This is a case of one of those things that you think you know for a fact, but then can’t find a cite for, and the doubt sets in. I was under the impression that the use of blue ink for handwritten letters was a feminine touch, and that black ink was more masculine. Don’t laugh, I believe this and would like it to be true. I’ll add a disclaimer about it being OK for any person to hold and express their own sexual orientation in whatever colour ink they like, yadda - yadda…
So please, has anyone got any dope on ink colour use by gender, historically or currently? Ta.
Blue ink – we’re talking fountain pens, here – is washable, so in my youth it was favoured for use in schools, colleges and places where they write a lot. So much easier to deal with the inevitable blots and stains. The result was that students of any age tended to fill their pens with blue ink, and wrote with blue ink for all purposes.
But blue ink also fades over time, so if you are writing a document which has to last, you want black ink, which is permanent. So blank ink was used in, e.g., lawyer’s offices, government departments, etc. The “man of affairs” kept his pen charged with black ink; we can’t sign a cheque in blue ink, now, can we? Presumably the same applied to the woman of affairs.
Blue-black ink was used by students who wished to appear serious. Red ink was used by bookkeepers and accountants, to indicate negative figures. Green ink was used by teenage girls wishing to appear artistic or creative. No other colours of ink were available.
Now we have ball-point pens with indelible ink in an astonishing variety of colours. All bets are off.
It was common (at least in my experience) when high quality monochrome photocopiers were first introduced (in the '80s) to prefer using blue pens because it was obvious which document was the original.
Kind of moot now, but I still favor blue pens for that reason.
Miss Manners’ columns are footed by the invitation to send questions to her using “black or blue-black ink on white writing paper,” a tongue-in-cheek reminder of what is correct for formal letter writing, irrespective of the writer’s sex.
Huh. I never knew this, but somehow, unconsciously, I associate blue with students, especially junior high and high school, and black with adults. I buy my 16 year old blue pens, but my husband and I have black on our desk. If I have to sign something or fill out a form, I’ll go get a black pen, even if one of my son’s blue ones is closer at hand.
When it’s not anything official or important though, I use purple. Yes, I know it’s silly and juvenile and eyeroll worthy. But I love it, and that’s reason enough for me to do it.
Same here. My preference is to blue ink for the same reason. I still generally make monochromatic copies, and my contracts are printed in black and white, so signing it in blue makes it immediately obvious to me whether it’s an original or a copy. Blue ink and medium point (if using ballpoints) has pretty much always been my standard choice of pen. And I’m male. I’ve never noticed any sort of correlation between blue and black ink and gender. Now, pink and purple ink, that’s another story. But, in my opinion, both blue and black look unisex to me.
Blue ink, I’m 46. Easier to see original from copies. Also easier to read than black ink in general. But that’s just my opinion. I have a friend who will only write in black ink. I have another friend (79 years old) who uses a dip fountain pen with black ink. When correcting drafts I like to use a contrasting color, preferably green because the newbies are not as offended as with blood red, it looks friendlier.
Goodness that brings back memories. Peacock Blue coloured ink was all the rage for a time when I was in fourth class and we had graduated from cartridge pens to fountain pens.
I’ve never had an issue writing and signing a cheque with blue ink, and whilst I’ve heard that use of green and red are discouraged, from a discussion on another forum it appears to be a frequently ignored convention. Banks seem to accept those written in colour, felt tip and even, presumably by neglect, amended in pencil. The reason for avoiding green according to the BBC H2G2 site is that banks sometimes use this ink in order to mark ‘Refer to Drawer Please Represent’ when bouncing a cheque.
The site also turns up some interesting information on the use of green ink by Regents (or guardians) of Roman Emperors, if they were considered too young to act as a signatory.
Modern users of green ink include the ‘green ink brigade’ who are considered by newspaper editors to be ‘ardent mistake-spotters and ranters’ intent on highlighting any oversight.
H2G2 also notes that pharmacists sometimes use green to distinguish themselves from doctors writing on prescriptions, and that more kindly teachers use it to correct and give guidance to pupil’s work (I’ve had teachers who’ve done this rather than use the traditional red).
Personally I use blue ink when writing with a fountain pen, without too much introspection into my degree of masculinity, though this is somewhat connected to the frequent mistakes I make whilst writing and the ability to use an eraser pen rather than resorting to tipp-ex. Otherwise it falls down to whichever writing implement is closest to hand.
Of course. Anything that’s legible is perfectly legit. for a cheque, and always was. The point it, it used to be conventional for “serious” documents to be completed in black ink, for the reasons explained. But I imagine this convention has long since fallen into disuse.
Thanks for the replies so far. I’m not reassured that I haven’t imagined the blue/black gender thing. Don’t know how I would have come to that conclusion on my own though.
Any further thoughts on ink colour would be most welcome, even if it doesn’t get me off the hook on this one. :dubious:
Well - on one of the training courses I run all the record, comments on trainee portfolios are handwritten … my writing is pretty bad (I’m the offspring of two doctors after all) and the candidates have coughed up money to do a professional qualification which deserves a bit of respect so I use my fountain pen. Partly because I don’t want to be too conventional & partly because I want what I write to stand out against the submissions I generally use this brown, unfortunately a colleague (also female) often goes for brown too so if we’re on a course together I sometimes change to “liere sauvage” - it’s a tad “wishy washy” for my liking tho’ and I’d go for “vert empire” next time.
I also write the odd letter to friends or older family members and brown ink on cream paper looks pretty fine ! (Whatever Miss Manners says !)
I do possess a bottle of purple ink but haven’t really used it that much for fear of the reaction WhyNot mentioned above - in my own conceited view of myself brown says not run of the mill but not a nutter either
The colleague uses blue when she’s not using brown and is picky about her brown not being too reddish.
For a historical view my parents, late 70s, always use a colour of Quink ink called “Blue/Black” - it usually looks like the darker end stroke on this page.
Don’t know what all this tells you about ink use but it has got me thinkgin about investing in a second ink pen to have two different inks on the go at once.
I’ve never had any special value attached to ink colors. I’m male, in my early 30s, and grew up in California if that helps. Even in school, we could use blue or black as we saw fit and the only gender difference I noted was that the girls would generally write notes to each other in pink or purple. Many teachers had decided that green was preferable for correcting papers (rather than red).
Personally, I prefer blue. In large part, that’s due something someone mentioned earlier - that it helps you identify an original document from a fax or photocopy. In an age when anyone could copy anything in black and white, blue seemed a more personal touch.
On the other hand, I haven’t hand written a letter since I got out of school and didn’t do it much then.
