Friday afternoon drivvel

[rustylady]

OK YES I DID!! Couldn't do it though. Bit like the saying you shouldn't put anything in your ear unless it's your elbow - sensible advice though, specially when people do more harm than good with cotton buds etc.

[rustylady]

I can lick the inside - don't think that's what they mean though. It's supposed to be the knobbly bit on the outside.

[rustylady]

Was taught to touch type many years ago, and it has stood me in good stead, very good speed and accuracy until the vino kicks in. However, it does make it very difficult to use a laptop computer cos the keyboard is so small.

[SueA]

I can!!!!!!!

Blimey Piglet, you've either got a very long tongue or very short arms!

[JennieAtkinson]

I was told it was because when typing in English (don't know about other languages) you use some characters (such as vowels) far more frequently than others (such as Z or X), and so the QWERTY keyboard is designed to help you reach the most frequently used keys most easily. However, to truly benefit from this you need to learn to touch type and stop prodding away with one finger. Once you learn to touch type you will wonder how you managed before. It takes ages to learn, but you never forget...

Hmmmmmmm........ then why when touch typing is the a on the little finger! It took me ages to get the strength in my "outside" fingers.

I learnt to touch type in 19 .... on the old Remington. At college we were expected to do 60 words a minute, to the tune of the Sailors Hornpipe. Anybody still with me? It used to crack me up with everyone doing a carriage return at the same time. I couldn't type for laughing. Still it has stood me in good stead all these years and the shorthand and typing were invaluable for latter year studies. Like you Rusty I can't type on a laptop, just not designed for our flying fingers!

[HeyWayne]

I've never understood the term "touch" type - how else do you press the keys? Jedi mind tricks?

[Palustris]

The lay out of the original typewriter keyboard was actually done in the way it is so that the most frequently used keys are far enough apart so that the levers which hit the typewriter ribbon did not get tangled up in each other by being hit close together.
'Touch typing' as a phrase originated when the old mechanical typewriters were replaced with electric ones. The old ones had to be quite forcibly pressed to make them work. The electric ones had only to be 'touched'.
Interesting that people, mainly ladies, who used one of these machines were called 'typewriters' rather than the machine itself.