Whenever a new pen interests me, I end up picking up a pack of 3 or 4, typically with some number of black, blue, and red inks. The black and blue pens get used up, but the reds...linger. Between the miscellaneous drawer in the kitchen, my desk drawer, the "pencil" cup, etc, I've counted at least 2 dozen red pens of different makes and models. I've got a couple red Zebra 301's that are probably 25+ years old. They still write, but are not pleasant to use. I'll probably pitch them or put a less aged (non-red) refill in them. I've got some capped uni-ball rollerball pens that I used to mark pages of code back when we actually did code reviews on actual paper, but apparently I didn't use them up before we went "paperless". And a bunch of more recent models (Energel, g2, AIR, etc). Well, I've got myself a new journal. I'm going to start writing in it with only red pens and see if I can't burn through some of these things before I lose interest...and from now on, I'll stop buying packs of assorted colors. Anyone else have a problem with red pens that linger? --flatline
Yeah, red doesn't get used much in my life but I don't buy them in the first place really, I have a few of those 4 in one pens, typically blue & black run out first.
All my pens are (dark)green. Hard to find but when I did find them I bought a number of them so I'm good for years. It's really easy to tell if I've written something or left a note, as it's in dark green and you don't typically find that color out and about. Back when I worked retail i would use purple to mark checks and what not. That way if my boss ever claimed I did something wrong I could check. No purple ink, Wasn't me. but yeah, now that I've found the dark green ones I use those. I've probably got 2 or 3 dozen spares bought and in my desk.When I get down to 4 or 5 left I'll do another mass buy.
For almost a decade, the only pen I used was my space pen. I kept purple refills in it. The people at work were so used to seeing all my notes in purple that they actually asked about it when I showed up with a new space pen with blue ink. My wife had lost my original space pen and while shopping for a replacement, I discovered that the fine blue refill writes much nicer than the medium purple. At this point, however, I've given up on having a personal ink color. Most of my writing is with pencil now anyways. --flatline
Flatline, Many red inks will fade when exposed to light. They might not be a good choice for journals.
I support every way to go minimal. Using what you can (if you can). I use blue pens for formal papers, but prefer black ones for daily writing... Only pens that linger are the ones that somebody else bought me and now it's hard to find them the right purpose.
I purchase pens and pencils faster than I use them up. It's a weakness. I keep telling myself that eventually the wife or kids will adopt and use (and lose) the pens I don't get to myself, but that's probably not realistic. --flatline
I've written in black for years, since I left school in the mid '80's. I was bought a Pilot Capless last year for Christmas that came with a blue Pilot refil. It was such a nice colour I bought more. Now I alternate a black cartridge then a blue one. For a brief period it writes blue black which I actually like the most but I bought cartridges in bulk by accident (thought I was buying 12 cartridges of each 12 boxes of each arrived!) so I'll use them up. I think i've mentioned it before in the Royal Navy the Captain of a warship writes in red and an Admiral writes in Green. I've been reading a lot about spies at the minute and the chief of MI6 writes in green too.
I've had a bit of a problem hoarding pens my entire adult life. I love to try new pens, so most of mine are freebies, some of which write very nicely. The issue is I can't seem to purge them at all. I have a fear of running out of pens because I threw them all away. So the end result is a drawer full of pens that never get used because they don't write *just* right.
Really the only time that I've bought ballpoint or rollerball pens in funky colors are when I bought a mixed pack of Bic Extra Bold Cristals. That was because it seems that they only come in multicolor packs and I wanted to try the 1.6mm cristal, since I'm rather fond of the 1.0mm version. Red pens do get used for me because I enjoy proofreading, whether it be my own work or someone else's, and I always proof in red, whether it's pen (ballpoint or fountain) or pencil. However, blue and black do get used much more often. I'm rather fond of the Extra Bold purple as well.
This year we were asked to send 2 red pens to school so I bought a multi-colored package of Bic Cristals that happened to have 2 red pens in it. The whole bag was the same price as the 2-pack of red pens that were next to it on the shelf in the store. I'm not a fan of the Cristals, but they are totally functional pens. My little girl has been drawing with the because she likes all the colors. Oddly enough, I don't resent all the other colors. I think all the years of school where red ink was off limits on assignments since that's the color that the teachers graded in must have left their mark on my psyche. --flatline
Have you tried Bic Round Stic ? I accidentally bought one and it is actually very soft for writing. Some of my family asked to get them the same ones, but the local store where I bought mine sold out everything they had.
I brought about a dozen red pens into my classroom for students to use for note taking. I'm a teacher and I rarely use a red pen for anything.
The Bic Stic is the iconic pen from my childhood. They were my most used pen up through high school simply because they were everywhere. I'd find them in the halls and by the end of the school year, I'd have a couple dozen floating around the bottom of my backpack and locker. As soon as the ink got low enough that I could cut the refill down safely, I'd make two-sided Bic Stics with different colors (I distinctly remember using pink and blue for the pen I used in debate class). So anyways, it's been a while, although if my recent experience with the Bic Cristal is any indication, they probably write much nicer than they did when I was a kid. --flatline
Interesting last sentence. I was brought up to believe that writing in red - for anyone else to see - is rude. I have no idea why - I've never asked my parents - but this may be an explanation. Of course, teachers over here are no longer allowed to use red ink because it damages the kids' self esteem, or some such nonsense. So a green cross is nicer than a red tick? Maybe the kids'd have fewer problems if they got things right, but that's too diffcult a concept for the idiots who run things.
Hmm...red is rude...I don't recall ever being told that, but perhaps I picked that up somewhere. I'm several pages into my "red" journal. It's been strangely satisfying except that some of the red pens I collected from around the house are so old that they really don't write all that well. Apparently G2's don't age well. --flatline
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the "red is rude" is related to when teachers grade papers, many would use red, so it stands out from the pencil or blue or black inks. So "red marks" on a paper are attributed to negative things. In some this association is deeply ingrained and carries on past school. As adults we don't really like to think that we're being 'graded' or 'schooled' as adults so it rackles that much more. I'm almost 40 and I can still remember getting a paper back with red marks all over it and being embarrassed. (Which of course is part of the point). So I'm betting that's where it comes from.
