The Enid Blyton Society

Courtenay wrote:Or the tea thread.

Huh!

Julie2owlsdene wrote:

Rob Houghton wrote: Now we just need as many people to comment on the Journal thread or the Teachers World thread!!

I think a lot of the people who take the Journal don't visit the forums Rob, so therefore you won't get any feedback from these people.

As I said earlier, the best feedback for any product is the number of sales. When sales don't justify cost of production, then it's time to put up the shutters.

Rob Houghton wrote: I want to ask you all a bit of a silly question, for research purposes, as I'm not sure what to call - this -

I can't believe this question has run into 5 pages! I gave the correct answer on page 2, yet it still ran on for another 3 pages.

Sue Bell wrote:Always lid or later top, used the term since 1946! We had to have fountain pens at school in 1946 and they were always refered to as "your pen lid"..... never used cap. Lid is term I still use and most widely used too.

It may be so in your experience, but cap is the correct and official name for a lid/top/end/screwy-thingy........

It seems there may not be one "correct" answer, but if Enid used "cap" in the 1940s I think we should assume that it was the accepted term then.

I've no doubt that cap is correct for a fountain pen but what evidence do you have for the terminology of biros?

The Biro - or ballpoint pen, to give it its correct name) was invented by Laszlo Biro in 1938 - due to the RAF requiring pens that could be used at high altitudes as fountain pens tended to leak.

Such was the success of this product (as with Hoover, Google etc) the name stuck and became the general word for the product. It has always grated on me that ballpoint pens are often called 'Biros'. I remember customers asking me for a Sheaffer Biro refill - I did try to educate them if i was in the right (or wrong) mood!

I have quite a geekish knowledge of writing instruments, for as well as training staff, I went on to work for a pen manufacturer for six years and saw each stage of production carried out.

Daisy wrote:It seems there may not be one "correct" answer

I give up.

I call it a lid or a top. Incidentally, does anyone else chew on them while writing?

I don't, but I know some who do!

IceMaiden wrote:I call it a lid or a top. Incidentally, does anyone else chew on them while writing?

I do!

I used to, but not so much nowadays - then again, I don't write long enough with a pen to chew on it!

At school (Junior school) we used pencils until we were 11 and then if our writing was neat enough we were allowed to use ink pens. I used to chew my pencil a lot back then - to the extent that the end got soggy, the paint flaked off, and sometimes bits of wood ended up in my mouth! Those were the days - no health and safety back then!

Moonraker wrote: I can't believe this question has run into 5 pages! I gave the correct answer on page 2, yet it still ran on for another 3 pages.

I've now altered all mentions of it in my story to 'cap' as per your advice, Nigel - and backed up by what ENid wrote in Secret Room.

It is actually a propelling pencil that has a cap in this instance though - rather than a fountain pen.

I've always called them lids, but then what do I know - I call dustwrappers 'covers'

i think we discussed this somewhere before. I always call them dust-wrappers...but I know most people say 'jackets'

Rob Houghton wrote: I've now altered all mentions of it in my story to 'cap' as per your advice, Nigel - and backed up by what ENid wrote in Secret Room. It is actually a propelling pencil that has a cap in this instance though - rather than a fountain pen.

Good man! I don't think I have ever seen a propelling pencil with a separate cap. You usually turn it around at the top to release the 'lead'. Clutch pencils became quite popular, too. Pressing a button at the top released the 'lead', then it would hold firmly when you released the button.

Moonraker wrote: Clutch pencils became quite popular, too. Pressing a button at the top released the 'lead', then it would hold firmly when you released the button.

At least that was the theory!

Moonraker wrote:

Rob Houghton wrote: I've now altered all mentions of it in my story to 'cap' as per your advice, Nigel - and backed up by what ENid wrote in Secret Room. It is actually a propelling pencil that has a cap in this instance though - rather than a fountain pen.

Good man! I don't think I have ever seen a propelling pencil with a separate cap. You usually turn it around at the top to release the 'lead'. Clutch pencils became quite popular, too. Pressing a button at the top released the 'lead', then it would hold firmly when you released the button.

hmmm...yeah - people keep telling me they've never seen a propelling pencil with a cap. I have, and I actually own one, but as they are so unusual maybe I'll change it to a fountain pen!!