Emoticons-Marv is correct.

[sshire]

Jo's Le Grand is a lovely example of a Mont Blanc before they became so mainstream that even my UPS guy has one (albeit a Mont Blanc rollerball.)

Apparently, schools no longer teach cursive writing (or don't place any emphasis on it.) Texting doesn't require it.

Robert is correct. I have a few of my grandfather's drawings from Baldwin Locomotive. Beautiful.

[mklotz]

Apparently, schools no longer teach cursive writing (or don't place any emphasis on it.) Texting doesn't require it.

When I was a kid they taught Latin and Greek in high school.  Now they teach remedial English in college.

[John S]

Sadly, they all lack the most important emoticon of all - the "No Emoticons" emoticon.

Ya big girls blouse..............................


xxxxxx

[John S]

Mont Blanc pen, Crane paper, a reasonable command of ones language. Perfect together.

And what is wrong with using a Le Grand to help with Casting fondling 

Jo

OK if it was a four stroke, but a two stroke ? where is your sense of taste Blah.   

[Jo]

Mont Blanc pen, Crane paper, a reasonable command of ones language. Perfect together.

And what is wrong with using a Le Grand to help with Casting fondling 

Jo

OK if it was a four stroke, but a two stroke ? where is your sense of taste Blah.   

Or even a Diesel 

Jo

[John S]

Mont Blanc pen, Crane paper, a reasonable command of ones language. Perfect together.

And what is wrong with using a Le Grand to help with Casting fondling 

Jo

OK if it was a four stroke, but a two stroke ? where is your sense of taste Blah.   

Or even a Diesel 

Jo

Blah, still two stroke

[gerritv]

Writing is a use-it-of-lose-it skill.

Very true, and writing with a pen involves drawing, acquiring a sense of harmony and balance, there is an element of dance when we write, a melody in the message, which adds emotion to the text on the page. Emoticons were invented, to restore a little emotion to that cold text captured by the machine.

Jo

I just reloaded for the umpteenth time a cartridge for my Parker pen. In use since mid 60's, which is when I bought it because writing with a ballpoint pen was hard work. I still prefer this for making notes etc, even smiley faces.

[mklotz]

Ballpoint pens are best suited for embossing on light sheet metal.  If conditions demand you use one, get a Fisher Space Pen.  Hype aside, the pressurized cartridge means they never skip.  Oh, and they write underwater if you're wont to take notes in the bath.  I like that they're insensitive to gravity and air pressure.

I've been a Shaeffer fan most of my life.  Used one all through high school; received another at graduation which I used all through college.  I still have two on the rack on my desk.

While in Germany I discovered the beauty of Lamy and Mont Blanc as well as another of my favorites, the Pelikan. 

Gel pens are more convenient and don't require Popeye ballpoint arms for long writing sessions but there's just nothing to beat the silky float of a good fountain pen laying down ink.

[Flyboy Jim]

OK I'll bite. I just added a "Fisher Space Pen - Men's Cap-O-Matic Space Pen" to my latest Amazon order.

Jim

[Art K]

Hi Y'all
I have to admit missing this post. I tend not to use emoticons, mainly due to not being able to decide which one fits and a nasty tendency to be to literal (and not able to decide which one fits). I must admit to not having the problem of different emoticons showing up on my other devices  as my cell is a Motorola flipp phone that I can drop from 50 feet. My laptop is an Asus G75v witch I've gone to pains to make sure Microsoft doesn't give me something I don't want (windows 10).
Cletus, I love the reference

with the required 27 8x10 fully color glossy portraits , with circles and arrows , and a paragraph on the back

Maybe it should scare me that I hear that song every Thanksgiving, all 43 minutes, and he could go for another 43. Stan I don't think this,

in an effort to increase my command of English, English, I've binge-watched Inspectors Morse and Lewis

has helped my command of my English yet I find myself watching them. Now since It's well past my bed time I'm out of here. Where's the rushing off to bed emoticon when you want it?
Art

[Brendon M]

I noticed when I first joined this forum that it has a lot of emoticons. I even noted this in my very first post.

I find that and  tend to be enough (especially the latter since I am now learning how to operate a lathe), though I also like  if only because it is amusing.

My oddball interpretation of the emoticon is that it serves to compress what could be several words, or even a whole sentence describing your current state of emotion into a single small image. Much like how a text compression algorithm represents recurring blocks of characters as a symbol.

Emoticons are literally WinZip* for the English language (note: I would insert a : P here to denote that I am not being serious, but this board's image looks weird)

*or PKZip for MS-DOS users