 |
| On our shelf: the old Halda, from the 30´s. |
My mum had a Facit, with the old key layout (they changed the positions of å, ä, ö and some other keys in the 70´s), which I played with as a kid. I learned proper typing on an electrical, and my first jobs involved real typing, as the pc and wordprocessor didn´t become standard in all offices until the early 90´s. I was probably at my fastest when I was working as a clerk/secretary at Stockholm City Hall, by then on wordprocessor DisplayWrite4. We had a state-of-the-art ink-jet printer, I loved that thing! It was like magic.
I used to have a very nifty travel typewriter with exchangeable types, that allowed you to use different types of font. It also had an eraser tape, very practical. But I gave that away when I got my first laptop. I just tested my speed (something I haven´t done since school) and I can write a modest 60 words a minute. It is puzzling, I think, that schools don´t seem to teach proper typing skills, considering everyone uses computers these days.
Jag kan skriva60ord i minutenHur många ord i minuten klarar du?
i remember my old typewriter. it and a typing course were high school graduation presents. i don't use what i learned when typing on the computer, tho. i usually have a cuppa coffee or a glass of water in my left hand and type with my right. hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI was probably one of the last to hear "you might as well learn how to type, that way you´ll always have a job". LOL! I love being able to do it, though.
DeleteOnce a friend from Creative Writing commented that I look scary when I type and watch the screen, not my hands. "You look like you´re blind," he said. My little friend Oscar (9) said the other day that when I write on the computer my spine goes all straight. I had no idea. I suppose I have some kind of secretarial backbone.
Oh, and I did learn shorthand in English, the Gregg system. I was second best in my class, I really enjoyed that. That I really had no use for later, but I believe it gave me a decent feel for English grammar.
Deletethat comment about looking "scary" struck a chord with me. i think it looks scary when my husband is talking with me -looking at me- but typing steadily on his laptop at the same time. aiiieeee! freaks me out lol
DeleteI do that too. When you type, it´s like the words go from your eyes straight into your fingers without passing the brain. It´s perfectly possible to think about other things while typing.
DeleteI also saw the documentary about W.A. Earlier I didn´t like his films but now I´ve got more understandning for his work now. About old typewriters; they are beatiful when you look at them, but a tool for murdering your fingers if you not are especially skilled.
ReplyDelete(As you see I use your blog to read and practice english writing. Hope you foregive me for not beeing escecially skilled - yet!
I´m certainly not the language police - I make plenty of mistakes myself. I decided on English for the blog for the same reasons, and I have family and friends who are not Swedish.
Delete