"So... just how old are you, Boom Boom?"
Well, let's see... I was around before electric typewriters. I learned all about QWERTY when I took typing class in high school.
"Really? Wait, what's a typewriter?"
Well, that's like a keyboard that's not hooked up to a computer and you have to run a piece of paper through it and there's a little mechanical arm for each letter that swings up and hits a piece of carbonized ribbon that runs between the arm and the paper, causing it to leave a mark in a shape of the letter on the paper. There was no such thing as spell check back then, except for using a book called a dictionary to look up a word yourself. Oh, and if you made a mistake, there was no delete function. It was a bitch to make a correction.
"What's QWERTY?"
Silly, that's the starting order of the top line of letters on a typewriter or keyboard. I learned touch typing which means you always used your left pinky to hit the Q, your left ring finger to hit the W, your left naughty finger to hit the E, your left pointer to hit the R and the T, and your right pointer to hit the Y.
"Damn, that sounds confusing! Can't you just use your thumbs or index fingers?"
Well, you could, but that wouldn't help you type fast enough to get a job as a secretary. That was one of the few jobs for women back then. Now they call them clerks or administrative assistants. I hear some bosses have binders full of women who know how to do much more important stuff.
"Was it hard to get a job as a secretary? Did they do anything besides type?"
Oh, yes! They answered the phone and picked up their boss's cleaning and made coffee and took dictation.
Dictation?
"Where the boss talks and you write down what he's saying... in shorthand. I took that in high school, too."
What's shorthand?
Here, see for yourself....
"WTF*? Does that actually mean something?"
Sure, but hell if I remember... it's been a long time since high school.
"Damn... you must be old as shit."
Yeah... Thanks for cheering me up.
*WTF = modern shorthand for, well, you know.
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My blogging friends, Michael and Ziva are sponsoring another 30 Days of Photographs challenge. This is their third version of the challenge and my first attempt to meet it. To see how others have responded to the prompts, check in with Ziva at 30 Days of Photographs III.
