Printer, Typewriter, Handwrite?

[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]

Do you still have a typewriter? Do you use it?

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I've been trying to convince DW to get rid of her old typewriter from college for years. She's usually the one who wants to de-clutter, but she just can't make herself pitch the old dinosaur. By that I mean the typewriter, not me.

I don't send much via snail mail any more but just last night I hand-addressed a non-personal envelope. All-caps, which I usually use at my engineering job; like others, this is partially to ensure the young [-]drafters[/-] [-]CAD operators[/-] BIM (Building Information Modeling) techs can read what I'm writing. But as far as using the printer for a single envelope, if I'm mailing in a form filled in by hand it's just too much trouble to fire up the PC and print it. In fact, now that I've had my iPad for over a year I don't use the PC for much more than Quicken, gaming, and printing.

 

[Bestwifeever]

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

The only things I handwrite beyond just a signature are sympathy notes and I can imagine the bereaved thinking I must have had a small stroke.

Penmanship is based on muscle memory for me and not having used it for a while, it's long gone.

On the other hand I'm not even keyboarding this, I'm dictating it into my iPad's microphone and editing for punctuation...

 

[Lsbcal]

I understand the urge to get modern and look very cool with electronics -- PC, Mac, tablets, smartphones, etc. But I'm a bit worried when some people so lightly dismiss penmanship and the artsy side of lettering. Somehow the arts are getting a bad rap.

I'm not talking about any particular person's response, just in general.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I understand the urge to get modern and look very cool with electronics -- PC, Mac, tablets, smartphones, etc. But I'm a bit worried when some people so lightly dismiss penmanship and the artsy side of lettering. Somehow the arts are getting a bad rap. I'm not talking about any particular person's response, just in general.

I know what you are saying. I never had legible penmanship so for me it is a practical matter to use machines for all of my writing, but I am more than balanced by artistic DH who although lefthanded does flawless calligraphy and can outdo the fanciest electronic fonts in creating logos.

 

[Walt34]

Somehow the arts are getting a bad rap.

I agree, and this from a guy who never progressed past drawing stick figures but could rebuild a carburetor at age 14. I sense somehow that it has a lot to do with creativity and I never worked at that.

But I renewed an interest in photography a couple of years ago and it is somewhat frustrating because the tech stuff comes easy for me - the relationship with ISO, shutter speeds and aperture, depth of field, Lightroom, Photoshop and so on. But the ability to "see" a good image before it's taken is extremely difficult for me.

How do people do that?

Right now I'm struggling with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

 

[Amethyst]

Much of art, like anything else worth doing, is learning the proven, general principles and good technique--and then practice, practice, practice. There are accepted (and uncomplicated) principles for making a balanced, pleasing photograph, and these are laid out in books on photography which you can borrow from any library. If you learn and practice those principles, you will become a good photographer.

Oh, and the good thing about learning to photograph today? You can take, view, and discard 99% of 1,000 images, without worrying about huge expenses in film and development. Yes I said 1,000 images. You need to take at least that many before you develop a real sense of a good photo.

Amethyst

I agree, and this from a guy who never progressed past drawing stick figures but could rebuild a carburetor at age 14. I sense somehow that it has a lot to do with creativity and I never worked at that.

But I renewed an interest in photography a couple of years ago and it is somewhat frustrating because the tech stuff comes easy for me - the relationship with ISO, shutter speeds and aperture, depth of field, Lightroom, Photoshop and so on. But the ability to "see" a good image before it's taken is extremely difficult for me.

How do people do that?

Right now I'm struggling with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

 

[Lsbcal]

I agree, and this from a guy who never progressed past drawing stick figures but could rebuild a carburetor at age 14. I sense somehow that it has a lot to do with creativity and I never worked at that.

But I renewed an interest in photography a couple of years ago and it is somewhat frustrating because the tech stuff comes easy for me - the relationship with ISO, shutter speeds and aperture, depth of field, Lightroom, Photoshop and so on. But the ability to "see" a good image before it's taken is extremely difficult for me.

How do people do that?

Right now I'm struggling with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

That drawing book is an excellent resource. I learned a lot from that. Drawing takes a lot of patience and many feel defeated because it is just tough to get to the level of proficiency we want to. The book shows some of Van Gogh's early work and it was pretty poor. He learned by doing.

I've spent many hours outdoors painting, and getting the values (lights and darks) right is so important. More important then color. Drawing is a critical foundation too in that regard.

Photography can be artistic and I think that many go to black and white for the same reason that values are so critical in outdoor (plein air) painting. It's incredibly easy to click away without seeing the image and hoping to crop it, or fix it later. In painting you hope to do one image in maybe 2 hours. Cropping is not possible (well maybe in watercolor) so you have the composition to get through first.

Just some artsy thoughts and perhaps a bit OT. But I do think that the arts (literature, music, painting, etc) are getting pushed too far into the background as people get engrossed with practical endeavors.

 

[Telly]

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

Woody Allen's character, Virgil, had a similar problem at the bank when he took his hand-written note to a teller:

"Please put $50,000 into this bag, and apt natural. I'm pointing a gub at you"

 

[RunningBum]

I think my sister borrowed my typewriter 20-25 yrs ago and I never got it back nor missed it.

For envelopes I print in caps as legibly as I can, to make it easier for the USPS to read.

Cards are about the only thing I hand write, or the occasional form which usually asks you to print. And I rarely do cards.

If I'm going to write a letter, I'll type it in and print it. Mostly I just do emails. Some may lament the demise of the letter, but email is faster, cheaper, easier, and may be more reliable (lost mail vs. spam folders). Nobody seems to miss the telegraph anymore.

Signatures are the only thing I'll do in cursive. I guess I write the dollar amount on checks in cursive too, for some reason. It just doesn't come naturally to me anymore. I hear that cursive is going away in schools, and I wonder what that means for signatures?

I used to make lists for myself and still do at times, but more and more I use evernote, shared on my laptop and phone.

The less I write by hand, the worse my handwriting gets. And it was never very good to begin with. My brother had a theory that people with quick minds have the worst writing, because they are in a hurry to get their thoughts down.

I run a lot of races, and most have online signup. There is still one local guy who has paper forms. I printed my name as carefully as I could, but his secretary got it wrong when I saw it at race day check-in. I had it corrected, and he came back to me later, blaming me for it not being very legible. I felt like snapping at him to join the 21st century, but he's pretty much a legend in these circles so it wouldn't have gone well.

 

[scrabbler1]

Signatures are the only thing I'll do in cursive. I guess I write the dollar amount on checks in cursive too, for some reason. It just doesn't come naturally to me anymore. I hear that cursive is going away in schools, and I wonder what that means for signatures?

My signaure is the only thing I wrote in script any more, and it has been that way since I was in high school (maybe Jr. High) when teachers stopped requiring it. My script was always terrible. I have a short name (first and last) so I'd have lots of trouble writing script which included any of the letters not in my signature LOL...