Printer, Typewriter, Handwrite?

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arifriekinel ...(snip)... I have written in cursive since middle school, because the boy I liked also wrote in cursive, but that's the only reason. I've yet to really understand the actual point of having multiple writing styles for the same language. But as mentioned, I haven't written much in the last couple of years, so it's not for me to understand

Why do girls seem to have the nicest cursive? In 3rd grade the little blond girl I liked had a very slanted writing style. Guess what my writing style is to this day.

DW has a nice rounded style of cursive.

I do a lot of drawing but still my writing is just not free flowing and easy. Weird wiring up there.

[Arifriekinel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal Why do girls seem to have the nicest cursive? In 3rd grade the little blond girl I liked had a very slanted writing style. Guess what my writing style is to this day.

I remember always being jealous of the others girls' handwriting, it was bubbly and pretty, and a heck of a lot more legible than mine. The day teachers started preferring electronic submissions was a very good one for me.

And ha. Glad I'm not the only one who made such a super important decision based on puppy love

My boyfriend's handwriting is also very difficult to read. We both think faster than our hands can move. He had the added issue of being left handed and smearing things up.

[martyp]

I very seldom have to send anything in an envelope. I hand print the address. At Christmas I can easily address the dozen or so cards we send out. I have adhesive printed return address labels as well as adhesive stamps. My typewriter went away when the computer arrived in the mid 80's.

I don't even carry a pen with me anymore. I take notes and pictures on my iphone instead of hand writing.

[Katsmeow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imoldernu So, when you address envelopes, fill in forms, or send paper notes to others, how do you do it? (other than computer printed stuff?) ... and, if handwritten, printed or cursive? I bought a portable typewriter at a resale shop for $2, but can't find ribbons. Do you still have a typewriter? Do you use it?

I haven't had a typewriter in probably 30 years.

I address envelopes by hand but rarely need to use one.

As for filling in forms, it depends. If the form is short (and I'm at home) I'll just fill it in by hand. If it is lengthy and I'm not required to use the original form. I will scan it in, open it in Adobe Acrobat and make it where I can type to fill in the form (electronic forms often directly allow this). I do have a printer, by the way.

I use both cursive and manuscript printing, depending on what it is.

[FIREd]

Last time I used a typewriter was in 1994, for a school report. I rarely handwrite anything and writing cursive feels very clumsy now. And I rarely even use a printer, maybe a dozen times a year at most.

[Telly]

We have the professional office classic, an IBM Selectric II. With assorted balls and official dust cover (ALWAYS remember to cover your typewriter before leaving at night!). Can't remember the last time it was used.

Christmas card addresses DW does on the computer and prints out labels.

Everything else is hand-addressed. I print, so the USPS should be able to deliver it. DW uses cursive, of which I can discern only a few characters of hers, so I have no idea where it ends up. Maybe it's a waste putting a stamp on it

[redduck]

Yep, I have an IBM Wheelwriter 3. I use it everyday. (OK, maybe not everyday, but for sure 5-6 times a week. And, since I'm left-handed (who wouldn't have guessed that?) I don't do cursive very well. So, the typewriter is essential for addressing envelopes. I can get the ribbons from Amazon or Staples.

[Walt34]

I threw out my Montgomery Wards electric typewriter when we moved to WV since I hadn't used it for at least ten years before that. Even envelopes I address with the computer/printer since my handwriting has never been good and is getting worse.

Imagine my astonishment when just two or three weeks ago I saw a new typewriter for sale in the local Staples store! I didn't know anyone even made them anymore.

[Brett_Cameron]

I have a rubber stamp for the return addresses on envelopes I send.

[JOHNNIE36]

Since I have become more versed with the computer and Microsoft Works, I have written most letters using the "automated" machines such as this. Prior to that I used the hand printed format. Got away from cursive years ago. I think it was my engineering background that moved me away from cursive. Everything I did in the engineering design field (automotive tooling) was printed and it just became my everyday method of communicating.

I still do Christmas cards, birthday, anniversary, etc. by hand as I see the printed versions, including envelopes, as being too impersonal. If you care enough to send the very best, do it manually.

[Koogie]

I'm 40 and was taught typing in high school. Ours was I believe the last or second last year to have it as a subject. After that, it was all computers.

A better question would be, who still has a typewriter ? I do.

Our small business fills out a lot of carbonised government forms via dot matrix printer. Being a cautious chap, I have a typewriter here for when the power goes out. I had to use it about three years ago. Ya never know.....

[steelyman]

My handwriting looks like a ransom note. So on those rare times I use a printer.

[Midpack]

Raises a question for me at least.

While I have no use for a typewriter (there's nothing it can do that I can't do with a printer, that I know of), I took typing in high school and it has served me very well ever since. Do kids still learn how to "touch type" somehow, are there 'keyboarding' classes? Hunt and peck can be fast, but not as fast...

