Poll: Do you have a typewriter?

[DURHAM D]

A friend just called and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was filling out a form using my typewriter.

She laughed at me.

Sometimes it is the best way to get something done.

Do you have a typewriter?

[SheltieLover]

1. Not anymore, but there are plenty of days I wish I did have one!

[Ocelot II]

2. I have one. It's in the attic.

Actually, I have two of them. One is an electronic model from the '80s that has some automatic correction features (I used it before I got my first Mac Plus), and the other is my dad's old very manual typewriter from about 1945.

[Marie Marie]

3. I did but it is long gone. But I agree, sometimes it is the best and simplest way to fill out a form.

[Jack Valentino]

4. Not anymore---- I guess I haven't still owned one in about 30 years....

although I had one or two prior to then, and used them quite a bit...
even took a semester of typing class in high school,
which was unusual for a male---- but I still type with both hands,
and using the proper finger home positioning which I was taught...

DAMN, can't even say when I last SAW one, except in old movies! LOL

But since you ask, I kinda wish that I DID have still have one, somewhere--
which could be used in limited situations which called for it




Still think that was one of the TWO most useful classes I took in high school---
the other being 'driver education' which they mostly don't offer anymore!

AND, I'm still typing on the computer----
BUT I haven't been driving the past year, since my car is broke down! LOL

[MyOwnPeace]

55. From 'class'.............

a;sldkfj - first exercise in typing class!
I, too, took typing in high school - class of '65 - the only guy in the class (planned it that way - and DID marry one of the girls from that class - but that's another story.....). I am a piano player so the manual dexterity was not a problem.
One of my high school graduation gifts was a Smith/Corona typewriter that I took to college. I earned money typing papers for others, using that 'new' erasable typing paper! I'd charge $1 a page, $2 if it was after 10pm and was due the next morning!
My next wife was a legal secretary and we bought a 'professional' electric that she used at home and also did typing for both work and 'extra' money. We were 'late' to move into the 'computer' age because that 'electric' was so good and she was so fast.
Our first 'computer' typing was on a 'dot matrix' that looked like something from a newsroom movie! It had the 'spooled' paper that you had to tear off the edges after the printing was done.
It took a while - but now - I wonder what my dear typing teacher from 1964 would think of what we have now!

[generalbetrayus]

5. I have an electric typewriter on a shelf in my basement. Like others have noted, I keep it to fill out those paper forms

that I want to look neat and professional. I bought it at Goodwill after I retired after not having one for many years before that.

[NewHendoLib]

6. Long gone.

[Jack Valentino]

7. Contribute one dollar to pay for a DU 'Star Membership',

and you can create an ACTUAL DU poll where members can vote!


(well, maybe even less than that, there seems to be no minimum limit---
although I'd suggest one dollar as a minimum! It's good for a YEAR....)

[DURHAM D]

8. I have a Star Membership.

Have for more than 20 years.

I didn't really want an actual poll - I want comments.

[Polybius]

41. Why not both?

[LudwigPastorius]

9. I got tired of lugging it with me every time I moved.

It was an early 80s Smith Corona, but I jettisoned it about 25 years ago because I wasn't using it.

[Tree Lady]

10. Not since the 90's when I got my first

Computer and printer.

[Intractable]

11. About 42 years ago, I acquired my first printer.

I learned to use it with precision mostly for college term papers.

I'm on my 12th and 13th printers, inkjet and laser respectively.

I can fill out any form, print between the lines of index cards, and also lay down images.

[Kali]

12. there is one in the house. I think it was my Mother's, possibly my Grandmother's

I brought one here when we moved to the ranch in 1986, it may be rusting away out in the shed/garage.

[LogDog75]

13. I gave up my typewriter about 25 years ago

I had a Brother electric typewriter I used and got rid of it about 30 years ago. I hadn't use it for awhile because computers at work replaced typewriters and my home computer could do just about everything a typewriter could do. The typewriter was good for filling out forms but now most forms can be downloaded and filled out. What forms aren't loaded I can scan them in to my computer and use a PDF filler program to fill it out.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. Somewhere, probably. Right now I have no idea where. nt

[BlueSpot]

15. I have one

Received it as a gift in (I think) 1973. Last used, best guess, was about 1983-ish. Possibly later, writing a resume or two before home computers were a thing. It's in a closet. I have not idea if it works. It has to be crusty. For certain the ribbon must have dried up and I have no idea if I could even get a new one. It wasn't cool enough to support a ribbon that was both black and red. Oh well. At least I don't need to buy a bottle of Wite-Out. LOL

[area51]

16. I have 2,

a Remington manual, and a Brother electric. Both are in the attic, I believe.

[H2O Man]

17. Yes.

I haven't used one in years, but I have a couple of them.

Recommended.

[thebigidea]

18. Used to love using them for rough drafts back when DU first started

It's a nice way of focusing and not being distracted. But after piles of scripts and incoherent novels, I got a little tired of retyping every word of every damn thing.

Sure improves your typing speed and accuracy, though!

[Ms. Toad]

19. Yes - but only because it was my father's

which he gave me to take to college.

I'm not sure I've used it since then (1978). Perhaps not even that recently - since I started using word processors in college.

[krawhitham]

20. nope, not for 15 years now

[Ilsa]

21. Yes. I rarely use it. nt

[CTyankee]

23. My last one was called a Selectric (I think). Does anybody remember that model?

It had a rotating ball function that was state of the art right before our desktop computers were developed and marketed.

[Raine]

31. Yes l remember those. nt

[DURHAM D]

37. Yes - made by IBM.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

24. Yes, but it needs a ribbon.

I last used it in the late 70's when I typed up minutes for the Home Owners Association.

