Kids react to Typewriters- "Please tell me there's a copy and

[AquariusGuy]

After seeing Ashi's status on typewriter's I could not resist posting this.

 

 

 

 

 

50 millionth time to post was the charm

Edited August 5, 2014 by Edward

[Bill W]

Edward's link didn't work for me... so try this one:

 

It's a riot watching them trying to use the typewriter and listening to their comments. 

[Bill W]

I'm not sure why the link didn't come through in my previous comment and it wouldn't let me edit.

 

[W_L]

Haha!

 

I've never used a typewriter, thank god!

 

However, this does make me want to buy one, stockpile paper, and white out for the Zombie Apocalyspse

[Ashi]

LOL.

 

BTW, you don't have to choose between old technology and the new.  There is a guy on Etsy who makes these:

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/usbtypewriter

 

I personally like the old mechanical typewriter (though I also have an electronic typewriter) because the nice typing sound it makes.  And the keys are harder to hit.  It's like piano vs keyboard really.  Give your fingers some work out.  Don't they look svelte, my fingers? 

 

And each typewriter gives a unique "fingerprint."  For bonus point, who can tell me what's the difference between pica & elite?  (no google)

 

I love the part in the video where the guy said (after he figured out how to insert the paper), "I'm good at this."  LOL.

 

How do I know all these?  Because..., I used a typewriter when I was in middle school.  (OMG!)  Schools back in the early 90's were very underfunded, so we had these typewriters.  It had the same punch bar thingy as my newly acquired 1947 Underwood Universal.  When you click a key, it punches a letter.  Then the one from my high school (yes, we still had typewriter back in high school), it required electricity, but it was still largely mechanical (but you didn't have to use much force.  It had a ball with all the letters and numbers on it.  No, not the "modern" daisy wheel kind). 

 

My flea market find was relatively well dampened.  Still has smooth action.  And it smells like someone lubricated it with oil.  Found the serial number so I know it's Underwood Universal Model F, made in 1947 (the wonder of google).  It is somewhat dirty, but for the most part, still in good shape.

 

The typewriter in the video is still too modern.  LOL.  That's more like the kind I used in middle school.  An Olympia maybe?  (the one from high school was a Royal, which could switch between pica and elite).  Back in my university days, we had a shop right across the school which sold Olivetti typewriters and other mechanical office equipments.  Which was a little odd even at the time, but it's closed now.

 

Remember those ASCII arts?  Back in the days we did that in class for extra bonus, using a typewriter.

 

And you don't use white out to erase a letter!!!  The video is like..., just wrong!  We had this thingy called "correction tape."  So what you do is, click the backspace key to go back to the wrong letter, press the button or lever to move the ink ribbon out of the way, put the correction in front of the wrong letter, and type over it.  The correction tape is white, so it covers the wrong letter.  My modern Brother fully electronic typewriter, if you don't use the LCD "word processor" screen to proofread, it has the correction tape built-in, so all you do is click the backspace, and the typo is automatically erased (and you can choose per letter or erase the whole word).  OMG.  Isn't that an engineering marvel?  LOL.

 

Yes, like the video showed, you have to type one paper at a time (we didn't use carbon paper in school).  Some people used to make a living typing letters.  You gotta be quick and no typos, and you proofread your own stuff.  Imagine a typewriter with a cellphone auto correct function in it.  LOL

 

This post probably makes me 20 years older.  LOL

[Caz Pedroso]

I remember using my mum's typewriter when I was in junior school (aged 7-11 for anyone not in the UK). We couldn't afford a computer back then.

 

God it makes me feel old, seeing as I'm writing this post on an iPad. Lol 

[Rockette]

I was a teacher for several years and I loved to bring in things like that for my students to play around with.  I brought in my first generation iPod one time and their reactions were priceless.  They didn't believe me when I told them what it was, but I showed them that it still worked.  After that the conversation degenerated into my strange taste in music.  lol

[AquariusGuy]

Any time younger people see "older" technology they cringe.

 

My cousins once tried to play my Nintendo NES and gave up because they could not go backwards for something they missed.

 

Things have changed.... I used an electric typewriter briefly but computers mainly in school. By the time I reach high school typewriters were replaced by computers in school.

