I'm a non-native english speaker (from Brazil).
I'm looking for the most common day-to-day word for the stationery device called "mechanical pencil".
Indeed, while "mechanical pencil" seems to be the most commonly used word for that device, at least in US, I've also found the words "propelling pencil", for UK and "pacer", for Australia.
I'd rather stick with mechanical pencil, but this word seems awkward, comparing to the brazilian word for this object (something like "penciler").
So, is there any simpler or most-commonly used word for that, or can I really stick to mechanical pencil without any further concerns?
Best Answer
Commonly (in the US), people don't distinguish between a mechanical pencil and simply "pencil". The full phrase is usually only used when the speaker needs to unambiguously refer to a mechanical pencil (rather than a wooden one): "Have you seen my mechanical pencil?"