Pen Turning as a Discourse Community

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Flintski22

Flintski22

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Hello! It's been a minute since I have posted on here. I'm working on a project for a college English Class and we're writing an essay about discourse communities. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the idea of a discourse community, a discourse community can be summed up as a group that uses unique language, values, ideas, and conventions to communicate. The language used within a discourse community often isn't comprehended by people who aren't members of the discourse community.

For this assignment I have to write about a discourse community I am in so I've chosen to write about Pen Turners as a discourse community. In my Essay I'm arguing that we use language that people who don't turn pens don't understand. I'm supposed to get direct quotes from my discourse community to use in my Essay, and I would love to have this thread become a discussion discussing how Pen Turners use language uniquely and how we use vocabulary that others wouldn't understand. If you all are okay with it, I would love to quote some of you in my paper.

Looking forward to hearing all of your ideas!
Thanks,
Flint
 
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Wish you luck with the idea. I just not sure I get the gist of this though. You can say that same thing about any career, job, sport, hobby, and so forth. Terms, phrases, and thoughts that are related to those things are not used by all. This is not uncommon. Each day more and more catagories get added to the list especially with new technology such as AI, Alternative Energy, and just everyday interactions such as what is happening in the wars around the world and the situation with ICE, the medical field keeps expanding and so forth. But to take your idea back to the subject matter, you will get a list of names and tools used, as well as finishing techniques used and products used. You will get different types of pens being made and along with that comes techniques that people have no idea what they are. Casting takes you down an entire pathway with same components that pertain to that type of pen making. Segmenting, kitless VS kit pens, fountain pens VS rollerball VS old fashion ink pens. Methods of extracting and retracting the inks or in pencils, the lead. It will be interesting reading the comments and responses. I think somewhere in your report you need to mention the lack of cursive writing these days and the use of the pen has been taken over by the pushing of keys or buttons or even the sound of the voice. I wish you luck. Hope you share the results when all content is aquired.
 
Good luck with your paper! Feel free to use or refute the thoughts below.

From my standpoint there are a few areas in pen making that are unique for sure. First and foremost that comes to mind is how we refer to the different types of pens. "Sierra" could a distinct brand name but it's also the name of a full class of pens that share common design elements and are marketed by various manufacturers or retailers under different names. In no particular order you have sierra, diamond knurl, gatsby, wall street, etc. You could make the same case for some of the slimline designs too but I think sierra is maybe a better illustration. My wife has lived with a woodworker and pen maker for a long time and still asks me to show her what a pen is if I refer to it by the brand or type.

Use of the term "blank" is another one. To a pen maker it's word used to describe the medium the body of the pen is made from but within "blank" you can have qualifiers for wood, segmented, resin and several sub categories under all of those for things like label cast, stabilized etc.

As far as common values and conventions, all of us are striving to make things that people can use and display with pride (no one has time or cash for an ugly pen). People who truly love to write value a pen for the feel they have while using it and the joy of writing with something that is artisan made. Many times pens are given to recognize life events or significant things. I've routinely made pens as thank you gifts and congratulatory gifts for graduations or achievements. I am dating myself but it used to be routine to give a pen and pencil set for high school graduations too.

Other unique things could be the tooling or methods to do things too. Celtic knots are not 100% unique to pen making but I rarely see them outside of pens. The Beall Pen Wizard has been a topic of conversation lately and it's a pretty darn unique tool.
 
We frequently talk about "sand through" - sanding through the newly applied finish coat all the way down to the blank. We also often suggest that you "paint the hole" - painting the inside of the drilled hole in a pen blank. "Acrylic" gets used to broadly reference any kind of plastic and not just true Acrylic. FOG wood (Found On Ground). MicroMesh (Referring to the sanding process and not the brand name MicroMesh sanding material). Kitless (or more controversial, Bespoke) - pens made from scratch without the benefit of a kit of parts/accessories. I'm sure there are a bunch of things. - Dave
 
Wow.....interesting idea and request. The initial post immediately pushed me to Wikipedia for a formal definition of 'discourse'. I can't say that I have ever used the word discourse in a sentence but instead find myself frequently talking about people with 'common interests '- usually now in my retirement when referring to things I do for my hobbies. The terminology use varies by hobby, but I agree that certain items, ideas, or methodologies vary and are often specific to only one. Woodturners often discuss 'brown and round' meaning a plain wooden bowl vs what others outside the hobby might jump to. Owners of older homes moan about 'knob and tube' meaning an often-dangerous antiquated form of electrical wiring, not what a knitter might think. Pen makers vs pen turners often use different terms for the same thing - just at a different viewpoint and often with different positive or negative meanings.

Looking back to my professional career in the software security space, I think it was pretty much the same. Fellow wonks knew what was meant when someone called you a 'wonk'. They didn't get insulted - in fact usually it was used as a compliment. The word 'paranoid' took on whole new meanings - usually inferring someone was thorough and well thought out, not a walking disaster. 'Quality code' was a definition as much as an adjective.

So I guess my comment for your paper is that people interpret 'discourse' into their points of view, education, or career path among other things - making things often mis-understood or translated in their minds often resulting in emotional or confrontational situations vs someone just talking. Few if any words in the dictionary have one specific meaning - each needs a frame of reference - defining 'discourse I guess......

Have fun - guess the penmaking forums are 'pushing the envelope'.....lol

Kevin
 
One word that I use in pen turning but can also be used anytime when you're dealing with wood is chatoyance. Sometimes I'll point out how a pen has chatoyance to someone, and they'll ask me to repeat it several times. This is quite possibly a word that you may not have heard before if you haven't immersed yourself in pen turning.
 
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