[Permanut]

26. Long gone, but I learned on an old manual one..

Somewhere around a hundred years ago.

[Raine]

27. Yes l have couple of typewriters. One is special it's electric and

it types things out in script. It was a gift from my aunt, I've never seen another one like it. 🤔

[samplegirl]

28. How cool

I wish I still had my typewriter.

[markodochartaigh]

29. My cousin gave me her husband's old typewriter

when I was in college. Mom told me to take a typewriting class because it would be useful, that was twenty years before I had a computer. I lost the typewriter when my house burned down in 2005.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

30. What's a typewriter??

[EarthFirst]

32. We no longer have a typewriter...

As a result of this inquiry however; I had to check to see how accessible new ribbon for a typewriter still is.

I was surprised to find that it’s fairly easy to acquire; and generally affordable (2 pair for $6.99 seems to be the average…)

I also found that blank analog cassette tapes are wildly expensive; a single Maxell XL-II 90 minute is roughly $11-$13 each.

We have hundreds of them; (perhaps even over a thousand) -Dead shows from years of trading live recordings.

[SocialDemocrat61]

33. I'm not Ron Swanson

[Shrek]

34. I still use an electric typewriter for some things

They're great for checks and certain government forms.

[Emile]

35. The last typewriter I had was a word processor. When the modern computer

came out, I got rid of the word processor.

[highplainsdem]

36. I replaced my last typewriter with a computer in the 1980s.

[Happy Hoosier]

38. NO.

Last time I used one was in 1986 in college. I switched to a computer after that.

I also used to have a slide ruler. Maybe it's still around here somewhere. I was the last Freshman engineering class that had to learn to use one. Haven't touched it since ENGR 101 either.

[Orrex]

39. I own 8 or 9 manual typewriters.

They're fun to fool with every now and then, but I don't use them for any formal work.

[Polybius]

40. Lol, no

Not since the 80's as a kid. There's no need with a computer and a printer.

[QueerDuck]

42. I do! An Underwood typewriter that belonged to my mother. She learned to type on it.

This one I found online is identical to the one I have.

[DURHAM D]

43. Do you know how they came up with the keyboard design

that is still being used today on computers?

[QueerDuck]

44. Absolutely! It is intentionally designed to slow down typists...

and to mechanically separate the keys that are most likely to tangle together as they hit the platen. Thus making fingers travel miles further than is necessary with a more efficient DVORAK keyboard.

She also had a Smith-Corona standard electric typewriter, but she could make those keys tangle by accident too. I remember when she bought an IBM selectric (the one with the golf-ball) it was amazing how quickly she could type as that little ball would fly around faster than the eye can see.



My first typewriter in college was a used Royal... like this one, only a blue color.

[MineralMan]

45. Yes, I have a 1948 Royal Quiet Deluxe portable typewriter.

I found it in a trashcan near Syracuse University in 1966, when I was at a USAF total immersion Russian Language course. I took it back to the barracks. It didn't work properly. Sticky keys, etc. So, I looked up a typewriter repair shop. It cost me $35 for a cleaning and adjustment.

That old typewriter followed me around the country, to Turkey, and back. It went with me when I returned to college after my enlistment. It produced all of the papers an English Major and grad student had to write.

Later, it produced manuscripts as I started on my career as a magazine writer. I used it every day. I got if fixed a couple of more times. Finally, in 1984, I gave it a last cleaning and adjustment and put it, in it's case, on a shelf. It still travels with me, but never gets used. In 1984, I got me first IBM PC clone computer and a daisy wheel printer. Everything after that was written in Microsoft Word and printed, if necessary, for submission. Before long, everything went to publishers online.

So, the old typewriter is still on a shelf, in its case. It still works. It's hard to get ribbons for it now, and I don't use it any more. But, it got me through years and years of writing, so it has a special place in my heart and my home.

[Prairie_Seagull]

46. Yes a couple,,, somewhere.

Even have a couple new, probably dried out ribbons in my desk.

Loved the clack, made me feel productive.

[DURHAM D]

47. Amen - love the clack nt

[Rebl2]

48. Yes

An electric one that my husband had when we got married years ago. Don’t ask me where it is now though.

[Bettie]

49. In the attic

I have two or three....haven't used one in years. Most forms, I can get online.

[blogslug]

50. No

We had plenty of them in my family. I passed a typewriting course in high school journalism class, barely.

I miss the aesthetics of typewriters. I loved the sound of the keys and the letterpress texture of a typed page.

I think about buying a refurbished one or a retro version. But then I think about having to constantly buy new ribbon and how I would have to re-learn the finger pressure and I choose not to indulge in that nostalgia.

My dad bought a word processor in the early 90s. The first time I used it I knew I would never go back to a typewriter.

[bucolic_frolic]

51. Several

but I don't use them.

[DavidDvorkin]

52. I have two, and my wife has one

All three are stored. We haven't used them in decades.

[underpants]

53. No. The two things I actually learned in high school was how to drive a car and typing.

Literally that was it.

[CrispyQ]

54. I have a Smith-Corona electric typewriter in my basement.

I had forgotten I still had it, it's been under the stairs so long. I saved to buy it, the summer after my senior year in high school. I bought it about two weeks before college & I was the only one on my dorm floor with one. I let people use it & at holiday break they bought me a pack of ribbons & correction tape. I used it to type resumes before computers.

[StarryNite]

56. Yes. Mine is a script.

I got it when I was in high school.

[sinkingfeeling]

57. No, sold my IBM Selectric five years ago.

[bamagal62]

58. We have a 1936 royal

My daughter asked for it for her bday and I bought it on eBay.

[DURHAM D]

59. Cool

[orangecrush]

60. No