How's Your Typing?
Apr 16, 2017 22:50:24 #
Like several others in here, my mom made me take typing in high school. We had a real knock down, drag-out fight over it. Finally I agreed if I could also take auto shop ( 4 years )! The first day of class I walked in and found out I was the only guy in the class with 60 girls. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I did well, just to keep up with the girls.
Both classes served me well over the years. I built my own MG-TD from the frame up my senior year, and have been touch-typing on my computer for decades! Thanks, mom!
Both classes served me well over the years. I built my own MG-TD from the frame up my senior year, and have been touch-typing on my computer for decades! Thanks, mom!
Apr 17, 2017 03:31:36 #
Silke
Loc: Germany
I touch type. ALL day long. (I write books.)
I also use an ergonomic keyboard (Microsoft Ergonomic 4000) because I have RSI.
Honestly, the layout / shape of the keyboard helps me type more accurately, and know immediately when my fingers are on the wrong keys. And the keyboard is very comfortable to type on.
Which reminds me to buy another for reserve, since I need a Qwerty layout, and that's not available in Germany.
My keyboard is so used, it doesn't have letters on many of the keys, so it helps to know what they are from the position of them lol.
i.e. e-r-t m and f are completely blank. There's only a shadow of a letter left on s-d-g-c-v-b-u-h.
I don't need a new keyboard, but I am looking for replacement stickers! LOL
I have a brand new fancy keyboard where the buttons light up...sitting in a box, never even taken out of the packaging. Because it's a straight keyboard...and it has a qwertz layout. (Came with the computer.)
I also use an ergonomic keyboard (Microsoft Ergonomic 4000) because I have RSI.
Honestly, the layout / shape of the keyboard helps me type more accurately, and know immediately when my fingers are on the wrong keys. And the keyboard is very comfortable to type on.
Which reminds me to buy another for reserve, since I need a Qwerty layout, and that's not available in Germany.
My keyboard is so used, it doesn't have letters on many of the keys, so it helps to know what they are from the position of them lol.
i.e. e-r-t m and f are completely blank. There's only a shadow of a letter left on s-d-g-c-v-b-u-h.
I don't need a new keyboard, but I am looking for replacement stickers! LOL
I have a brand new fancy keyboard where the buttons light up...sitting in a box, never even taken out of the packaging. Because it's a straight keyboard...and it has a qwertz layout. (Came with the computer.)
Apr 17, 2017 05:58:25 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Oh, how I wish I had learned touch-typing when I was younger. I envy people whose fingers fly over the keys with them even looking. As it is, I can type fast, but I have to look, and my fingers often pick up extra letters, so I have to go back and delete them. At least 'spelling correction' helps me to see and correct my errors. So how do you people do at the keyboard?
Mavis Beacon teaches typing is still sitting on my bookshelf, unopened. Been there about 20 years. I always seemed to be just fast enough not to need to bother right now.
Apr 17, 2017 06:23:27 #
Apr 17, 2017 07:30:38 #
Learned in junior high school. Fast. Accurate. No need to look. Can answer e-mail flat on my back with the computer on my chest if needed. Still do some typing for friends who are desperate. Charged a six-pack per paper up to 20 pages in college. My roommate still thanks me. He couldn't spell either. Corrected the errors along the way. Typing is an absolutely critical skill. My lab partner in med school never learned to type. One day her secretary walked by the office as she was trying to send an e-mail. She stopped, heaved a sigh, and said, " My job is secure" and went on her way.
Apr 17, 2017 07:31:04 #
Jerry, some years ago, I took a programming class. I found that by the time I found the letters on the keyboard, I forgot where I wanted the program to go. So, I purchased a teach yourself to type class. I worked with that every day. I eventually taught myself to type without looking at the keyboard. Best investment I ever made.
Am I a great typist? NO, But, I get by pretty well.
--Bob
Am I a great typist? NO, But, I get by pretty well.
--Bob
jerryc41 wrote:
Oh, how I wish I had learned touch-typing when I was younger. I envy people whose fingers fly over the keys with them even looking. As it is, I can type fast, but I have to look, and my fingers often pick up extra letters, so I have to go back and delete them. At least 'spelling correction' helps me to see and correct my errors. So how do you people do at the keyboard?
Apr 17, 2017 07:32:02 #
I took 2 semesters of typing my Senior year (1955) in High School. I was the only male in either class. The females all hated me because I was the best typist among all the students. I was enrolled in the College Prep curriculum, headed for Engineering, and I was positive that I'd have to write a lot of papers in college; my family was not rich and I knew I'd have to type all those by myself--couldn't hire it done--so I had strong motivation to excel. I think I eventually got up to 60 net wpm and could have qualified for a job doing it. When I eventually got into computers the skill was greatly appreciated. I can't type as fast any more, partly because I can't find a good keyboard. The one I have has a sensitive "a" key and even breathing hard on it puts extra "a" characters in what I'm typing. Also the shift key doesn't always function properly and I have to go back and fix that. I'm on my 3rd keyboard and still have difficulties.
