LOVE ALL CAPS? So did the first typewriters!
By Roberta Rosenberg on May 31, 2007 in Occasional Rantings
I’ve been deep in copy deadlines all week, hence the short posts about this and that. Here’s another that I found if not entirely useful, completely fascinating.
The First Typewriters Used All-Caps - Remington Changed That
I learned how to type on a manual Brother typewriter. My folks gave me a top-of-the-line electric Smith-Corona for my 16th birthday. And prior to my first PC, I loved my IBM Selectric beastie.
I don’t miss typewriters for writing copy. It was awful, a huge chore with Liquid Paper and White-Out tape. Nasty stuff. To paraphrase Charleton Heston when asked about giving up his guns, You’ll have to take the "cut, move and paste" function away from my cold, dead fingers.
But, to be fair, nothing beats a typewriter for preparing a quick envelope or two. I don’t have one anymore, so I wind up handwriting envelopes with my pretty but tortured penmanship. (Look at your business mail. There’s a reason why you see so much handwritten envelopes, and I just told you why.)
Okay, back to work.
-
Enjoyed this post? Get free updates by email or RSS
- Need a copy critique or a consult? Contact the Maven
Get a free subscription to Website Magazine
(aff)
Tom Chandler | May 31, 2007 | Reply
I will say one thing for typewriters: my typing accuracy was far higher, courtesy the nightmarish procedure needed to correct an error.
Today? Photons are cheap, so I mistype words by the bushel.
I’m hoping to gain a few cranky old writer points for having started my career on a typewriter, even if only briefly.