Why do people lick/wet the tips of their pens/pencils?

[kprefontaine]

I was wondering where the idea of wetting ones pen or pencil originated?

[corkboard]

I’ve found that if a pen is sitting upcapped for a while, the little dot of ink at the tip can dry out, so a tap on the tongue gets things rolling again.

Pencils- no idea.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

A Google cache at the Stumpers site offers these possibilities:

>I think this behavior comes from a mistaken notion that it makes the
>writing “indelible” or at least more difficult to erase. Perhaps it did
>at one time. Or perhaps it is relevant to the days when “lead pencils” were
>actually made of lead (pre-Civil War days in the US). I do remember being
…
>–Gary Lee Phillips /"_–_/"\ @ @

You might try to find out if lead (pb as opposed to graphite) pencils dried
out. I always assumed that moistening the point was one way to get it to
write properly again.

Mario Rups

[Badmash]

Long time fountain pen user here.
Fountain pens’ ink at the writing tip would dry out, preventing ink flow. Wetting the tip got the ink flowing again. No cite.

[Musicat]

Because it tastes so good?