Can You Type?

Yes! I took typing in high school and I can type very fast. I'm so glad I took that class so long ago. It comes in extremely handy!

Yes! I took typing in high school 15 years ago and it was one of the most useful things I learned. I took it as a "joke" class, and I'm so glad I did!

Yes, ma'am I can. Last time I was tested was at 75 wpm.

And YES! I have a typewriter!! Not just a keyboard!!

Keyboarding is typing on the keyboard vs. a typewriter - totally different feel.

ETA!! COOKIES?!?!?! Where are the cookies/!??!?! I want one!!! Do I get one, huh, huh?

I do, I type over 90 wpm without looking. Not sure how I got so fast, I think it was when I had a chat room addiction at age 14, lol.

((Chuckle)) Imagine 19 y/o Ephie, whose dream it was to live the life of a solitary writer. Romantic right? A bottle of vino, too many cigarettes, an old typewriter, 'deep' conversations with other people who think just like you - you get the picture.

But here's the catch: Typewriters do not provide spell check (SHUDDER!) and their darn keys are just too far apart for my lazy fingers. Watching me try to type is a bit like watching a gorilla trying to do needlepoint. Anyway, long story short, I left that dream to pain-in-the-bottom boys I dated (past tense) and got on with a brighter existence.

Yep. In the IT world and programming - it's a must.

Roughly about 80 wpm. yes! Men can type! And not just on keyboards! My wife laughs at me - I type on our old Corona typewriter I had in college. It still works!

I see mention of cookies. May I have one please? That is - if I passed the test. I think I passed the test!

Yes, I do. When I took it in high school the keys were blank so you "had" to learn where they were. In secretarial school it was a great help and I did do 90 plus words a minute on a manual - couldn't do that now.

In my current job I do transcription and it is handy to keep up with the person talking and know some of what they are going to say. My speed on the computer is about 90 or so if not more.

This has been a skill that has helped me get and keep jobs. Very seldom do I look at my hands when I type it is the screen that I look at as I go.
Call it a lost art or skill.

The other S.

PS I have worn off the lettes on my keyboard and I should be getting a new one soon so I can wear those letters off as well (hahaha).

Hi J.-

NO...I cannot type...**sigh**

My mom always wanted me to take a typing class in HS...but as they were moving overseas, I skipped my junior year in HS...and had a shortage of space for it with required courses.

In college, I had a 'royal' manual typewriter...(I am really dating myself here) REAMS of 'erasable' paper...and several TONS of 'white out'. One of my degrees was in psych...so I 'hunted and pecked my way through seemingly endless papers.

I still hunt and peck...lol

Best Luck!
michele/cat

***ETA***

My 'royal' is somewhere in the basement...before I donate it to a museum...I will find it...and post a picture here...lol

Now I have to feed my pet dinosaurs...

YES, in fact, I most certainly can!

Now where's my cookie?! ;)

obviously not if you ever read my posts!

No, I cant type. I took a typing class in college and it was one long frustration.

We had an intern a few years back. I asked him to type up a label for a shipment.
He walked over to the IBM Selectric, stood there for about 3 minutes and said "Uh.......um....do I need to turn this on or something....?" I told him to think of it as a keyboard without a monitor OR spell check (no correction tape!).

uhhh, well, what if I have never even seen a typewriter in person?

Im gonna go with no, but Im a whiz on the keyboard! : /

Like an M&M-er (my son is experimenting with alternate swear words lately)

80-120 depending on my familiarity and if I'm drinking/eating at the same time (I'm bad. I know. But if I don't multitask I forget to eat.)

My Grandfather (born pre 1900) taught me! On a not just manual, but a non-electric typewriter ((did you know the average secretary gained 15lbs when they made electric typewriters???)). So I rather revel in making mistakes. No white ribbons! No retying the entire sheet!!! Veeeeeek-tor-eeeeee. I write for fun (and used to write for publication) so when I got my first computer with a backspace, I fell into paroxysms of delight. And mice??? Cut/paste??? Fohgeddaboudit!!! LOVE!

