The Sharpie ultra-fine point is my writing instrument of choice. It works for both notes and sketching, and responds to the touch to leave a light, feathery line or a deep, indelible one. The pen’s design is strictly no-frills, with an opaque grey plastic body and a colored cap. It’s the kind of pen you can toss in a tool chest or kitchen drawer.

Then earlier this week I discovered that Sharpie had introduced a retractable version. It’s goofy-looking, with the body of a fat-tipped Sharpie (to accommodate the spring) and a long button at the top. Who’s idea was this? Did someone in a focus group mention that he had once lost the top to a Sharpie? The mechanism takes away from the blunt utilitarianism of the original.