Ah, the extremely shitty pen that scratches so bad you might as well carve your message into the paper. Lasts maybe 3 lines before it starts skipping but who cares. It exists to be as cheap as possible so your customer you don’t respect can pocket it after initialing twice and signing something.
I hate bad cheap pens so much. I never would have gotten into fountain pens if there wasn’t the counter example of how bad a writing experience can get.
For filling in circles? Yeah, they’re fine. The circular movement tends to keep the ball moving and picking up new ink.
For writing? Hot garbage. When I switched to nicer pens (fountain pens and OHTO graphic liners), I had to unlearn pressing down so hard and cramping up my hand. A good pen can glide across the surface with little effort, and you don’t feel like you need to stretch your fingers and wrist afterward.
Fountain pens are the best. I got a Hero 616 off AliExpress for $0.36 on sale one time, and even that is better than a BIC. And my gold nib pens make BICs feel like I’m chiseling cuniform into stone tablets.
As a child I was labeled a bad writer because my writing was so sloppy it made a doctor’s prescription look like typed text. I’d always choose a pencil over a pen. Then in college a friend let me use their nice pen and I could write so much better. Turns out I was just always using the cheapest pens possible, and that sometimes quality does come at a cost worth paying.
I had a similar experience. And my hand always cramped up because I was putting a death grip on those cheap, skinny pens. Now, my wife has me fill out all the cards and gift tags at the holidays because I have “nice, fancy handwriting.” What a difference comfort, control, and fluidity make. I really enjoy slightly fatter pens, like a vintage Sheaffer’s oversized. Or a Platinum 3776. Not as big as a Montblanc 149, or a Wing Sung 630. Just a little on the chubby side. Way less cramping.
Smudging inks mean they tend not to dry as fast. The downside of less-smudgy inks is that they dry out faster in the pen, gunk it up, and make ballpoints useless.
In English, “biro” is the generic name for what is known elsewhere as a “ball-point” or “ball pen”. There may of course still be a “Biro” company somewhere, separate to that.
[Edit] I mean English as in “language spoken in England” - I’m sure some of the other “Englishes” use a different word.
This is why I got into fountain pens too! These days I find myself using a good rollerball or mechanical pencil for day to day, since they’re a little more practical, but man oh man I do love a fountain pen…
Ah, the extremely shitty pen that scratches so bad you might as well carve your message into the paper. Lasts maybe 3 lines before it starts skipping but who cares. It exists to be as cheap as possible so your customer you don’t respect can pocket it after initialing twice and signing something.
I hate bad cheap pens so much. I never would have gotten into fountain pens if there wasn’t the counter example of how bad a writing experience can get.
American bics may be made in a different way because here in Spain they are so reliable they are a de facto standard for people taking an exam.
For filling in circles? Yeah, they’re fine. The circular movement tends to keep the ball moving and picking up new ink.
For writing? Hot garbage. When I switched to nicer pens (fountain pens and OHTO graphic liners), I had to unlearn pressing down so hard and cramping up my hand. A good pen can glide across the surface with little effort, and you don’t feel like you need to stretch your fingers and wrist afterward.
1-School and college exams in Europe are most usually in “write everything you know” mode.
2-You are clearly talking about some non-bic branded pens.
Yeah, no. People who like pens don’t touch Bic.
Fountain pens are the best. I got a Hero 616 off AliExpress for $0.36 on sale one time, and even that is better than a BIC. And my gold nib pens make BICs feel like I’m chiseling cuniform into stone tablets.
As a child I was labeled a bad writer because my writing was so sloppy it made a doctor’s prescription look like typed text. I’d always choose a pencil over a pen. Then in college a friend let me use their nice pen and I could write so much better. Turns out I was just always using the cheapest pens possible, and that sometimes quality does come at a cost worth paying.
I had a similar experience. And my hand always cramped up because I was putting a death grip on those cheap, skinny pens. Now, my wife has me fill out all the cards and gift tags at the holidays because I have “nice, fancy handwriting.” What a difference comfort, control, and fluidity make. I really enjoy slightly fatter pens, like a vintage Sheaffer’s oversized. Or a Platinum 3776. Not as big as a Montblanc 149, or a Wing Sung 630. Just a little on the chubby side. Way less cramping.
Same in Brazil. The closest competitor, Compactor, will either smudge everything or fail twice as much as Bics.
Smudging inks mean they tend not to dry as fast. The downside of less-smudgy inks is that they dry out faster in the pen, gunk it up, and make ballpoints useless.
I think actual Bic-from-the-Bic-Company biros tend to be pretty good (especially the orange ones with black lids).
For a truly scratchy experience, you need a cheap, unbranded biro.
Biro is a brand
Its like googling something, i use the term even when i’m not on google. Biro is used as a generic term for pens a lot of the time.
In English, “biro” is the generic name for what is known elsewhere as a “ball-point” or “ball pen”. There may of course still be a “Biro” company somewhere, separate to that.
[Edit] I mean English as in “language spoken in England” - I’m sure some of the other “Englishes” use a different word.
This is why I got into fountain pens too! These days I find myself using a good rollerball or mechanical pencil for day to day, since they’re a little more practical, but man oh man I do love a fountain pen…
It’s extra nice when you have to sign something and pull it out. Did it at the dentist and it’s almost always a conversation starter.