I’d like an eraser, two notepads and 30 kg of pencils, please.

Also: notice the price difference between the first item, a dozen Ticonderogas for £2.69, and the third item, the same product for £19.99.

Startlingly expensive. Yes, I think if I were to tell you how much more expensive it was it would be fair to say that you would be startled. ^[1]Freely adapted from Chapter 27 of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams, 1987.

(By the way, that’s 643.123% more expensive ^[2]Said Wolfram..)

PS: Find out more..

• about the Korean Ticonderoga in this 2010 blog post,
• about an old Ticonderoga in this 2014 blog post,
• about the Ticonderoga’s German cousin (from the same Italian mother) in this blog post,
• and about a very unique Ticonderoga in this blog post (from Contrapuntalism).