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Journal Chacham's Journal: Verbiage: Typewriters and backspace 7

Journal by Chacham

Saw a cute comment that caught my eye.

I went to the school newspaper office, put the sheets in, and discovered that I could not type on a typewriter. I typed every day for journalism classes and for the student paper, plus 2-3 hours a day on email discussion lists, but everything I touched had a working backspace, so there was no problem correcting errors, and this typewriter you couldn't.

Specifically, but everything I touched had a working backspace. Oh, how true.

I know i use the backspace a lot. Whether to allow me to write and see how it looks, or not to think so i can correct typing mistakes later. The typewriter just wouldn't work for me. Or perhaps, it would just take a different approach.

Just reminded of it, "What is a ten-letter word that can be spelled using only the top row of letters on a typewriter?"

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Verbiage: Typewriters and backspace More

Verbiage: Typewriters and backspace

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  • I know it, and I know you do too because you recently typed it.

    The last typewriter I used actually had a white out ribbon parallel with the ink ribbon. The backspace key actually worked as expected, as the carriage would back up, then the hammer would take a few whacks at the whiteout ribbon to cover up the letter. You could still see the indentation of the original letter in the paper, and it was slow, but it did the job well, as long as you were deleting from the end of your sentence. Left shifting a sen
  • Basically, we, the digital generation, use the keyboard as a drafting tool. Instead of coming up with our ideas on pen and paper first, we do the revision and reanalysis on the screen, using backspace, arrow keys and delete to make the modifications that are necessary during a normal typing adventure. We don't prototype, we to RAD (rapid application development) style work, editing as we go, but not thinking past the next word or two.
    • We don't prototype, we to RAD

      At least when it comes to typing. When programming, i almost always design first.

      The difference would be in the magnitude. Rapidly typing is easy. Besides it helps to convey thoughts that may have otherwise been ignored if prototyped. Programming, however, is quite the opposite. Without design, useless and poor modules would be coded, that design would have weeded out.

      Then again, i seem to be taking typing as a conveyance of thought, and programming as of more importance. If
  • proprietor
    repertoire
    perpetuity
    peppertree
    pe pperwort

    Was there a word you were implying?

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