Newbie Questions

Dan  S. wrote:

"I am a recent convert to the Moleskine world and wanted to ask a few questions about Moleskine Culture:

1. Are the devotees of the pocket-sized books a distinct sect from those who use the larger versions? Or are we all one big happy family?

2. What do people carry their 'skines around in? (Other than a purse or cargo pants)

3. I find that some pens (a Parker 51, for example) have a nice narrow clip that slips nicely into the spine of a pocket journal. The clip on the otherwise wonderful G2 and G6 either bow out too much or are too wavy to fit. Any other pens fit the spine of a 'skine without risk of injury (to the journal)?

4. I understand that the correct pronunciation is "Mo-leh-skeen-eh," but I can't bring myself to actually ask for them by this name when I think that store owners are still under the impression that it's "Mole Skin." Anybody else have this problem? Or am I more disturbed than I had previously thought?

Image: tourgueniev
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Update 1.21.05/ 12.14.AM CST

Here's one more question from Lisa B.:

"Here's an ignorant question. When you modify something, why is it called a hack? I've wondered after seeing the hacks for attaching a ribbon to hold a pen, altering the accordion-fold storage Moleskine, and another I can't recall right now. What exactly does "hack" mean in this context?"

Comments

[L. S. Russell]

Maybe the same kind of people use the pocket notebook as use the larger notebook, but I would bet that the real difference is the function.

I my case, I use the pocket notebook to scribble little notes to myself through out the day; when I get home I may transfer, and expand, some of those notes into my larger Moleskine journal.

I try to take more time to compose my thoughts, and write neater in my desktop journal, but my pocket notebook gets abused and filled with chicken scratches.

As for the name; I just call them 'skines.

[Joy]

Perhaps it was just that store. At the B&N in Clifton, NJ they pronounce it Mo-leh-skeen-eh. I refer to them as 'Moles' [Mo-lees].

I've only used the packet size, but I'm planning to get a large sketchbook for scrapping, etc.

When my Mole isn't sitting on my desk or nightstand, it's in my pocket. When I go out, I put it in a ziploc bag, in case of rain [I live where it rains a great deal.]

I usually clip whatever pen I'm using to the elastic band.

Finally, yes you are more disturbed than you had previously thought. It's ok...we all are. Welcome to the Mole cult.

~Joy

[Bradley Woods]

I can relate. I use the larger moleskine to write some of my thoughts. To me its a book to capture some of the fleeting thoughts before I forget. On the pronunciation I have had the same problem. I have tried pronouncing them proper but people just give me weird looks. I will continue to pronounce them correctly until everyone else catches on. Over and out.

[greg]

According to that BBC article, "Mol-eh-skin-eh" is the italian pronunciation of the french term for "mole skin". So, I think I'll stick with the more common, if incorrect, way. Plus, I'd rather be considered a journal-keeping hick than a pretentious brand-geek.

[Bill]

Don't join a sect. A moleskine is a good, durable notebook, with the added advantage of a good, professional appearance. That's sufficient reason to use a moleskine, without elevating the practice to a religious ritual, or taking it too seriously.

I carry my moleskine (the small size) in the back pocket of my jeans, or in my inside jacket pocket when I wear a suit or sports coat. Carrying it in the back pocket means "no pen in the spine", but I do keep a ballpoint pen in my cell phone holster. The small moleskine is for writing when I'm away from my desk or when the laptop is too much trouble, and for getting ideas down before they get away. At night it's on the nightstand, with one of those ballpoints that has a light inside the barrel.

I use Volants for specific notes about different projects. For example, I have one for keeping notes about publishing resources (magazines, books, editors' names, etc.), one for notes on each current client or for notes on each article or book I'm working on, and so on. These notebooks live on my desk, or in the project file.

I tried the big Moleskines, but when I need that much "room", I have a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a digital voice recorder (for dictation and later capture/transcription by ViaVoice), and yellow legal pads.

Bill

[Ninth Wave]

I too have a hard time pulling off "Mo-leh-skeen-eh" without sounding like I am faking a cheesy (pizza-pie-ish as in classic Looney Toons cartoons) Italian accent [for added amusement, imagine this mixed with my native northern New England twang]. "Mo-lee" works great, Joy, or the (also-read-here) "skine".

