When did ballpoints become wide-spread? About the time I was in school in the US, in the '60's, apparently. Some of them were prone to smearing, and my handwriting (never in the "calligraphy" class) worsened with them. Later I usually used felt-tipped pens at work, and now it't ballpoints again. For making shopping lists and signatures on wood-pulp documents, basically.Maybe they should have given you a pen instead of a pencil.

