What word do you use for pen and where?

Question

I am planning an activity for my Spanish classes and am doing a little word research. I am hoping you-all can help me out. I am making a big wall map and we are going to make little pins with tags for different words around the world (like pen=pluma, boli, lapicero, boligrafo etc) and then pin them where they are used.

I have several Spanish speakers and want to use this as a way to get them involved and teach them to be proud of there language differences. It will also show the English speaking kids that this difference exists in other languages too. I used the example of soda, pop, soft drink, sodapop.

So we are starting with PEN. What word do you use for pen and where do you use it? I would love to add your "pin" to our map.

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

Both my Spanish teachers, one from Barcelona and the other from Madrid, used bolígrafo to refer to a pen.

I hope it helps, though it isn't much information.

Answer 2

As I live in Oregon and am not a native speaker, I cannot be too helpful with your current question. I generally think of “pluma” as referring to a fountain pen and “bolígrafo” as a ballpoint pen- so I use "bolígrafo", as I never use a fountain pen.

But a link to one source of regional variation on several select words:
link text

There is an error in the chart under department store though.

And wikipedia for gaseosa: link text

That includes a table of the proper term for soft drinks in various countries

Which might help when you are doing other words.

Answer 3

For pen I use pluma.

Answer 4

When I asked for a pen at Lapiz Lopez in Santiago, Chile, the clerk used the word bolígrafo.

That is a "biro" after the Hungarian guy who invented it - also called a "ball point pen" - ian-hill, Jan 28, 2012