LoboGunLeather
US Veteran
Easy to tell when the blonde secretary has been using the office computer. All the Wite-Out on the monitor screen.
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The people who still use typewriters
- Thread starter oldbrownhat
- Start date
DWalt
Well-known member
I was never much of a typist, just good enough to get me through college. I had on old second hand Royal portable, probably from the 1940s. No idea what happened to it. At least it was made out of metal, not plastic. I was around at the dawn of dedicated word processors in the early 1980s. That was an experience.
My first experience with typing was playing around with the old Underwood in my grandmother's attic. I spent long boring summers on the farm, and when I was about 10 or so, I spent several hours pounding away on that old typewriter to compose a ship-board mystery story.
My next exposure to a typewriter was a typing course in 6th grade (around 1973). We were using IBM Selectrics and I got up to around 60 words per minute by the end of the course.
The next time I put my hands on a keyboard was in 1989 when I decided it was time that I go back to school to get some more education. So, I enrolled for classes at the North Seattle Community College.
At that point I was introduced to the almost magical benefits of using a Word Processor vs. using a typewriter. I've never laid hands on an actual typewriter since then, and don't see where I have missed anything.
Word processing software programs have progressively improved and gotten better and better over the intervening decades. I don't see where we've lost anything with the demise of the typewriter.
As I see it there is a similar analogy in the automotive world. I've been a "car guy" since the early 1970's, but I don't miss carburetors, or ignition systems built around distributors with points and condensers either. Gimme fuel injection and electronic ignition every time.
Been there, done that, and what we have now is FAR better than what I grew up with.
JMO, and as always, YMMV...
My next exposure to a typewriter was a typing course in 6th grade (around 1973). We were using IBM Selectrics and I got up to around 60 words per minute by the end of the course.
The next time I put my hands on a keyboard was in 1989 when I decided it was time that I go back to school to get some more education. So, I enrolled for classes at the North Seattle Community College.
At that point I was introduced to the almost magical benefits of using a Word Processor vs. using a typewriter. I've never laid hands on an actual typewriter since then, and don't see where I have missed anything.
Word processing software programs have progressively improved and gotten better and better over the intervening decades. I don't see where we've lost anything with the demise of the typewriter.
As I see it there is a similar analogy in the automotive world. I've been a "car guy" since the early 1970's, but I don't miss carburetors, or ignition systems built around distributors with points and condensers either. Gimme fuel injection and electronic ignition every time.
Been there, done that, and what we have now is FAR better than what I grew up with.
JMO, and as always, YMMV...
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Ματθιας
Well-known member
When I was in high school in the late 80s, I had to take a typing class. We had to learn with an IBM "selectric" or something like that.
My dad had a typewriter with an integral cover. That thing was so old, that the return bell would ring when you least expected it!
My dad bought us a used, early word processor/typewriter. It didn't have a manual and it was a pain to figure out all that it could do.
I sucked at typing, then, I still suck at typing, now. When I went back to school, as an adult, I just paid folks to type stuff for me.
When I took a midterm typing speed test in high school, you had to type at least 60 words per minute to pass. So I, literally typed "at least 60 words per minute to pass". Mrs. Kingsley, our instructor, wasn't amused. I thought it was funny. I had to retake the test and I failed.
My dad had a typewriter with an integral cover. That thing was so old, that the return bell would ring when you least expected it!
My dad bought us a used, early word processor/typewriter. It didn't have a manual and it was a pain to figure out all that it could do.
I sucked at typing, then, I still suck at typing, now. When I went back to school, as an adult, I just paid folks to type stuff for me.
When I took a midterm typing speed test in high school, you had to type at least 60 words per minute to pass. So I, literally typed "at least 60 words per minute to pass". Mrs. Kingsley, our instructor, wasn't amused. I thought it was funny. I had to retake the test and I failed.
This puts me in mind of Mike Adkins (shouldazagged). His father was a well respected war correspondent who carried his typewriter through France and Germany with the Army.
He said there were days when he felt his typewriter weighed as much as a Sherman but he never ditched it.
Now, that's a typist.
He said there were days when he felt his typewriter weighed as much as a Sherman but he never ditched it.
Now, that's a typist.
DWalt
Well-known member
Are there still dial phones used in the US? I don’t remember seeing one since the 1980s. The phone company once charged extra for touch tone service.