[Ashi]

I was a teacher for several years and I loved to bring in things like that for my students to play around with.  I brought in my first generation iPod one time and their reactions were priceless.  They didn't believe me when I told them what it was, but I showed them that it still worked.  After that the conversation degenerated into my strange taste in music.  lol

 

Now..., share your playlist.

[Rockette]

Now..., share your playlist.

 

Mostly punk and progressive metal with a prodigious amount of Japanese bands thrown in.  Needless to say, the kids were surprised.  I guess they expected more laid back music from a cardigan-loving english teacher.

[Ashi]

Mostly punk and progressive metal with a prodigious amount of Japanese bands thrown in.  Needless to say, the kids were surprised.  I guess they expected more laid back music from a cardigan-loving english teacher.

 

Hey, I love those genres!  Didn't I say share your playlist?  LOL

[zaf89]

I still have my grandma's old Smith Corona and break it out to type up poems on every so often. It's nice to take a step back in time occasionally . Of course, we didn't have a computer or internet access until I was in middle school (like, 2002-ish), so I was always playing catch up with the other kids.

[Celethiel]

lol.

When i was a kid, both my mom and My dad had a typewriter....

My moms was actually an old cast iron one...(no idea where she got it)

When i was a freshman in highschool, Typing Class intalled... using Typewriters... because the town i live in hadn't gotten around to updating to computers yet (financial issues i hope)...i dropped the class and went to an actually computer class (which is what I was supposed to be in in the first place (I had just moved here from another town that i was in a Class with computers...)

I retook the class in my senior year, by which time they upgraded to... 1980's IBMs lol!

I actually have a typewriter in my closet that was given to me by my boss... he said: here keep this for us, we might need it sometime...(which would be highly unlikely considering they had computers )

[AquariusGuy]

lol.

When i was a kid, both my mom and My dad had a typewriter....

My moms was actually an old cast iron one...(no idea where she got it)

When i was a freshman in highschool, Typing Class intalled... using Typewriters... because the town i live in hadn't gotten around to updating to computers yet (financial issues i hope)...i dropped the class and went to an actually computer class (which is what I was supposed to be in in the first place (I had just moved here from another town that i was in a Class with computers...)

I retook the class in my senior year, by which time they upgraded to... 1980's IBMs lol!

I actually have a typewriter in my closet that was given to me by my boss... he said: here keep this for us, we might need it sometime...(which would be highly unlikely considering they had computers )

 

I used an IBM Selctric (I think that was what it was called) growing up. In school computers were just being introduced but were expensive. By the time I got to High school in 1996 typewriter's were phased out and replaced by computers.

 

I definitely like computers much better.

[Ashi]

lol.

When i was a kid, both my mom and My dad had a typewriter....

My moms was actually an old cast iron one...(no idea where she got it)

When i was a freshman in highschool, Typing Class intalled... using Typewriters... because the town i live in hadn't gotten around to updating to computers yet (financial issues i hope)...i dropped the class and went to an actually computer class (which is what I was supposed to be in in the first place (I had just moved here from another town that i was in a Class with computers...)

I retook the class in my senior year, by which time they upgraded to... 1980's IBMs lol!

I actually have a typewriter in my closet that was given to me by my boss... he said: here keep this for us, we might need it sometime...(which would be highly unlikely considering they had computers )

 

I guess your family was a multi-typewriter household.  I still remember the time when multiple-computer household was not common.  Now almost everyone has a home network....

 

Hmm, I am not sure I like the kind of boss who treat employees as their extended garage, but you could try eBay.

 

I used an IBM Selctric (I think that was what it was called) growing up. In school computers were just being introduced but were expensive. By the time I got to High school in 1996 typewriter's were phased out and replaced by computers.

 

I definitely like computers much better.

 

Hey, those IBM "clicky" keyboards are legends.  The second best thing after a real typewriter.  The thing about a real typewriter is the sound and mechanicalness.

 

My HS slowly moved to modern computer in my senior year, but I was already done with my "Word Processing" class by then (yes, we had clicky keyboards, and we had one of those cheat sheet template that you put around your F-keys on the keyboard to show you which function key does which.  I faintly remember F7 or F9 is for margin alignment).  We used DOS version of WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3.  Imagine that!

