More Than 100 Billion BIC Biros Sold

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"Can you give me a biro?" I wonder how many of you would hand me a Bic Biro if I asked this question. Not for nothing is it the world's No 1 brand in the field of biros. It has a history with roots in Hungary and France. It can be found all over the world. It's simple, cheap and perfect. In 2002 it entered the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MOMA), at the Department of Architecture and Design. In 2017 Bic Biro celebrates its 79th birthday. Congratulations and jubilations! In many English-speaking countries, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the trademark Biro has reached the pinnacle. More is not possible for a product. It has become the synonym for ball point pen. I wonder if the Hungarian László József Bíró (1899 – 1985) who invented this writing instrument in 1938 foresaw such a success. (from Wikipedia) "While working as a journalist, he noticed that the ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge-free. He tried using the same ink in a fountain pen but found that it would not flow into the tip, as it was too viscous. … he developed a new tip consisting of a ball that was free to turn in a socket, and as it turned it would pick up ink from a cartridge and then roll to deposit it on the paper." In 1950 the Frenchman Marcel Bich bought the patent and called his own version of the ball point pen BIC. It soon became immensely popular. In 2005, BIC sold its hundred billionth ballpoint pen. I own maybe five biros, among them are two BICs. They‘re the cheapest kind I‘ve found, and they write without smudging. They’re available in blue, black, red and green. The Americans can‘t get green BICs for reasons the company doesn't disclose. Antarctica is the only continent where the BIC can‘t be bought. Why have I written "I own *maybe* five"? Who can ever say how many biros they have in their households? Who can ever say where they disappear to? Here today, gone tomorrow. Douglas Adams‘ answer to the problem can be found in The Hitchhikers‘s Guide To The Galaxy: "Somewhere in the cosmos . . . along with all the planets inhabited by humanoids, reptiloids, fishoids, walking treeoids and superintelligent shades of the colour blue, there was also a planet entirely given over to biro life forms. And it was to this planet that unattended biros would make their way, slipping away quietly through wormholes in space to a world where they knew they could enjoy a uniquely biroid lifestyle, responding to highly biro-oriented stimuli, and generally leading the biro equivalent of the good life.“ ---- Photo: "4 Bic Cristal pens and caps" by Carlos Delgado. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons