Monday, April 20, 2020

A linguistic irritant CI

Why does anyone refer to a pen as an ink pen?  I've never referred to a pencil as a lead pencil or a crayon as a wax crayon.  Why is it necessary for people to spell out that a pen uses ink?

I've tried to think about deeper things during this pandemic, but every now and then, a petty quibble like this enters my mind.  Truthfully, it's kind of a relief.