Why does the man "lick" the percil?

The passage is incorrect.

Pens are sometimes licked (applied saliva to the ball end of the pen to promote lubrication and continual, unhindered application of ink from the cartridge inside) in order to keep a "strong", efficient and consistent, flow of ink.

Pencils work on the basis of smearing graphite deposits onto the surface of the paper. Licking the end, or any portion, of a pencil will do nothing to improve its functionality.

Sara is a proper name. Sari is a proper name.

Before graphite was used in pencils, they were quite often made of lead--in fact, in antiquity, a pencil was simply a lead stylus. Rightly or wrongly, it was believed that licking the end of a lead pencil would make it write more effectively. Graphite was not used for the purpose before the 16th century.

EDIT: I should add that the verbal image of someone licking a pencil was in use until quite recently, long after graphite began to be used in pencils.

He might be using a watercolor pencil.

http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-12ct-Watercolor-Colored-Pencils/dp/B00006IBOP

It is that, RE, but in this case it's something for a wedding.



I'm not sure what culture this is from - I've heard of a sari,

a very long wide piece of cloth, especially silk, that women in India wrap around their bodies to make a type of long dress [MacMillan] but I've never heard of a 'sara'.

Thats not true Real Eyes. Modern pencils were really invented by the Conte company in the late 1700's. The graphite was mixed with montmorillonite clay and then molded into a long square needle of what they called "plumbago" cause they thought (incorrectly) that it was really lead . ThePlumbago (graphite clay mix was fired at a low temp so it was still quite porous.SO when it was mounted into a wooden stick (the stylus) , it was a clay graphite mix. Licking the pencil, especially the very hard "leads"(those which contain waay more clay, actually dissolved a bit of the clay and allowed the graphite to be more easily released.
Earlier forms were metal stylii in a fashion called "silverpoint" Im not sure what the early silver points were made of but I doubt they were lead because lead wouldnt scratch the surface on which the stylus was scribed. (They usually created a "paper' surface and wooden board surface coated with a plaster (Today we call that stuff "clayboard" , made by Ampersand Company)> You may want to try Ampersands web site , they may have some more detailed information, or else DERWENT or CONTE companies. Im sure they have something on the history of pencils cause I am tapped.

Hmm, I wonder if those kinds of leads are used in plastic pencils, the kind that look like wooden ones, 'cause they don't write as well as the latter.

A sara could be an abbreviation of sarangi, which is an Indian stringed instrument played with a bow.

s. There are lots of earth "friendly" pencils that environmental companies hand out as giveaways at trade shows. These are made of recycled milk bottles for their "wood" and use high clay content with recycled graphitic waste from metls refining. Id not advise "Licking" those as they are probably as toxic as the wastes they are made of.

And they aren't worth a ****. Comparable in nature to you as an instructor in English, Farmer.