I'm not so sure that touch typing will be a necessary skill in the future, because so many kids now just "text" and use all manner of shorthand expressions. As an oldster, I have much dismay with this loss of skills, particularly spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I'm not exactly a Luddite, but I do have standards.
I'm not so sure that touch typing will be a necessary skill in the future, because so many kids now just "text" and use all manner of shorthand expressions. As an oldster, I have much dismay with this loss of skills, particularly spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I'm not exactly a Luddite, but I do have standards.
Apr 17, 2017 08:10:14 #
Took typing in high school. Glad I did. Got me out of a few chores in basic training at Ft Knox KY. The company clerk came by and asked if anyone can type. I ignored the golden rule and volunteered. Anyone remember typing on mimeograph paper? That's what they used back in 1969. Plus, when I returned from Vietnam to Ft Hood, TX., they were going to make me a cook. I was trained as Military Police. I asked Lt. that was processing me into the base if there was anything else open. It was then I mentioned I typed. He made me his clerk!! So, long story longer, typing has been berry berry goood to me. Oh, best I ever did was about 70 wpm.
Jerry, as much as you spend on the computer and all the posts you make (thanks for all those posts), you might take advantage of the free typing courses available on the web!
Jerry, as much as you spend on the computer and all the posts you make (thanks for all those posts), you might take advantage of the free typing courses available on the web!
Apr 17, 2017 08:22:39 #
I am 86, when 15 with a friend took typing at Goldey Becom Collage in Wilmington DE. It has served me well over the years.
Apr 17, 2017 08:28:07 #
Like Szalajj, I learned touch typing in high school - maybe even summer school. But later, when I was a timekeeper I had to enter employee's time and it was all numbers. I got so I could finish my work (150-200 employees plus many different work orders) in half a day and then spend the rest of the day working with the programmers to make sure they got the new programs correct so the other timekeepers had fewer problems. Best job I ever had.
Apr 17, 2017 08:42:28 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Oh, how I wish I had learned touch-typing when I was younger. I envy people whose fingers fly over the keys with them even looking. As it is, I can type fast, but I have to look, and my fingers often pick up extra letters, so I have to go back and delete them. At least 'spelling correction' helps me to see and correct my errors. So how do you people do at the keyboard?
Think I am your first apprentice Jerry - I use the argument that my brain just works faster than my fingers lol!
My secretary used to type at incredible speed without looking at the keys - but my grandson, who has not been to secretarial school has his keyboard under his computer desk, mainly out of sight, but manages to type at breakneck speed - it must be due to genetic adaptation.
Apr 17, 2017 08:54:51 #
When my grandson was in second grade, ten years ago, I brought the old portable type writer up from the basement. Needless to say, he was fascinated and typed away filling a couple of pages with letters. He made me laugh when he said, "I wonder if Mrs. Murphy (his second grade teacher) ever saw one of these things".
Apr 17, 2017 09:13:45 #
pj81156
Loc: St. Petersburg, FL
I substitute teach in a very small northern Wisconsin town, (population 1,000). In the elementary school, several times a week, each student is taught keyboarding on their computers. And, they are taught the proper method. I typed this on my iPad, using the two finger method because of the size of the keyboard. But, when on my laptop I use the proper keyboarding method learned in junior high school.
Apr 17, 2017 09:14:23 #
I actually took typing classes in high School, Mrs Clock was the best teacher cause she knew boys were really not interested in typing but the girls she put lots of pressure on them because they were tomorrow secretaries. I took it because if you were planning to go to college you better know how to type. Then in the Army, " anybody know how to type?" Out of hundreds, ok Perez step forward. Big mistake, big......Orderly clerk plus everything else. But now that I look back I glad I did, not the fastest but it helps.
Apr 17, 2017 09:32:52 #
I learned to type in business college. Typing was a required course, and I learned to legitimately type about 45wpm on a Smith-Corona manual, one of the "standards" in manual typewriters. Later on, I got to switch over to an electric, and my WPM upped to around 65. I was a "Weak Willie" though, compared to the women, and a few men, who could get up to nearly 80WPM. They were all hired straight out of business school as secretaries. Learning typing also helped with my computer skills. I could keypunch my own program decks, not needing to wait on the keypunch operators.
When I got into the business world, I did a lot of my own typing. Secretaries and typists typically were assigned to execs or were overburdened with work, so I could get a lot of work done for myself. In the '70's, I went back to university, getting my bachelor's degree, and I didn't have to hire someone to type my own papers.
When we got our first computer terminals, it was easy to take care of my own data, and input my own programs.
Today, I don't have the speed, but I never regretted learning how to type.
When I got into the business world, I did a lot of my own typing. Secretaries and typists typically were assigned to execs or were overburdened with work, so I could get a lot of work done for myself. In the '70's, I went back to university, getting my bachelor's degree, and I didn't have to hire someone to type my own papers.
When we got our first computer terminals, it was easy to take care of my own data, and input my own programs.
Today, I don't have the speed, but I never regretted learning how to type.
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