Do you chew on pens while thinking in between bouts of writing?

**Jenna** · 02-28-08, 04:35 PM

Do you chew on pens while thinking in between bouts of writing? I don't chew on pens, but sometimes I lend my pens to other people and they chew on them before returning them to me. How common is this phenomenon? I don't mind; I just rinse the pen and keep using it. But then I feel embarrassed when people see me using a chewed pen, because they'll assume I was the one who chewed it. Also, sometimes I lend someone a pen that was chewed upon by someone else, and I worry that that borrower will be offended when he or she tries to chew on the pen but finds that it has already been chewed. Should I go out of my way to tell pen borrowers that I do wash my pens after they are returned to me chewed?

**Cidp24** · 02-28-08, 04:37 PM

That would be me. Even after having them open up and get ink on my mouth, catching myself chewing a pen that I don't know where it's been, etc, I still do it. Hard habit to break.

**Buttercup** · 02-28-08, 04:42 PM

I don't even think about it if I see someone using a chewed pen or pencil. I've never chewed pens, but I try to not use anyone else's pen because you never know where it's been.

I REALLY try not to use pens to sign in at doctors' offices. The few times that I've not had my own pen to use, I've washed my hands immediately afterward.

**keith720** · 02-28-08, 05:30 PM

When I was a kid, I used to do that until about the 5th grade. Then, a red "Bic" exploded in my mouth and I had to walk around the schoolyard all day looking like I was wearing lipstick.

**Big Al** · 02-28-08, 05:53 PM

I don't and never have. I doodle or tap the pen on something.

**Ducky** · 02-28-08, 06:43 PM

I so seldom write with actual pens that I don't have time to chew on them. Back in the day though, yeah.

**Illiy** · 02-28-08, 06:52 PM

I'm a germ phobe... can't do it...

**Just KC** · 02-28-08, 07:47 PM

ICK ICK!!

I rarely use a pen...maybe to write a check. That's about it. No chewed pens in this house! I also carry my own in my purse for work.

**Resident Smart Ass** · 02-28-08, 07:58 PM

If I chew on a pen while I'm thinking, depending on the pen, I can think faster or slower

**Code6** · 02-28-08, 07:59 PM

Sharing a Chewed Pen. Well thats like chewing your cud and throwing it up onto a plate and offering it to some one else to eat. Yuck!!!

**Buttercup** · 02-28-08, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by Resident Smart Ass

If I chew on a pen while I'm thinking, depending on the pen, I can think faster or slower

**Resident Smart Ass** · 02-28-08, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by Buttercup

you ok there bud?

**Lazy Fed** · 02-28-08, 08:03 PM

I chew on pen caps, not the pen, I also bend paper clips in odd shapes when I am thinking or working on a case, you can usually tell the amount of thinking I do by the number of paper clip shapes laying on my desk. It is done sub-consciously and I don't even realize it

The most I counted was 27

**Buttercup** · 02-28-08, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Resident Smart Ass

you ok there bud?

What kind of pens make you think faster or slower?

**Resident Smart Ass** · 02-28-08, 08:05 PM

Originally Posted by Lazy Fed

I chew on pen caps, not the pen, I also bend paper clips in odd shapes when I am thinking or working on a case, you can usually tell the amount of thinking I do by the number of paper clip shapes laying on my desk. It is done sub-consciously and I don't even realize it

The most I counted was 27

Doesn't make sense here..shouldn't that number be like 1

**Lazy Fed** · 02-28-08, 08:06 PM

Shhh don't let the secert out

**Resident Smart Ass** · 02-28-08, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by Buttercup

What kind of pens make you think faster or slower?

The Sharpies makes me sharp

**jmur5074** · 02-28-08, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by Resident Smart Ass

The Sharpies makes me sharp

GUFFAW!

I chew on pens all the time, and borrow them to people. I'm horrible, I know. I also chew on the tabs for pop cans and bend them with my teeth (horrible, I know), chewing tobacco, I chew on straws, those plastic floss thingys....I just like things in my mouth.

The only pen I will not chew on is one that is not my own (if I can help it) and any pen that I have loaned to someone while I'm on a call. One time I saw a jailer give a pen to an inmate to sign some paperwork, and then 20 minutes later he (the jailer) had the pen sticking out of his mouth. I was like "AHH!!! DUDE!! Do you know where that's been!!???" He got crosseyed and looked down at the pen and went "BLEH!!" and spit it out. HILARIOUS.