Chuck Edwards
Well-known member
I graduated high school in '69. I was in college prep, and as such was not permitted to take typing because that was for the kids going into the workforce after high school. I had to learn on my own, and freshman year in college was brutal.
BillyMagg
Well-known member
I loved the IBM "Selectric",, kinda like a Nikon F2, just a gorgeous piece of machinery!~
I have one, its downstairs in the garage. Unlike a lot of the modern phones if the power is out it still works fine. Not really applicable now as we have a standby generator.
With that said there is no reason to take it off the wall as it does its job. The phone company keep saying they are going to do away with that dialer system but as of today it still works well!
I took typing in High School, so I could look at all the girls and get enough points for my Junior year.
I was up to 70 words a minute, then came football season.
A tounge depressor on my left hand, form a injury slowed things down
bur Mr Wata, my teacher gave me a passing grade .
Maybe it was because I was also on the HS Golf team with my twin brother and
he was the Golf coach ?
ASDF, everyone.
I was up to 70 words a minute, then came football season.
A tounge depressor on my left hand, form a injury slowed things down
bur Mr Wata, my teacher gave me a passing grade .
Maybe it was because I was also on the HS Golf team with my twin brother and
he was the Golf coach ?
ASDF, everyone.
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Try producing a multi part check while the vendor is waiting or an employees request for emergency funds.
Sometimes old school is still useful.
I took a couple of typing classes back in the 8th grade. When
I joined the Navy in 1966 to avoid the draft and Vietnam, I
was told I would be a Radioman because I had typing ex-
perience. Not what I wanted.
In Radioman "A" school in San Diego, you had to type morse
code 16 words per minute on a typewriter in order to graduate.
That was a trip.
Long story short, I never used morse code in the Navy, and
ended up tuning 10KW and 40KW transmitters on Guam and
onboard the USS Arlington, AGMR-2, a communications relay
ship in the Tonkin Gulf in 1968.
I did use morse code when I was flying for the airlines. The FAA
uses morse code to ID the navigational aids pilots use to fly
from point A to point B.
I joined the Navy in 1966 to avoid the draft and Vietnam, I
was told I would be a Radioman because I had typing ex-
perience. Not what I wanted.
In Radioman "A" school in San Diego, you had to type morse
code 16 words per minute on a typewriter in order to graduate.
That was a trip.
Long story short, I never used morse code in the Navy, and
ended up tuning 10KW and 40KW transmitters on Guam and
onboard the USS Arlington, AGMR-2, a communications relay
ship in the Tonkin Gulf in 1968.
I did use morse code when I was flying for the airlines. The FAA
uses morse code to ID the navigational aids pilots use to fly
from point A to point B.
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The typewriter changed my life and opened doors for me.
I learned to type a little when my dad taught me as a kid. We had a mandatory typing/business class in the 8th grade where I honed my typing skills.
I could type.
Working as a shipping warehouse orderly when I was 19. The female clerk/typist was absent. "Any of you yard monkeys know how to type?" I raised my hand.
I typed the shipping labels and bills of lading. "Dang son, you're good! Do you cook?" Typing seemed to be considered a special skill only women were expected to master. That typing got me promoted to the Lead Man position which later lead to being the Shift Supervisor.
Later I went into law enforcement. The first Lieutenant I worked for was a rough street dude but knew his limitations when it came to clerical duties. He was way behind on some shift reports.
At briefing he asked "Any you knuckleheads know howta type?" I raised my hand.
I stayed at his desk typing reports, time sheets, etc. I cleaned house and fast. He began adding more and more of his clerical responsibilities to me. He even had a signature stamp made for me so I could sign all his reports.
I made him look very good and he wasn't afraid to admit it. "I'm puttin' yous in fer Investigator School."
So my LEO career was jump started.
All this thanks to my dad and the typewriter.
I learned to type a little when my dad taught me as a kid. We had a mandatory typing/business class in the 8th grade where I honed my typing skills.
I could type.
Working as a shipping warehouse orderly when I was 19. The female clerk/typist was absent. "Any of you yard monkeys know how to type?" I raised my hand.
