, although usually much less often by adults.
  - enriquto 6y ago
    Yep, I was surprised to learn in this thread that fountain pens are a rarity in countries such as the USA or Australia.
tvb12 6y ago
I didn't know fountain pens still existed until two years ago. I bought a Pilot Metropolitan and I've found it to be an improvement. However, I still have not seen another in the wild. Err, "an improvement" probably needs clarifying, though. It moves across paper much more smoothly than the ball point pens I've used, and I find reloading the ink to be enjoyable (I've also gone two years without the pen disappearing into the void, something which has never happened for me when using disposable pens). It does seem like fountain pens require heavier paper than ball-points, though. Maybe it's the ink I bought, but trying to write on the standard lined paper used in schools leads to a lot of smudges and bleeding ink. Standard weight printer paper is fine, unless it was left out on a few humid days.
sellyme 6y ago
I live in Australia, and I'm pretty certain I've never even seen a fountain pen. I would have definitely put them in the same "only used as movie props" bucket as quills were it not for your comment.

ta8645 6y ago

Don't most of us live in a bubble of ballpoint users? It is the most pervasive pen by a pretty wide margin.

enriquto 6y ago
I don't think so. I have lived, studied, and taught in three different European countries and everywhere, a sizeable proportion of students used fountain pens (a large majority in the case of France). For my part, I use mostly rollers and fountain pens, and I hate the high pressure needed to use ballpoints. EDIT: In any case, even if most people use only ballpoint pens, it seems very hard to live without ever crossing a fountain pen user (as seems to be the case for the author of this article).
- umanwizard 6y ago
  This definitely varies by country. In the US, fountain pen use is common among people who have a particular interest in pens (e.g. collecting them), and almost zero among everyone else. I’d say they’re roughly comparable to mechanical keyboards in this respect. No one at any level of school is required to use fountain pens; typically, students use a mix of graphite pencils, ballpoint pens, and rollerballs. I would expect a large fraction of Americans, maybe even the majority, to be surprised to learn that fountain pens are still in common use anywhere in the world.
- GrumpyYoungMan 6y ago
  I reside in the US and have met only one person over the past 25 years who used a fountain pen.
- plorkyeran 6y ago
  I don't think I've ever seen someone use a fountain pen in person. In school most people used pencils almost exclusively, and the exceptions used ballpoint or gel pens.
- flak48 6y ago
  Growing up in India it was pretty common to see others in school use fountain pens, although most (including me) used gel pens due to the impracticality and cost of fountain pens. Gel pens feel so much better than regular ball point pens and are still almost as cheap.
- Sharlin 6y ago
  In Finland at least I have never seen anybody use a fountain pen in real life. I’m pretty sure almost nobody even knows how to use one. Not that schools make pupils use ballpoints either—it’s 100% pencils here.
- msh 6y ago
  I am born in 1981 in denmark, I have never ever seen a fountain pen in use in my schooling or anywhere else in real life (maybe on TV or something). Its always been pencils or ballpoint (or more modern versions of that.)

watwut 6y ago

I most definitely do. Fountain pens are used by first graders and second graders. Everyone else is using ball point pen. People even draw with them.

dokem 6y ago

You, sir, live in the bubble.

Polylactic_acid 6y ago

I'm not exactly deep in the fountain pen community but it looks like to me that fountain pens are the pen version of mechanical keyboards or mechanical watches. The ordinary person doesn't own one and would likely see no benefit from one but a bunch of enthusiasts continue to keep them going.

Symbiote 6y ago
Not quite, as in some countries they are used almost universally by school children, although usually much less often by adults.
- enriquto 6y ago
  Yep, I was surprised to learn in this thread that fountain pens are a rarity in countries such as the USA or Australia.

tvb12 6y ago

I didn't know fountain pens still existed until two years ago. I bought a Pilot Metropolitan and I've found it to be an improvement. However, I still have not seen another in the wild. Err, "an improvement" probably needs clarifying, though. It moves across paper much more smoothly than the ball point pens I've used, and I find reloading the ink to be enjoyable (I've also gone two years without the pen disappearing into the void, something which has never happened for me when using disposable pens). It does seem like fountain pens require heavier paper than ball-points, though. Maybe it's the ink I bought, but trying to write on the standard lined paper used in schools leads to a lot of smudges and bleeding ink. Standard weight printer paper is fine, unless it was left out on a few humid days.

sellyme 6y ago

I live in Australia, and I'm pretty certain I've never even seen a fountain pen. I would have definitely put them in the same "only used as movie props" bucket as quills were it not for your comment.