Pen
This article is about the writing implement. A pen is also the term used for the much-reduced and entirely internal shell of some cephalopod mollusks, especially squid. Pen is also used to describe an enclosed location; for example, a pigpen. It is also short for penitentiary.
A pen is a writing instrument which applies ink to some surface.
- Originally the word meant quill, and is derived from pinna (Latin for feather. This is because early pens were made from goose feathers by carving the feather with a penknife).
Pens may also be known, although not very commonly, as frindles. This word was invented by the author Andrew Clements in his novel Frindle, the premise of which is that a schoolboy decides to call pens "frindles" and the usage becomes common throughout America.
According to urban legend, NASA spent millions of dollars during the 1960s to develop a space pen, which could work in the absence of gravity and air pressure, and in extreme temperatures (The usual, comedic punch-line is "The Soviets used a $0.50 pencil"). In truth, the pen was developed long before the space program, by folks that wanted a pen that would write upside down. Prior to its discovery by NASA, American space missions did rely on lead pencils.
Things that could be mentioned here
- invention of the cartridge pen
- invention of the biro
- contrast with brush