Edited August 11, 2014 by Ashi

[AquariusGuy]

I guess your family was a multi-typewriter household.  I still remember the time when multiple-computer household was not common.  Now almost everyone has a home network....

 

Hmm, I am not sure I like the kind of boss who treat employees as their extended garage, but you could try eBay.

 

 

Hey, those IBM "clicky" keyboards are legends.  The second best thing after a real typewriter.  The thing about a real typewriter is the sound and mechanicalness.

 

My HS slowly moved to modern computer in my senior year, but I was already done with my "Word Processing" class by then (yes, we had clicky keyboards, and we had one of those cheat sheet template that you put around your F-keys on the keyboard to show you which function key does which.  I faintly remember F7 or F9 is for margin alignment).  We used DOS version of WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3.  Imagine that!

 

I know what keyboards your talking about but I was talking about the electric typewriters. My mom had it up until a few years ago and it became increasingly hard to find ribbons.

 

I know all about DOS and remember when you had to give the computer a command to do something. I also remember when I switch elementary schools and they had a computer lab. We would spend hours playing Oregon trail.

[Ashi]

I know what keyboards your talking about but I was talking about the electric typewriters. My mom had it up until a few years ago and it became increasingly hard to find ribbons.

 

I know all about DOS and remember when you had to give the computer a command to do something. I also remember when I switch elementary schools and they had a computer lab. We would spend hours playing Oregon trail.

 

LOL.  Back then when I was taking a programming class (QBasic and Pascal... who uses that now?) people were chatting using the school computer, though they were sitting next to each other.  LOL  Before there is texting....

[Gene Splicer PHD]

I used an IBM Selectric for a few years in the Navy to type up radio messages to order supplies. It had some kind of OCR typeface that the radio set could scan to send the radio messages. It also had the interchangeable balls to switch typefaces. It had a ribbon that had whiteout, so you could actually backspace, lol. The problem with this was that it sometimes missed with the whiteout, so you'd have to start over or the radio guys would kick it back. When you typed, it sounded like TUNK TUNK TUNK instead of the normal "clack" you got with a manual typewriter. Anytime you backspaced it went KER-chunka and the whole desk shook lol. If you pulled out a piece of appear really fast it would WHEEEE as the roller spun.

 

So my typing up a message sounded like TUNK TUNK TUNK TUNK TUNKTUNKTUNK...TUNK..TUNK"shit"...KER-chunka KER-chunka KER-chunka KER-chunka...TUNKTUNKTUNK...dammit KER-chunka KER-chunka WHEEE "Screw it I'm going to the bar"

 

 

Also, backspacing consisted of hitting a backspace key until you got on top of the character you wanted to correct, holding down a button to lift the whiteout ribbon up where the black ribbon usually sat, and typing the character again to white it out. Then you'd back up again, and type the character you wanted. Didn't work for non-mono space typefaces at all. Horrible.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Gene Splicer PHD

[Ashi]

So my typing up a message sounded like TUNK TUNK TUNK TUNK TUNKTUNKTUNK...TUNK..TUNK"shit"...KER-chunka KER-chunka KER-chunka KER-chunka...TUNKTUNKTUNK...dammit KER-chunka KER-chunka WHEEE "Screw it I'm going to the bar"

 

Also, backspacing consisted of hitting a backspace key until you got on top of the character you wanted to correct, holding down a button to lift the whiteout ribbon up where the black ribbon usually sat, and typing the character again to white it out. Then you'd back up again, and type the character you wanted. Didn't work for non-mono space typefaces at all. Horrible.

 

LOL.  That sounds like my old Brother typewriter back in the early 90's, except the whole desk shaking part.  LOL.  Fortunately, mine could remember which font I used (i.e., there was only one font face) and erase it correctly.  But sometimes I went cheapskate and reuse the correction ribbon, so not all part of the letter would be erased.

[Thorn Wilde]

I love typewriters! They make me happy. I really want a typewriter to type up my final manuscripts on.

[GrimIsaac]

I like how a typewriter feels, both with the necessary force required to print the keys, and the sound the keys make.