"Why the pencil?"

Jeep lovers have the "Jeep wave," given to anyone passing by in a Jeep as an acknowledgment of camaraderie and shared interest. Perhaps pencil aficionados need a nonthreatening equivalent when we see someone who takes pencils as seriously as we do. What might that be?

At (or on) The Dark Side of the Moon, Slywy asks and answers the question "Why the pencil?" Worth reading for anyone who thinks about the tools of writing.