This question of pronunciation also then raises another - perhaps more important - question: is this web site's name "mole-skin-er-ee" or "Mo-leh-skeen-er-ee" (add fake Italian or even a fake French accent here)???

[IL Postino]

I bet Sylvia Poggioli (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101034)
would say "moo-lees-kee-neh-rie". ^_^

[Joy]

Bill:

Resistance is futile...we're all members of an international notebook cult.

-J

[RIC]

I also use a Parker "51" but if you put the clip in the spine, try the Pilot Murex MYU. Check on e-bay, sometimes you can find them. Check out this page by Russ Stutler, he's pretty much an expert on them. The clip is thinner and smoother, it's all stainless and when capped it's shorter than the Moleskine. It has a slip cap and when posted it's a full size pen. They ain't cheap though expect to pay anywhere from 150.oo to 250.oo depending on the model, condition, and nib size.

[Ninth Wave]

>>I bet Sylvia Poggioli (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101034)
would say "moo-lees-kee-neh-rie". ^_^"<<

That settles it for me!

As for "cult", I'm with Joy, plus the dictionary couldn't be clearer: see especially #'s 4, 5 & 7. I would love to hear testimonials on #6 if anyone has them!^)

1. religion: a system of religious or spiritual beliefs, especially an informal and transient belief system regarded by others as misguided or unorthodox
2. religious group: a group of people who share religious or spiritual beliefs
3. idolization of somebody or something: extreme or excessive admiration for a person, philosophy of life, or activity ( often used before a noun )
a cult following
4. object of idolization: a person, philosophy, or activity regarded with extreme or excessive admiration
5. fad: something popular or fashionable among a devoted group of enthusiasts ( often used before a noun )
cult status
6. ethnology system of supernatural beliefs: a body of organized practices and beliefs supposed to involve interaction with and control over supernatural powers
7. elite group: a self-identified group of people who share a narrowly defined interest or perspective

[Early 17th century. Directly or via French from Latin cultus “worship” (the original sense in English), from colere (see culture).]

[Annie]

I pronounce it "mole-skyn." Sure it sounds ridiculous, but I'd rather not ask a B&N person for a "mole-skin." I mean, if I worked at B&N and somebody asked me for a "hippopotamus-skin," I just wouldn't know what to say.

But they're not difficult to find at a B&N anyway, so why ask and torture yourself?

[Brian]

Yes, this is a journal cult, no getting around it. Might as well just settle in and get used to it, by the way I like a uni-ball micro tip .5 for sketching but a filo fax mine ballpoint for everyday in my pocket skin

[Sylvia]

RE #4. As I live in Canada I favour the French pronunciation (mo-less-KEEN), especially since the original version of the notebook was indeed French.

What I really want to know is how to pronounce "Laughy" ???

[Neal Dench]

Regarding the pronunciation. I'm with you all the way. Having said "Moleskin?" in my own head for many years (the ? is somehow integral to that pronunciation) I have a hard time thinking of it as anything else, and certainly pale at the thought of asking for one in a shop. What a fool I am!

[Les]

I'm finishing up my first molee (I just pronounce it "mole-skeen"), a pocket size. My daughter gave me a larger size and I've debated trading it in for another pocket size, but since I carry it pretty much exclusively in my backpack, I'm going to use the larger one and see how it goes. I don't scrawl everyday stuff in it; I have a small throwaway notebook for that; I write mostly travel stuff, and transfer it to my computer based journal. I've found a Zebra F-301 works well with it, but I don't clip anything to the spine or elastic band.

[Ninth Wave]

Brian -
The pronunciation of "Laughy" is just about as confusing as "Moleksine". Since you are in Canada, you might say "Lackie" since that is the name the Canadian branch of the family took. But here in the states I'm nobody's "lackie", so I go by "law-fee", but will answer to "laff-ee". By all rights, I really think it should be "law-hee", but my numerous aunts, uncles and cousins would think me pretentious!

Just to get back to the original post a bit . . . I find the small scale of the pocket size perfect for my tiny scrawl when taking notes, and for such I use a Pigma Micron 01 pen. I move into the large format when my note-taking involves the need for sketches or diagrams, for more of an illustrated notebook approach. Here I like to use a G2 07, for the rich ink and nice flow.

[Joy]

Note to self:

1. Start Armand Frasco cult of personality.
2. Appoint Mike Rohde head poobah, but remain the behind-the scenes power.

[Armand]

Ugh! Please don't. I just got 1 less thing to do before I die so that's cool with me.

http://www.moleskinerie.com/2005/01/101_things_to_d.html

BTW, I wrote NPR about Ms.Poggioli. Let's see what happens.

[Sean Gerety]

So far I love using the Moleskine. It's cheaper than a Tablet PC, doesn't need batteries, and has a nice old world charm about it.

I like the large format. I have one to carry around for ideas, journal entries, drawings and whatever else I'd like and the others stay at home for a wine journal (I like to sketch the labels along with tasting notes) and one for recipes.

I have some blank business sized cards in the folder of my main book that I can use for quick lists so I don't need to carry a smaller book along with the large moleskine.

I like the G2 pen. Great ink, cheap, you can pick them up anywhere and you don't cry if you lose one.

I carry my book out in the open, under my arm or in hand. It helps other cult members identify you and it has more style than that poor cult that all had to where the same kind of tennis shoes.

[Wayne M. Sarf]

I pronounce it "Moleskin," adopting the American version of Churchill's motto that foreign names are made for Englishmen, not Englishmen for foreign names (or something like that).

Anyway, isn't "moleskin" simply another way of conveying the notion of an oilcloth binding material?

Maybe we could just ask for "oilcloth notebooks" for some really blank looks at the store....

[Mike]

I don't have anything special to carry my Moleskine. I use cargo pants or if I am on travel I carry a few of them and a few pens in an Eddie Bauer guide bag (my man-purse).

I prefer the slightly mocking "Mola skeeneey" but probably "Mole Skin" is just as good as any.

I usually don't carry my pens and notebooks together. I just stick whatever my favorite pen happens to be in my pocket.

I am about to make an official Moleskine announcement of my switch from the Pilot G2s to a Waterman Phileas fountain pen with Noodler's black ink. This waterproof ink has a pH level of 7.1 (acid free) and won't clog up fountain pens even though it is waterproof once written on paper. I haven't tried it yet, but I hope to make it my official replacement. I do so love fountain pens but I can't seem to find a Parker 51 thats within my price range. Anyone have any tips?

As far as culture, I just like the notebooks and I like writing about them here. For $12 you get a notebook that lasts a year of heavy use, has excellent thread-bound acid-free paper, a nice pocket and a nice elastic closure. It is both good looking and high quality. For $12 it's a great deal.

[Bill]

Pens: While I have been using a plain old cheap Parker Jotter ballpoint, I picked up two new cheap pens yesterday at Office Depot. These seem to do a good job, ink doesn't soak through the paper, and they dry quickly enough to avoid smearing. These are both Uniball pens. The Jetstream uses a "hybrid" ink that goes down like gel but is dry immediately like a ballpoint; the cap on the Jetstream is a standard "click" type that you can post to the top of the pen. The other pen is a Uniball/Signo 207, which uses gel ink and has a standard "biro" type mechanism. The 207 is refillable, the Jetstream looks like it ought to be but I didn't see any refills for it in O.D.

Mike -- you get a YEAR out of a Moleskine? Geez, I'm lucky to get three months' use from either the pocket size or the full size. And that's with using Volants and Levenger Circas for memos to myself, for research notes, and for planning, plus other notebooks for writing.

[Mike]

I got a year out of my day-planner version. My normal plain pocket notebooks last about three months but I work on a couple simultanously.

I ordered a Lamy Safari extra fine point fountain pen to see how that works in moleskines with Noodler's ink. The three fountain pens I have now all have tips that are too broad for my liking, even the fine ones.

[Mike]

On storage, I ordered some of these navy-tested zip-lock baggies from http://watchfuleyedesigns.com/ that are supposed to be leakproof to 60 meters. They're strong enough to protect a Moleskine from the elements if you have a harder life than corporate desk jockey. They protect mine from latte spillage during powerpoint briefings =( The 6x9 ones are about sized right, the 4x7 were a bit tight.

[Bill]

Mike, the Parker 100 has essentially the same point as the Parker 51, for about $100 less. Check eBay. You will want to get a Very Fine nib in the 51, and maybe with the 100 (Parker 51 Fine nibs are about the same as a Medium in other pens).

The Parker 45 has similar construction, although it is difficult to find a Fine point. The Lamy Safari's are made with a steel nib, which is very stiff. However, they lay down quite a bit of ink, which could create some problems in a Moleskine.