I typed the shipping labels and bills of lading. "Dang son, you're good! Do you cook?" Typing seemed to be considered a special skill only women were expected to master. That typing got me promoted to the Lead Man position which later lead to being the Shift Supervisor.
Later I went into law enforcement. The first Lieutenant I worked for was a rough street dude but knew his limitations when it came to clerical duties. He was way behind on some shift reports.
At briefing he asked "Any you knuckleheads know howta type?" I raised my hand.
I stayed at his desk typing reports, time sheets, etc. I cleaned house and fast. He began adding more and more of his clerical responsibilities to me. He even had a signature stamp made for me so I could sign all his reports.
I made him look very good and he wasn't afraid to admit it. "I'm puttin' yous in fer Investigator School."
So my LEO career was jump started.
All this thanks to my dad and the typewriter.
So much for the old army saying, "Never volunteer."
DWalt
Well-known member
There was a late model Selectric that was sort of a hybrid typewriter/word processor. It had a limited memory and also a small screen above the keyboard which would show several lines of type, allowing corrections to be made by the typist, and the typist could scroll through the screen before punching the print button. Or it could be used just like a normal Selectric. My secretary had one, but she preferred using the conventional Selectric mode. She just never mastered using the word processor mode. I never attempted to figure out how to use it. I do
not remember if it had any form of external memory like a floppy disc drive, but I doubt it did. At that time, early 80s, floppy discs were big, like 8” square, and had very little memory capacity.
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The method I settled on was to get a certain type of typing paper, tough paper, designed for the mistake prone typist, along with an eraser pencil — an eraser rod in a wooden pencil shaft with a brush on the back end where the eraser would be on a normal pencil — and erase and brush away words that I had mistyped, of which there were plenty.Or correction tape. I remember Wite-Out fluid and Ko-Rec-Type and Tipp-Ex tapes. There was another tape, in a purple(?) snail container as well.
Typo Ergo Sum
I've always been a hunt and peck man.
My father told me to learn typing in high school as I would find it useful in later life. I told him that if I needed to type something later in life I would have a secretary. I did wind up having various secretaries during my career, all of whom could type well, but I wound up typing my own reports, faxes and emails, anyway, of course, on computers, because it was way more efficient, even for a poor typist, than going back and forth with a secretary.
I also came to be as fast or faster, hunting and pecking, and a lot more legible, typing than handwriting. Gotta stare at the keyboard, though.
One of my early experiences with the move from typewriter to computer was having to stay up all night retyping a draft of my master's thesis when the IBM machine I was using, either due to my error or the machine's, lost the draft I had typed up on it.
Poof! Wait! What???! That was a major bummer. That used to happen a lot in the early days of desktop computers. Happened with the Macs, too. They'd show you a little cartoon of exploding dynamite or some such. Out of luck, ha ha! Used to drive me crazy.
At least with a typewriter your work never unexpectedly disappeared...
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So much for the old army saying, "Never volunteer."
Desperate people do desperate things. Speaking of the about to get into trouble for being late with their paperwork bosses, in each case.
Both times, my working peers hated me for getting the break.
Side note: The Captain had a secretary who should have helped out that Lieutenant. However, he somehow managed to piss her off. She just couldn't find the time to assist him. He was known to be a S0B.
And thinking back....The front line officers were the salt of the earth and excellent self-sacrificing men who you could count on when the feces hit the fan. Most had just come directly from the military.
Trouble was we were entering into the new time of modern litigation. Those boys couldn't write well. Bless their hearts. In LEO work proper report writing is everything. The pen is more powerful than the boot.
I was able to intervene and polish the finished product. Made for a happy lieutenant. The day of a necessary college education was rapidly approaching.
,
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I needed a filler class my junior year of high school, only one P.E. allowed and shop classes were a thing of the past. My only real choices were chorus or typing so I opted to perch and peck. My best was 35 wpm but during a drill of typing "and the" I passed 120. The teacher turned out to be the future mother in law of my wife's cousin.
I found later in life I could do just as well using the three middle fingers of both hands but it came in handy while generating 3 pt receipts, shipping manifests and whatever paper business needs to run.
I found later in life I could do just as well using the three middle fingers of both hands but it came in handy while generating 3 pt receipts, shipping manifests and whatever paper business needs to run.
Geez. A keyboard is a keyboard, regardless of how the taps get transferred . . .