I DO look at the keys, and I don't have dedicated fingers (comes in useful when I need to type onehanded -eating, drinking, injuries, etc.). I just sort of split the keyboard down the middle and have at. I can type the "official" way... but I'm so much slower at it (my best ever was about 50wpm) that it's pretty pointless. I just use my short term memory.

Gosh... just realizing this makes me sound old. Maybe I am. But I refuse to think of 32 as old. My friends (all 10-25 years older) would take me out and shoot me.

No, I'm too afraid of making mistakes since I can't just delete them. LOL!

Yup. I could probably still use a manual one, too. My husband and I found some old EZ Erase typing paper in my desk recently, and walked down memory lane about those round erasers with the brushes on the end to fix your mistakes...um...I'm really dating myself, aren't I? lol.

I can type fast, but I have to glance at the keyboard occasionally.

i can type correctly (with hands on the right keys) but i was never taught how to ten-key so i do that my own way. i don't do the numbers on the top row with the right fingers either, just the easiest ones. somehow i never got that lesson...lol.

i actually learned to type on an old electric typewriter in high school. stone age, right! lol...i graduated in 96.

the thing i'm thinking is, if it's an actual typewriter - first i'd be concerned because it wouldn't "feel" like a keyboard, and of course that would throw me off - and also, you can't just backspace so you'd have to make sure and do it right the first time! :) so that would definitely slow me down....

i also manage an office that does data entry, so i type allllllll daaaayyyyyy loonnnnggg...so you could say i'm a professional :) and even though my fingers aren't technically on the right keys when doing numeric (whether it's ten key or on the actual keyboard) i hold my own with our fastest typers, so i don't think it's much of a problem...

(but at my previous job i got really good at 10 key, although it slowed me down because the numbers on the phone are flipped and i used both frequently!) lol

Yes. It makes my man nuts that I can watch tv and type answers to you guys at the same time lol.

Yes, I took typing in high school. I was probably close to 90 WPM at one point. Not sure I'm as fast now though I'm on the keyboard all day. I'm certainly a little more careless than back in the days when you had to use white-out.

I thought keyboarding was the same as Qwerty typing? Am I wrong on that?

Sure. I use to be really good. I learned in HS. I am a wiz on a computer keyboard. I can do about 80 words a minute with no errors.

I have never used a typewriter, and I'm not sure I've even seen more than one in person...

I am, however, quite proficient on a computer...

Yes. I learned on a typewriter in high school. I can still type easily without looking at the keyboard. Since I teach English, I'm always typing up assignments, or emailing students and parents. It would take me forever if I had to look at the keyboard.

Hi J., yes I can. I learned on a typewriter many many years ago, and typed at 96 wpm, before we went over to keyboards. Who knows now!!!

Yes, it was a required class for me in high school. I actually type very quickly.

Letters, most punctuation. Not the numbers. That was at the end of the typing course, J., and I was tired of my typing class. I wish they had taught numbers at the beginning of the class and then I would be able to do it in my sleep.

Touch typing is the best thing ever - I feel sorry for people who can't do any touch typing. I type as fast as I think, which is helpful.

Dawn

Yep, I type close to 60 wpm. I enjoy it actually :) I took a few classes in high school and learned very fast.

Yes - I never took typing in school (I don't even know if it was offered) but I figured it out on my own and can do it properly. I had to take a typing test for the company that placed me in my first job at my current company because I was an admin. I barely passed the minimum words per minute requirement but they hired me any and many years and promotions later I'm still here so it must have been good enough!

Not really, I type fast but I feel the need to look. Sometimes I start typing without looking but when I notice I am doing it I start to get many errors, weird.

My husband finds it awkward when people type without even looking, specially when they are looking at him while typing, I catch him once looking at person and looking at the computer, many times as in a " aren't you going to check if you made a mistake?" LOL.

Me on the other side get jealous of those who can.

