On 2018-07-11 6:37 AM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> On Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at 4:59:41 PM UTC-4, Sheldon wrote:
>> On Mon, 9 Jul 2018 22:49:29 -0400, Dave Smith
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> On 2018-07-09 6:29 PM, wrote:
>>>> On Mon, 9 Jul 2018 09:48:19 -0700 (PDT), Cindy Hamilton
>>>>
>>>> I grew up with paper straws and wooden ice cream spoons, never saw
>>>> plastic til the 6o's. I never saw plastic ball point pens until the
>>>> late 50s
>>>
>>> Ball point pens were slow off the start and were very expensive in the
>>> 1950s. When I was in elementary school we had to learn to write with
>>> stick pens. Once we demonstrated mastery of that we could use fountain
>>> pens, and we used them right through high school. By the time I got to
>>> university Bic pens were cheap.
>>
>> Just the opposite in the US, we learned to write long hand with
>> fountain pens.
>
> Things must have changed in the generation between you and me. I learned
> to write cursive with a pencil.
I was referring only to the use of pens and I think I may have used the
wrong term, calling them stick pens when they are actually dip pens.
IIRC we learned to write with pencils first and then progressed to pens.
We had to learn to write with a dip pen first. That meant having to
dip the tip into an ink pot every few words and to blot it dry so the
ink didn't run and smear.
After we learned how to use dip pens we could use fountain pens. They
were typically loaded from the ink pot in the desk. Cartridges soon
became available, and in different colours. Peacock blue was always
popular with students but not with teachers.