[Brett_Cameron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Raises a question for me at least. While I have no use for a typewriter (there's nothing it can do that I can't do with a printer, that I know of), I took typing in high school and it has served me very well ever since. Do kids still learn how to "touch type" somehow, are there 'keyboarding' classes? Hunt and peck can be fast, but not as fast...

Yes, they have keyboarding classes and a publishing class using computer apps.
DS2 is a senior and DS3 is in 4th grade. DS3 uses the computer a lot at school. DS2 had some classes where they had a few small projects to design and publish some things. Touch typing is taught as part of the keyboarding class.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koogie A better question would be, who still has a typewriter ? I do.

Thread drift: We were in a Colorado State Park in the RV a couple of weeks back when I noticed three very old typewriters in the campground dumpster. The keyboards had been completely stripped from each but other than that they appeared to be in beautiful condition.

I later learned the guy camped next to me traveled around the US, buying up old typewriters and removing the letters, numbers and symbols to make jewelry similar to that pictured below.

While the jewelry is beautiful, it isn't nearly as attractive after seeing those old machines destroyed and sitting in the garbage bin.

[Arifriekinel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Raises a question for me at least. While I have no use for a typewriter (there's nothing it can do that I can't do with a printer, that I know of), I took typing in high school and it has served me very well ever since. Do kids still learn how to "touch type" somehow, are there 'keyboarding' classes? Hunt and peck can be fast, but not as fast...

It seems like most kids can type pretty well when they get to school already today, but even by the time I started school a lot of us could or learnt very quickly. When I was in kindergarten, we didn't type too much, but by first grade, we used the computers a lot. We played a lot of spelling, math, and history video games which got us familiar with the keyboard. They didn't teach us any particular way to type, it just comes naturally when playing the games.

I remember one where words would be coming down the screen, one letter per fly. You were a little frog at the bottom of the screen. You had to eat the flies before they got away by typing the letter on the fly.

So it's not so much a keyboarding specific class, just typing is involved in everything else, so you just pick it up along the way, or at least that's how it is near here

[kcowan]

I gave up my last connection to hard copy with the Christmas cards in 2007. I advised all recipients that I was going all electronic in 2008. But I used printed labels and handwritten cards with our annual letter printed inside. Gradually, the holdouts are either dying or getting email. I decided that hard copy was too ambitious from Mexico.

I have also converted to all electronic statements from my suppliers. It is interesting how few holdouts there are now. Annual Reports, Corporate Action Notices, some small organizations like charities.

[Amethyst]

Since I was a late-life kid, it was like being raised by grandparents in many ways. My mother taught me cursive using an elegant, curlicued, slanted style, which she called Penmanship. Quite unlike the "string of connected bubbles" that passed for cursive handwriting in school.

Nowadays, I am too impatient with the slowness of handwriting, so mine has deteriorated. I still carefully hand-write thank-you notes, using my Best Penmanship, and I hand-print envelopes on the rare occasions when I snail mail anything.

I had a horrible time learning to type on a manual typewriter. It was the only subject I ever failed (I was 12, and a freshman in high school). I was so chagrined by this (what with my father opining that I would never find a job if I could not type) that I borrowed a typewriter and holed up with it in my bedroom, typing the alphabet and other exercises over and over and over. As a result, in the second marking period of typing class, I got an A.

Nowadays, with no need to resort to the backspace key or White-out, I keyboard at about 100 wpm.

Amethyst

[rodi]

I sold my old typewriter at a garage sale for $10 a few years ago. Fitting since I'd bought it at a garage sale for $10 a few decades earlier.

Kids do learn keyboarding/typing in school - at least my kids do. Not on a typewriter - but my 5th grader has the assignment to get his touch typing speed up to 40wpm. He's close. Uses a site called typingweb.com. Kids who achieve this get a reward in class from the teacher.

I was handwriting letters to my 87 yo MIL - but her eyesight is going. So now I write it in word and make the font fairly large so she can read it easier.

I'm treasurer for a school program non-profit. We send the receipts/thank you's - the envelopes are hand printed, and I put a personal note on each card/receipt. I use cursive.

I still take notes in staff meetings by hand - combo of cursive and printing. Pretty cryptic - just enough to remind me of stuff they're saying, or action items I need to take.

Christmas cards are still by hand. Return addresses are those free labels that charities send out. Friends my age and younger get e-cards. But folks older than me (I'm 52) get cards. I know my parents generation still values the christmas cards arriving... and not all are on email.

[sailor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imoldernu So, when you address envelopes, fill in forms, or send paper notes to others, how do you do it? (other than computer printed stuff?) ... and, if handwritten, printed or cursive?

Easy answer - there is no "when".
I don't address envelopes or send paper notes.
I don't remember last time I needed to fill-in a form.

Oh - Let me take it back - I need to fill-in customs form when coming back into US, but it's unwieldy to lug a typewriter on a plane

All my relatives (even older than you ) have some access to electronic media.