The life and death reason why your pen lid has a hole in it.

There are some questions that keep the curious among us awake at night.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

What happens after you die? 

Do people realise that ‘my whole life has led up to this moment’ is literally always true? 

And most importantly; Why do pen lids have a hole at the end? 

Well, well, well, allow me to introduce you to the best fact you will learn this week.

LISTEN: Bic doesn’t just make pens. They made a special pink lighter for women who want to reach their scented candles. Is it brilliant or kind of sexist? Post continues below. 

It has nothing to do with a) ink b) suction or c) air pressure, three theories which are often thrown around carelessly in the pen-lid discussion, without much actual thought. WHY would a hole help with suction?

Rather, it is a safety feature.

In my lifetime, I’ve probably chewed on … oh … 65 thousand pen lids. They sit at the end of your pen just asking for it.

The hole at the end means that if you were to accidentally inhale and choke on the pen lid, you’d still be able to breathe. THEREFORE,  to my knowledge a pen lid with a hole at the tip cannot kill you, which I think we can all agree is one less thing to worry about.

On Bic's website they explain, "In addition to help prevent the pen from leaking, all our BIC caps comply with international safety standards that attempt to minimize the risk of children accidentally inhaling pen caps."

With that said, there are some pens that are still manufactured with no hole at the end, and they are responsible for at least 100 deaths in the United States every year.

Jesus.

So we should all just take a moment to reflect on the tiny stroke of genius inherent in our pen lids. One day, that little hole could save your life.

You can listen to the full episode of Mamamia Out Loud, here.