ink-pen

[Michael McKernan]

Bethany K. Dumas wrote:

>The first time I heard someone say "ink pen" was here in Knoxville,
>shortly after I came to UT (Fall 1974). The moment was memorable, for I
>was in Glocker, which housed the computer center - back in the days when
>if one wanted to use a computer one went to a computer center or a special
>laboratory. I asked for something at the <service desk> and was told that
>I would have to sign for it - then told that there was an "ink pen" I
>could use.

After some thought, I've realized that my own familiarity with the term
'ink pen' comes from my early elementary school education in a Catholic
parochial school (1957-62), where the nuns required us to write most
assignments using what we commonly called an 'ink pen' (rather than
ballpoint).  We had two alternatives:  the (then) old-fashioned 'fountain
pen,' which had a mechanism for taking up ink refills from an ink bottle;
or the new-fangled (and more popular with us) 'catridge pen', which was
refilled by using small, plastic, ink cartridges.  (Both of these qualified
as 'ink pens', while the forbidden 'ballpoint' pen did not, even though we
might argue that it also contained ink.)  The nuns never felt a need to
explain God's abhorrence of ballpoints, to my knowledge.  (We were
allowed--perhaps required, I can't remember--to use pencil for mathmatics
and perhaps some other writing activities). I doubt that this
strictly-enforced code was specific to that particular school (in
Washington, D.C.), but rather, expect that nuns everywhere (or at least the
Sisters of St. Joseph) required it.  If it proves otherwise, my belief
system will need yet another adjustment...

I could go on to discuss how only certain colors of ink were acceptable,
while others, such as the 'peacock blue' which we much prefered, were
forbidden shortly after their introduction, but that's another story.

Michael McKernan, Ph.D.