I can type properly. But have never used a typewriter.

Yes. I taught myself at 13, then took a class in high school (on manual typewriters). Went to college and worked as a computer programmer for several years. Typing ability came in very handy. Now that I've been a grad student for six years, even more handy for typing all the papers. My stepkids in their 20s marvel at how I can type without looking. I'll be teaching my 9 year-old soon.

I too learned on a typewriter :) We've homeschooled all our girls. We used typing tutor programs. They work well. My 2nd daughter was typing 80 wpm at about 7 years old. Last I heard she was at 110 wpm all the time.

I'm 55. Learned to type in 7th grade. I am typing this to you w/o looking at the keys.

The alternative keyboard you mention is called DVORAK. You can actually make your MAC/PC change to this keyboard by making some adjustments on your control panel. There is also another keyboard configuration called COLEMAK. I just recently learned about these alternative keyboards...wish I knew about this when I was younger. The qwirky keyboard is designed so that the top row spells "typewriter"...it was a sales ploy when typewriters were invented.

Our law firm still has 3 daisy-wheel IBM typwriters that we sometimes use to fill out forms. However, the new Adobe 9 software makes needing a typewriter obsolete. You can scan a document and place the cursor wherever on a page and type. I do find it humorous when our law clerks try to use the typewriter...it is comical!

Yes, but I don't know a lot of people that can these days. (The old school way). 10-key, not so fast since I don't have that part on my keyboard though. But yes, I can type in the dark with all the lights off just as fast as I can in the day, and I average 63 wpm. I did a semester as a "throw away course" my senior year of highschool. I saved all the stupid classes for my senior year to optimize my "fun capacity" that year.

Yes I can type but it's been about 11 years since the last time I used an actual typewriter.

Yes, I am typing this right now without looking at the keys. I nomally type this way--we had keyboarding classes when I was in junior high. Keyboarding is basically touch typing==never looking at the home keys--never looking at your product, unless you realize you've made a mistake and are not sure when.

I think I maxed out around 65 wpm when I was in school, but then as a History major in college, I ended up typing so often that I probably would be closer to 80 or 90 now.

Yes I took typing in HS as well. One of the most useful classes I ever took. My mother does word processing for a living. I believe the last time she was tested she was typing 120 wpm! But that was years ago I'm sure she's even faster now. Her fingers fly when she's working. She went to secretary school (1960s) and never went to college. She's been at it so long that she's making amazing money.

I'm intrigued by typewriters and like the way they look-- my husband even had a ring made for me from an old-fashioned typewriter key :) ----, but I've never had to use one. I type very well on a keyboard though.

The closest I ever came to failing a class was manual typing in high school! One boy in the class could do over 100 wpm.
But in graduate school, I had so many papers due every week, that I became quite good at it on the computer. I would probably still do pretty poorly on a manual typewriter though.

Yes, I learned to type in high school. My son has typing as a mandatory class in middle school. My husband still does the hunt & peck variety for himself.

Hi J. ~ Yes, I can. About 70 wpm. Typing was one of my favorites classes :)

Yup. Back when Broderbund still paid people in the United States to work on their products, I worked on a software product called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. (I lost my job there to Outsourcing and had to train my Indian counterparts how to do my job before I was "let go". Yes, I'm still bitter.) I knew how to type prior to that but in the months this SKU was in production I increased my word-count significantly.

Now I just need to learn to spell better. Most of what slows me down are misspellings. =/

No I can not!

I have taught myself my own 'way' of typing and it drives my husband NUTS...I only use the my thumbs and my first 3 fingers, not my pinky fingers!

~Husband is a computer programmer who has spent his life on a computer and can type really well!

Yes, learned in high school. It's amazing the young people we hire that have never seen an actual typewriter.

I have never tried with a typewriter, but I normally type quickly without looking at my fingers, with fairly accurate results unless I'm rushing.

