Thursday, March 17, 2011

Typecast: Typosphere revival

Keychoppers will not be around much longer, I meant to say, especially as this revolution picks up steam. At least in the States, I think; now I should get to minding my own pot on this side of town. There don't seem to be any keychoppers in Switzerland (yet), thankfully, but having found a Selectric in the trash once, I wonder what else is being discarded...

14 comments:

  1. Well typed and well said.

    I am happy to be sophomoric!

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  2. Hopefully, my contributions to that PTF thread are not seen as trolling or flaming...I was a bit concerned about that after I typed it.

    Yea! I'm a Junior:)

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  3. Yay! I'm a "Fiery Freshman" posting typewriter porn! :D

    (Come to think of it, I think "Fiery Freshmen" was the title of one of those 16mm XXX films that came out of Sweden in the early 1970's. I might even have a copy in my collection.)

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  4. You never make any typos. How is this possible? I make about 12 per line.

    As I turn 40 this year, being called a 'senior' takes on a new, distressing meaning. I hope at least this means I can start cashing in on senior discounts.

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  5. You can get the Senior Discount, but you have to post before 4:30. Which is okay, because that gives you time to get your applesauce and find a good seat for Wheel of Fortune.

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  6. Deek, I think you came off very well in that conversation. It is such a touchy subject - more than I had realized - and some really heated opinions were expressed. I suppose we were all so busy writing letters and organizing type-ins and composing bits of creative writing... in effect, using our typewriters; that we forgot to pay any attention to those dastardly keychoppers. Not such a bad thing, if you ask me.

    Strikethru, don't make me point out all those awkward turns of phrase where I started a sentence one way, realized it wouldn't really work, and then was reluctant to strike through (haha) the words, so went on to compose a rather clunky and inelegant paragraph. In general, I avoid it by composing my posts by hand before I sit down to type them.

    Oh, and not to mention the grave mistake of always running out of paper mid-sentence! I hear one can draw lines on the sheet to avoid such gaffes, but I am stubborn and prefer to wing it... until it never works. Ah, well.

    Hey, seniors are cool and sophisticated! Besides, this is Typosphere High; you'll always be 17 to us. Although Duffy Moon seems to have you pegged at a good six decades older than that!

    Duffy Moon - hi there, Junior! I would say you're in the same class as Deek :-)

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  7. I know on both of my Olympia's, the paper stand is ruled and I've tested it with a sheet of paper to determine that when the top of the sheet hits "13", that's as far as I want to type (gives about a 1/2" bottom margin).

    I've also used a lined backing sheet and occasionally will just free hand a short pencil mark on the left-hand margin as an indicator (then erase when I'm done). So, there are options out there...

    Haha...I'm glad I'm not the only one that mistypes a word and then reorders my thoughts to use it instead of striking through it! Too funny.

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  8. This is completely out of the blue and slightly inappropriate but all I can think of with the high school analogy is Matthew McConaughey's character in "Dazed and Confused" talking about the differences between himself and the "freshman girls".

    Sorry for throwing that in there.

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  9. Fellow classman Koepke - I also use the "13" mark on my Olympia. Fancy that!

    Adwoa - I don't know about me being a junior. I'm kind of the guy who you see around school occasionally but who has a fairly poor attendance record. I hope that doesn't make me get held back a grade at the end of the year.

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  10. Justin, I haven't seen "Dazed and Confused", but I'm not sure if the effusive apology makes me more or less likely to see it now... hmm.

    As for your poor attendance record, I shan't take off any points for that... it just makes you a really old junior - you know, the 20-year-old slacker who just sort of hangs out all the time and can never quite get the hang of the PSATs. :-)

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  11. Which typewriter is this? I should probably be able to recognize the different typefaces by now, but... And I'm with Strikethru: how do you manage so few typos? I get on a roll and then...wham, there they are, dozens of 'em.

    The typosphere as high school, huh? I guess I'll play the token band geek...though my braces just came off. ;)

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  12. This is the script Rheinmetall on my Typewriter Index. I am really milking the green ribbon that came with it and won't hesitate to bust out the WD-40 when it shows signs of fading...

    Congratulations on no braces! :-)

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  13. I just want to say that I love this post in its entirety.

    I also hope that keychoppers will cease to exist... it breaks my heart seeing these beautiful old machines reduced to crummy pieces of jewelry, and the rest of their bits tossed out with the rest of the trash. *tear*

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  14. Happily enough, it seems keychoppers are absent from my Iberian domains... I can only think of nasty punishments for such barbaric behaviour!
    Adwoa - I got your letter, but I haven't had much time for answering in the last few days!

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