Questions-To-Consider
Why did I choose THIS chapter? This chapter discusses latin derivatives and origins of writing utensils. In high school, anyone entering in 7th or 8th grade, was made to take Latin for 3 years. My teachers taught us Latin derivatives, which helped me to see the connection between English and Latin. Me knowing these Latin derivatives helped me to figure out the meaning of words, when I wasn’t aware of their definitions.
- The other writing origins that I learned besides the pencil was the eraser. Beginning with moistened bread, it transitioned to India gum from a mistake made by Jospeh Priestley in 1770. Jospeh mistakenly rubbed away his writing with the gum while reaching for the moistened bread. Edward Nairne is credited with the invention because he marketed the first rubber eraser in Europe. Charles Goodyear made the rubber more sturdy.
There were many recipes for ink used to write and many of those recipes consisted of edible ingredients. Elizabeth Wein wrote about the ballpoint pen’s success, and in her novel she talks about the Hungarian journalist named László Bíró who invented the ballpoint pen, surprisingly, out of frustration. - James Pillons was credited with the invention of colored chalk in 1814. He was a Scottish teacher, using it for a geography lesson. George Baron is the first teacher accredited for the use of the blackboard. Markers weren’t mentioned and my assumption is that they weren’t used for early writing therefore, they lacked significance.
