... before writing - why?

Aside from old movies, I have personally never observed anyone lick the point of a pencil before writing. Furthermore, does anyone still write with a pencil?

I think it went back to early fountain pens. The tips would dry up and you could lick them to get the ink flowing. Habits carried over to pencils and ball points.

I find mechanical pencils to be quite handy.

Those fountain pens were the bane of us lefties. They needed to be pulled to leave a good even ink line. We had to twist our arms around to pull the pen instead of pushing it left to right. That also helped keep our hands out of the wet ink. The ball points were a Godsend for lefties.

Lead poisoning 😂

Chicks do that cause they want the delicious salty dandruff scabs stuck to it from while they had up in that beehive

Yes, back before pencils used graphite, lead was used, hence the term 'pencil lead.' Back then, people would lick the lead to make it mark/write darker than it would otherwise.

"...graphite in pencils at the time was of a lesser quality than today, and was often mixed with clay as a binder. This often made the graphite particles separate and not adhere to the paper. Licking the tip would moisten the graphite and soften it, making it leave a more readable mark.

I saw that often, when I was a kid, and pencils were wood pencils.
Not sure why those old-timers did that, but mechanical pencils are just too danged pointy to lick!
I, for one, still use a pencil some.
Seem to use the eraser more, though!

I could never do crosswords without a pencil and eraser. It's got to be a quality US made pencil though; the Chinese can put a man in space and build a nuclear bomb but they still can't make a pencil that's worth a schidt.

What was the relevant time frame for that remark?

You'd have a very hard time today finding a #2 writing pencil as good as a Koh I Noor 555 or Wallace Invader from the 1970s.

Handwriting is still a thing?

No it's not, they don't even teach cursive in schools anymore.

Damn write!

Hearty congratulations to this month's Supernerdbowl champ! Impressive trouncing handed down here, sports fans! MM, that's some hardcore NinjaNerd caliber stuff. You sir, look to be the man to beat. 70s era makes and models? lol Love it!

Crosswords only done in ink.

I was a pencil connoisseur in grade school.

Yes, it kind of showed in your previous response. What I now want to know is if you belonged to the NinjaNerd inner circle. I had a black girl attempt to bury a #2 pencil in my eye in '76. I stopped that pencil with my right palm. She drove the tip almost through the other side. The spot is still easily visible. For the win, tell me what I called Tiffany Jackson that sent her into a gondusumpin rage that day? Tic toc...

I certainly don't know.

Hmm. Should've known that one. BURN THE WARLOCK! E'S ADMITTED KNOWIN' THINGS NO MORTAL MAN COULD KNOW? BURN HIM!

I've always been afraid of commitment.

Graphite poisoning.

Never licked the point of a pencil...

We would just chew the lead paint off of them in classroom..

One benefit of COVID was that it finally got women to stop licking their fingers to open a produce bag.

Fugking gross.

I bought some Koh I Noor woodless pencils, solid pigment, a couple of months ago, black for me and colored for my artsy wife. Made in the Czech Republic. Also bought some of those waterproof field pads, though what I’m gonna write in them escapes me. Neat stuff though. I much prefer pencils to ink, except for checks!

Your new homepage - https://www.penciltalk.org

Or history or math or......

Because back in the day, sometimes we had nothing else to eat so we'd lick the pencil. It gave us strength for the five mile walk to school. Which was uphill, both ways.

Henry David Thoreau knew a thing about pencils.

John starts great threads.

It might give time to think.

Pen knives were carried to sharpen quill pens.

The old Eversharp Company, became the Sharp Electronics Company.

Pencils were painted yellow to make them look like they came from Japan back when Japanese products were all the rage.

And, Good Mornin' all!

I try to make time for a crossword puzzle a day, but have given up and started to use a mechanical pencil.

I’ve seen it.

I’ve also seen too many pigs who lick their finger to turn pages, then hand the whole mess to you.

I wouldn't - You never know where that pencil's been.

I buy a pack of 12 Dixon "Ticonderoga" 2 HB about once a year. I use a pencil about a dozen times a day. I started out as a draftsman about 60 years ago and about every type mechanical pencil on the the market then. Nothing beats a pencil in the wood shop

I use a pencil all the time unless I am writing a check or have nothing else. Also, the white erasers work much better than any other color.