AMERICANS! Please help...

Great! Thanks Ioa.

unless I’m living in s parallel universe (I mean one that’s more parallel than the one I’m in most of the time) the average erstwhile RED LION intellectual, would have no trouble in identifying a Bic pen. It wouldn’t surprise me if most Brits used the expression Bic, as a generic term for biro just as much as ‘biro’, just as we say Hoover the carpet no matter which vacuum cleaner we’re using.
Vic

The character is looking at some writing on a page rather than looking at a pen.

I’d be surprised if someone would look at writing and say it was “written in/with a Bic”, instead of “written in biro / with a ballpoint”, at least based on the areas of England I’ve lived in.

Biro is actually a trademark of the Bic company.

Agreed. Ballpoint is the best American-recognizable word for a pen. Also, if you’re examining the paper only, then calling it the result of a Bic (specific brand vs. generic “ballpoint pen”) would throw me, unless the examiner is Sherlock-like in his pen-identification.

Obviously, if you’re describing the writing on the a piece of paper, then it’s ballpoint or ink. Personally, I’d say biro, more often than i’d say ballpoint. If it was ink, I’d say written in ink, or with a fountain pen. That’s based on the assumption it wasn’t written with nib pen and ink from an inkwell.

Of course, none of the above is a bad as writing, “It was obviously written with a fine nibbed Hoover, Dr. Watson.”

WATSON: “What does it tell you, Holmes?”

HOLMES: “It’s in the ink shade, dear Watson. The BIC corporation has only produced four shades of ink for its trademarked Biro pens since its inception, and the blue in particular is very distinctive to the trained eye. From the increased colour density around the top of the oval letters and the uneven coverage through the longer tail strokes - note in particular here on the long ‘g’ and the exaggerated ‘y’ - this looks to be one of the older Biros, before they changed the ink composition to reduce clumping. I’d say the writer of this note has owned this pen since before 1995.”

WATSON: “No, I mean 'What does it say?’ I don’t have my reading glasses.”

HOLMES: “Oh. Sorry, old boy. Err… ‘Nipped out to do some shopping, we’re out of yummy Hob Nobs.’”

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YUMMY HOB NOBS!!! YUMMY Hob… :open_mouth:
More like Nobly Con Doms

And why is that? Because the “ballpoint pen” was invented by a Hungarian by the name of “Biró” in the early 1930s. He patented his invention in 1938, and sold the patent to Marcel Bich, the owner of the Bic company in 1945.

X

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Here is some house paints I know:

Glidden
Dutch Boy
Behr
Pittspurg
Sherwin-Williams
Benjamin Moore
YOLO

Yeah, but I grew up watching Doctor Who, reading those Target novelisations (hah) and learned a bunch of UK spellings specifically to piss off my fifth grade teacher. :smiley:

AMERICANS! I need your help again!
AUSTRALIANS AND THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND! Your views are also valid!
CANADIANS! Don’t worry your toothless heads. Stick to your Tim Hortons!

Is the word “rawlplug” generally understood over in your part of the world (I know it’s not the default term in the US at least, but wondered if it’d be understood)?

If it’s not immediately known, would you get the meaning from the context? For example:

“Try to back now and I’ll screw you to the wall, and use him as a rawlplug.”


[i]Only kidding, Canadians![/i]

Never heard of a rawlplug, though I can count among my friends a fairly rough set of recreational intimidators.

I have a valid view? :unamused:

Absolutely no idea what a rawlplug might be. Sounds like a splicing tool (although that would be a fid) or some type of corkscrew. It also sounds painful. :open_mouth:

Anchors or RamPlugs in Oz:

bunnings.com.au/search/produ … c0c7dea779

bunnings.com.au/search/produ … ctFrom=Any

No. You are delusional. Doctor, heal thyself.

No. You are delusional. … … Piggy heal thyself … doesn’t work. CRAP

Only two obscure places I’ve heard this use:

  1. Use of uncured/solidified material for stoping leaks. Commonly in boating circles for in water repair.
  2. Small scale tobacco houses referring to uncured/unprocessed leaf to be used for chew tobacco plugs.

Yes yes. I said it was obscure. Don’t try to figure out the how or the why I have heard it used in these manners. Just be glad that I don’t tell you everything about my life.

Ok, so it seems the word wouldn’t be obvious even in context to non-Brits. Although it sounds like you all appreciate that it’s meant to imply a certain degree of menace and unpleasantness.

Thanks!

Would wadding or packing work?

Try to back (out?) now and I’ll screw you to the wall, using him as wadding.

Try to back now and I’ll screw you to the wall, using him as packing.

Try to back out now and I’ll nail you to the wall, and I’ll use him as the nail.

Rawlplug… A funny word with a rather boring background: a British trademark, a plug for concrete walls introduced by Rawlings in the early 20th century.

We call them … ‘concrete plugs’. Not funny at all. :frowning:

(if written v-rawl plug it would sound roughly like ‘screamin’ plug’ in Swedish, much funnier!) :smiley:

Re: AMERICANS! Please help…

I
theguardian.com/society/2015 … womens-day