Leporino:
For at least 4 - 5 years they have to go on writing with the fountain pen. In the upper classes they're allowed to write with ballpoints.

Same thing in Austria - and I'm never going to understand why some of my classmates still use fountain pens ... I was really extremely glad when I was finally allowed to use ballpoint pens.

In American classes they usually don't care what you write with as long as the work is done

I love that word "Kugelschrieber".

I feel that "globskribilo" would be a more suitable word than "globkrajono" in Esperanto, but I guess the ship has already sailed on that one.

I first wrote with a fountain pen as part of a calligraphy set that I was given as a child. I didn't realize until I was older that you could also get fountain pens with "regular writing" points, not just calligraphy. This is how rare fountain pens are in the US. When I wanted to buy a fountain pen with a regular writing point, I had to check many shops to find one, and then, I had to pass up several because they were disposable (I wanted one that was refillable).

Almost the entirety of the US school system is based on writing with a pencil, not a pen. I seldom used pens at all until high school.

I prefer fountain pens and now I write with them frequently but they can be messy if you fly somewhere, so I have to be careful with that. In the university, if someone asked to borrow my pen, they usually gave it back as soon as I gave it to them. They were not able even to write with a fountain pen; they weren't aware of the necessary angle between the fountain pen and the paper, so they found it difficult to make a mark.

Yes, globskribilo is nicer. When I hear krajono, I allways have to think of crayons in 100 colors for little children.

I also like writing with plumo. The script looks prettier. You can even buy plumoj for lefthanded people (I am one of them) and with a different width of the "feather".

Erinja, maybe you schould come to Germany and buy some! Take a look by Ebay!

I can't believe some of you HAD to use fountain pens in school! Here that'd probably be an OHS problem because the ink might run everywhere and someone might slip on it and accidentally stab someone with the sharp point of the fountain pen

And I can't believe some of you haven't heard of "biro" before - it's funny how we speak the same language but we all have words or practices we take for granted as being a common part of life without realising it's not a pan-Englishy thing

American television is exported to the entire English-speaking world so it is easy for you to learn our expressions. Australian television is practically non-existent here, and British television is only imported in very limited quantities, and only to a very few channels that don't have a large viewership. Therefore it would be hard for most Americans to get very much exposure to other ways of speaking English.

I have a lot of family in the UK, I read UK news sources daily, and I watch a lot of UK television. But sometimes even now, things catch me by surprise, especially when it comes to British media explaining the US to the Brits. The things that require explanation can be a little baffling.

I recently read an article in a British newspaper that explained what a closet is, and how the idea of having a closet came to the US with the Pilgrims, and that Americans still use closets in their houses to this day, to store their valuables. An example was given of a character in Sex and the City storing her shoes in her closet because this represents what's important to her [me: Huh?!?! No, it's because closets are mainly used for clothing!]. It seemed like a lot of explanation to me, but I guess some Brits must be unfamiliar with modern use of closets, or it wouldn't have been in there?

Another British article recently explained that Easter eggs don't have to be chocolate, that you can actually color your own real eggs as people did in the past, and that some people in America still do this. To an American this is the most obvious statement ever. Of COURSE people color real eggs for Easter, an American would say. "Everyone colors eggs for Easter!", an American might say. Hence huge shelves full of dye packets and other egg-decorating supplies in the shops at Easter. But I guess we don't really have much of a chocolate egg tradition here (more of a chocolate bunny, but real egg, tradition)

Sometimes I think that our national cultures, customs, and food in the Anglosphere differ more than we think they do, not to mention language.

I've certainly never heard the word "biro" used in conversation, although I've seen it written (Can't remember where, though).

I agree that in the US these days, the default meaning of "pen" is ballpoint. A fountain pen is something a bit exotic and old-timey, rather like having buttons instead of a zipper on men's trousers. You can buy a ballpoint pen in any convenience store, or dollar store. To buy a fountain pen, you'd have better luck in a more specialized kind of shop.

T0dd:...old-timey, rather like having buttons instead of a zipper on men's trousers.

I've got buttons on my trousers, perfectly normal in Europe! And if I didn't have buttons, then it would be a zip, rather than a 'zipper'!

When I hear 'zipper', I think of that brand of lighters.

erinja:I recently read an article in a British newspaper that explained what a closet is, and how the idea of having a closet came to the US with the Pilgrims, and that Americans still use closets in their houses to this day, to store their valuables. An example was given of a character in Sex and the City storing her shoes in her closet because this represents what's important to her [me: Huh?!?! No, it's because closets are mainly used for clothing!]. It seemed like a lot of explanation to me, but I guess some Brits must be unfamiliar with modern use of closets, or it wouldn't have been in there?

The word 'closet' is definitely a bit mystifying for Brits. We normally put our clothes in a wardrobe, you know an item of furniture standing in the bedroom. But over in America, seems you open the door of the closet and the delve deep into a whole separate room!

Must be due to the fact that America's a huge country and so houses are often much bigger than in Britain. Most people simply couldn't afford the space to have a room-style closet.

Although, my Webster's dictionary says a closet can also be a 'cupboard' (I suppose this means an American would also refer to our wardrobes as closets?)

In the US you can occasionally find buttons on blue jeans. But not on other kinds of pants (and when I say pants, of course I mean trousers, being American). And the "button fly" seems to be found on only mens' jeans, not women's.