Tuesday 16 September 2008

thequickbrownfoxjumpedoverthelazydog


When I was in about grade 9 my uncle told me he had taken typing in high school and that it had served him well. Typing class wasn't really a 'guy' thing in my high school. On the other hand I don't think we would have been allowed to take Home Ec even if we had had the nerve ask.

I took typing in high school. It may have been because I recognized sound advice when I heard it but it was more likely because I was trying to get through high school by doing as little work as possible. Either way, I've always been glad I learned to touch type.

My first typewriter was my Mom's black Underwood, the kind you could see the insides of. Eventually I got her IBM Selectric which seemed like the Cadillac of typewriters at the time. The thing must have weighed 50 lbs.!

These portables are a nice size but I still have no desire, whatsoever, to go back to the good old days of White Out and carbon paper.

the lowercase reading room is another unique shop on an increasingly funky stretch of Main St.

15 comments :

Debbie Courson Smith said...

Wayne, you are a wise man. I didn't take typing class in high school, and I should have! I did teach myself, but I would have had a head start working in network newsrooms if I HAD taken typing.

Laurie Allee said...

This is great. I learned to type on a true relic -- an old iron typewriter from around 1900 that had come from a Western Union office where my grandfather had worked in the 1930s. My family called that thing Old Ironsides. When I got to high school, I bought a little portable electric that I called the Easy Writer. I typed my first news stories for my college newspaper on that little typewriter.

Saretta said...

Oh! I remember high school typing class! It was a great investment of my time and energy and has served me very well over the years!

Ken Mac said...

are those units for looks only or do they you type on them? Don't think I would know how...

Ken said...

I wish I had learned to type as would save my two fingers from a lot of wear and tear. Guys couldn't take home ec. at our school. It was to bad because rumour had it the home ec teacher posed for Playboy.

Sharon said...

Another memory jogger. When I was little my mother had an old typewriter with the black and white keys that they now make jewelry out of. She also switched to an electric portable with a carry case and all. It also weighed a ton and wasn't really portable unless you were particularly muscular.

Wayne said...

I went into the shop today to let them know about the post. It's unique. There are lots of one of a kind items.

They have even more typewriters inside. I was shocked. I did not ask, but I'm going to guess that they are in working order. In fact they have one set up so you can type up something original on their templates and they will turn it into a button while you wait.

I guess I should have had a button made so I could explain it better.

USelaine said...

The guys couldn't take home ec, and I couldn't take woodshop! I took typing in high school for two quarters, but couldn't stand it after that. For me, it looked like a fast track to typing someone else's letters and memos, and I resented the heck out of that. I never got past 35wpm. But, at least I can now type this comment with "home-row" touch typing. Personal computers weren't even dreamed of in those days.

Janet Kincaid said...

I also took typing in high school. They called the class "Word Processing" and I thought I'd signed up for a computer class! Ha! Was I surprised. But, I stayed with it and I'm glad I did. Watching young people hunt-and-peck is painful. (Of course, watching me stumble with a Blackberry is probably just as painful for them! LOL!)

Janet Kincaid said...

P.S. If you want to read a great book about the man who wrote the sentence that is your entry's title, check out Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn. Excellent, whimsical, southern-eccentric little book!

Jill said...

People don't really buy these do they? I remember learning on a manual where you had to push the keys down about an inch. It is kind of amazing to think about what we've seen -- electrics, Mag Cards, Keypunch, Wang word processors, 4 mHz 8086s with 5 MB hard drives... my blackberry really is pretty grand in comparison.

Laurie Allee said...

I want to second the recommendation for Ella Minnow Pea. It's a wonderful, whimsical novel.

Jane Hards Photography said...

I don't miss typewriters at all, although I do like the aqau ones you have here.

Mame said...

My neck hurts *right now* because I never learned how to type. Might as well scatter chicken feed on my keyboard.

I love the photo. The Typewriters look amazing. Isn't it weird to be some place (like the booking office of a cop house) and hear a typewriter clacking away?

Virginia said...

OH I remember those old typewriters. We used to race to typing class to get the best ones. Remember how the keys would get hung up and you had to separate them, getting the gunk on your fingers?? My mom was a secretary and you're right, the Selectric was a monster but boy she could make it smoke!!!