My pen is from Dillons.

[fflo]

Just needed an "ink pen," as they used to call 'em on the Sho', despite the fact that in that part of the country "pen" and "pin" are already pronounced differently, so the qualifier's not really necessary. Reached into desk & pulled one out; it is from Dillons, which means it came from Kansas. I also have a pen here from the U. of Md. Hospital in Balto, and a mechanical pencil I'm pretty sure I bought in Chestertown in the early '80's.

A more complete trail could be reconstructed from the evidence of writing utensils in my home.

(If Dillons were on the Sho', it'd be called "Dillons's.")

Comments

Lightbulb over my head

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Oh, gee, now it makes sense! I had a co-worker from West Virginia who pronounced pin and pen the same, and I always thought "ink pen" was a silly and redundant thing to distinguish it from a pencil. It never hit me that in places where pen and pin were pronounced the same, that "ink pen" was a necessary and non-redundant expression to distinguish if rom a pin.

On more tiny piece of the cosmic puzzle falls into place.

Re: Lightbulb over my head

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Ironically, in Kansas (where I come from) the two are pronounced the same, and no attendant modifier is offered. It was all context.

"Our" and "hour" were pronounced the same as well, and neither rhymed with "are."

("Stick pin," btw, was the Eastern Shore version uber-clear version of "pin.")

Re: Lightbulb over my head

[groovesinorbit]

As opposed to Nebraska where "our" did indeed rhyme with "are". And then there's "caught" and "cot" rhyming, as well. But "pen" and "pin" didn't rhyme. Go figure.