I wince every time I read a message where someone referrs to the tip of a ballpoint pen as the "nib".
You wouldn't BELIEVE how many comments I am avoiding on this.
Of course, when I was in school, they were relatively new and referred to simply as "ballpoints".
It just seems strange to hear the word "nib" associated with a ballPOINT pen.
Seriously what should you call the metal cone shaped thing that we press into the tube of a wood or Acrylic pen where the writing end of the ballpoint or rollerball refill comes out?
As a pen collector for many years, the second you say "nib," I instinctively think and assume, fountain pen. I have never heard of the point of a ballpoint pen called a nib, in the pen trade, only here.
We have a strange and wonderful language. I am asking because I have never heard the word "nib" used for anything other than the writing tip of a fountain pen. It just seems strange to hear the word "nib" associated with a ballPOINT pen. I have never heard of a ballnib pen. With that dictionary definition a No2 lead pencil could also have a "nib". I have never heard of that either.