• spacesatan@leminal.spaceEnglish
    2410·
    7 hours ago

    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.

    • Daerun@lemmy.world
      25·
      5 hours ago

      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.

    • fakeman_pretendname
      16·
      5 hours ago

      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.

        • fakeman_pretendname
          4·
          3 hours ago

          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.

        • irelephant 🍭@lemm.ee
          4·
          3 hours ago

          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.

    • AWTM_James@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      7 hours ago

      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…

  • juliebean@lemm.ee
    57·
    10 hours ago

    honestly, kinda refreshing to see a business not changing their shit constantly just to change shit. it’s not the nicest pen, but it works.

      • ArchRecord@lemm.eeEnglish
        45·
        13 hours ago

        Yes. From the BIC website:

        Why is there a hole in the cap of BIC® Cristal® Pens?

        Our vented caps comply with international safety standards ISO11540. These standards attempt to minimize the risk to children from accidental inhalation of pen caps. Traditionally the pen cap served only to protect the pen point. These vented caps allow more air to circulate around the pen point when the pen is capped. This further adds to the quality and overall performance of the pen.

        • Zwiebel@feddit.orgEnglish
          2·
          5 hours ago

          So they dry up more quickly now? How is that supposed to add to the ‘performance’

          • addieEnglish
            5·
            5 hours ago

            As soon as the ball at the end rotates, you’ll get fresh ink again - the amount that dries at the very tip is miniscule. This change dries up the slight detritus that builds up around the tip, too - we used to wipe that off onto your other hand if it was the first bit of writing you were doing that day. But damn, that was a few years ago.

  • don@lemm.ee
    261·
    12 hours ago

    (Looks at the anatomically modern human) Bruh this shits been the same for the past 300,000 years. When we updating this bitch? New colorways, maybe?

  • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
    57·
    14 hours ago

    The guy on the line wants to stop the money printer? No, no no… you don’t change the top selling pen of the century. We can introduce a lighter though. Guess we’re doing fire now.