Over the years I have taught myself touch typing and only need occasional glances at the keyboard. I have no idea how it came to be. But a couple days ago my son was watching me watching TV and typing something on here at the same time and asked how I could do that. All I could say was practice and I just did.
I don't have the finger strength anymore to type on a manual typewriter even though my husband and I own several borderline antique ones. I have my mom's old one and we bought a couple really neat older ones at garage sales just becuase we liked them.

I'm 37 and I learned how to type in HS. Do they still teach it? I hope so...and I hope it's more of a middle school requirement and not HS. If not,
I'll be getting a program to help teach my 7 and 9 year olds. I think it's important to know how, makes typing life SO much easier!

Took typing in high school my junior year but had a terrible time not making mistakes. It was so hard to hit those awful keys hard enough. I am sort of glad I took it though as it comes back to you on the computer and I don't look at the keys and type very fast without many mistakes. SO much easier.

haven't done it since freshman year of high school (on a actual typewriter) no keyboard!

Yes, and I still have to dig out the old typewriter at work every so often and use it! I can 10-key too, but don't do well with the #'s on the typewriter, I do have to hunt and peck for those.

yes, I can. learned on the stone aged typewriters in high school. I am not as good at the 10-key. I can do numbers without looking but I'm not very quick at it.

Yes. And despite all the time they spend with computers, texting, etc. my kids ask me, "How do you do that?" And no, most HS don't teach it anymore. Very sad. I bought my kids a learn to type DVD, but we keep forgetting to use it and I fear it may be too late. They may already have bad keyboard habits. I took typing in 9th grade and it may have been one of my most useful HS classes ever.

Yes.
I learned on a manual typewriter in Junior High, 9th grade, 1975.
I used to type 85 wpm. Only the teacher could beat me on timed tests.

I haven't seen one in about 20 years but when they were used for all kinds of things I could type about 50 WPM with no errors. I had excellent spelling once upon a time.

I'm not as fast as I used to be, but yes I can type. I learned in 7th grade and I honestly thought I'd hit the jackpot, I found a class that I LOVED! ;) I am a serious nerd, apparently. Our school had a variety of typewriters in the classroom, had to rely on donations I'm sure, and anyway, I used to pick the old giant IBMs that were super clunky while my classmates fought over the new electric variety. I don't know my wpm anymore but I used to be pretty fast. Now adays my typing consists mostly of emails and Mamapedia so I guess I don't have much of an occassion to be fast!

I used to be able to and I couldn't stand getting my fingers stuck between the keys. I am so thankful I no longer have to use a typewriter.

Do they even make these anymore?

Yep, and I enjoy it. It's much quicker and easier than a phone call. I carry on conversations this way and get so much done by staying off the phone.

I learned on an electric typewriter in high school.

nope I can do the fake typing you get from using a compute for years nearly as fast as some people can type. but no

We had typing class in 3rd grade and no one that I know (who went to school with me) can "really type" today even with that training- unless they had formal typing lessons privately.

I think someday I will give my daughters private lessons in typing, just because there were times- 8 pages in, on college papers that I thought- man, it might be nice to know how to REALLY type! But I do just fine for my own needs.

-M.

PS- I had an old manual typewriter as a kid- for a toy LOL- i have never used one to type a paper or anything- I would think your hands would ache after a while! better than nothing though, eh?

Yes, I learned how in secretarial school back in 1991-1993.

I learned how to type on a typewriter from my grandma. My high school keyboarding teacher was amazed at how much I knew and how fast I could type! I played piano for years too so probably have the right fingers for this type of thing (pun intended :)) Now I do medical billing so I type all day long. I type 100wpm.

Yep and pretty fast. Learned in high school and never lost any speed. My
husband is amazed at the speed I can type.

I took typing in school, but was terrible at it and I vowed to never be a secretary. Well, when I was in my early twenties, I ended up becoming a secretary and failed the typing test that I needed to secure the job at the time. They hired me anyway (thank God!), and I just kept practicing through the years and built up to 70wpm. On the computer, I type closer to 90wpm.