[philipwei]

I was shocked by a colleague today. As you know, we usually use pens, rulers, rubbers at school and we often call them 'stationey' in China. Then suddenly today a colleague (a native American) came up to me and told me that they seldom think stationery includes these items. Instead, when they think of stationery, they think of 'paper for writing letters on, usually with matching envelop', i.e., the second entry meaning in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. He said Americans use 'school supplies' to refer to the things such as pens, rulers, rubbers, etc. Stationery is seldom used in this sense nowadays.
I wonder whether this is true. As we can see from the dictionaries we have (LDCE and OALD) at hand, the first entry meaning both refers to 'materials you use for writing, such as paper, pens, pencils, etc.' (Quoted from LDCE). Are the dictionaries behind the development of the English language regarding the meaning of 'stationery'? Or only Amercians use the second entry meaning of 'stationery' more often?
So please help me about this. I would like to know what you will call things that students usually take, such as pens, pencils, rulers, rubbers, etc. Are they 'stationery' or 'school supplies'? Or you use other terms for these?
Thanks a lot.