Anyone use a typewriter?

[E.A Rumfield]

Today I visited a local shop looking to purchase my first typewriter. I went in dumb to the machine and I left mesmerized. It is a very powerful thing to hear the keys stamp the page, the carriage slide etc. It is like a musical instrument. Each one is different and you have to learn the machine. Typing on a keyboard is bland but a typewriter has personality. I'm looking forward to purchasing my first this Friday.

[cafolini]

Today I visited a local shop looking to purchase my first typewriter. I went in dumb to the machine and I left mesmerized. It is a very powerful thing to hear the keys stamp the page, the carriage slide etc. It is like a musical instrument. Each one is different and you have to learn the machine. Typing on a keyboard is bland but a typewriter has personality. I'm looking forward to purchasing my first this Friday.

The pencil was harder to give up because it was far more portable and many times cheaper.

[dfloyd]

anyone using a typewriter now, even one with memory. Perhaps you would like to park your car and ride a horse?

[LitNetIsGreat]

I'm not going in for one of those typewriters. I love the feel of my quill on parchment.

[E.A Rumfield]

anyone using a typewriter now, even one with memory. Perhaps you would like to park your car and ride a horse?

So you're a stupid person?

[cafolini]

Given the circumstances, until oneself must stop functioning, anything has its use.

[E.A Rumfield]

The pencil was harder to give up because it was far more portable and many times cheaper.

I write in a notebook all the time. I just love the sound and feel of a typewriter. It's a romantic kind of thing. I'm confused by your last comment. It's vague and I don't get your point.

[bIGwIRE]

I still use the Remmington that belonged to my Grandfather. It sits on top of my poetry bookcase, when not in use. I also have many of his wood working tools, hand planes and such.
He has been gone a long time, and, silly as it surely is, I feel a connection to him when my hands use the same tools that his once did.

[JuniperWoolf]

I learned to type on a typewriter in '94 before computers were used much (at least in rural Alberta schools). It was difficult and cumbersome, I hated it, and I kept typing over previous words, but in my defense I was six. Maybe that's why I love computers so much, I compared them to typewriters in my early life.

[JBI]

You'll only use it for a week before throwing it out or not using it. As soon as you realize how much work it is to work one, you'll kill yourself or give it up.

That being said, it reminds of a novel I read called A Soldier of the Great War (I do not recommend it to anyone by the way) where one of the characters is disgusted by how he is out of work as a clerk because people are typing instead of writing with fine pens.

As it is, I haven't seen a word processor except for one my mother had stored away in the basement before she tossed it out - surprising how nobody has nostalgia for that, which was basically a typewriter that worked efficiently.

As it is, I grew up on an MS Dos computer (I could read the code before I could read), yet I have no nostalgia for that.

Likewise I do not miss Windows 3.1, or Windows 95 anymore than I miss the flimsy windows 98. I upgraded my mac back to Pc, and never looked back.

Nostalgia has a way of making crap look good. The 90s were nothing like today, though growing up then may have made the time look better than it was. The world changes, and computers are an upgrade, without a doubt.

Give it two weeks, you'll be back to typing on a computer.

[billl]

If that "romantic thing" can make what comes out a bit more interesting, that's great. Of course, it'll most likely become a "regular thing" eventually, and then the alternate, common "normal thing" will be an inspiring "futuristic thing" or "practical thing" full of a whole new type of potential. Keep in mind (and this is probably obvious) that any sort of added pizzaz afforded by a "romantic" or "futuristic" thing will also enhance the experience of writing stuff even if it isn't so good (to readers).

[Lokasenna]

When I was younger, my household was quite late in getting a PC - I learned to type on our typewriter instead, and most of my school essays up into my teenage years were written on it.

It was fun, and it certainly had character, but the ease and convenience of modern computers is a blessed relief!

That said, one day I'd love to take a typewriter into a lecture theatre in the same way the undergrads always bring their laptops. It would make the point that the clicking of laptop keys can be quite distracting for the lecturer - so let's see how someone would cope with a continual THUT-THUT-THUT-THU-SHWING-THUT-THUT-THUT-THU-SHWING....

[prendrelemick]

I leapt straight from pen to computer. Typewriters were impossibly difficult. One thing though, my hand learnt to spell with a pen. I struggle to spell correctly on a keyboard and often have to write a word out in the air to get it right.

[Emil Miller]

I can see the 'romantic' attraction of a typewriter when one thinks of those photo's of Hemingway and others sitting at one, but although I have two stored away in a cupboard, I would never go back to using them. Typing on a computer is rather like driving an automatic as opposed to a manual vehicle because it's so much easier. One thing I have noticed is that my handwriting, never very good, has deteriorated since using a computer for virtually all written communication.
Another reason for abandoning the typewriter is that it is difficult to get ribbons for them nowadays.

[Helga]

I still use the Remmington that belonged to my Grandfather. It sits on top of my poetry bookcase, when not in use.

I have a Remmington too! I bought it when I was 17 at a flea-market. It's green and I just love the look and sound of it. If I'm not using it I allow my son and his friends to try it out.

It was kinda funny my son went with school to a museum with old houses and a lot of stuff used way back when. He could point at a typewriter and a few more things his mom still uses, and I'm the youngest mom at his school.


I love using a typewriter and one of my friends just got one for her birthday and uses it to type letters and stuff. They are still cool.

[cafolini]

Limelights!
JBI was on the way into the reality of it.

[bIGwIRE]

I have a Remmington too! I bought it when I was 17 at a flea-market. It's green and I just love the look and sound of it. If I'm not using it I allow my son and his friends to try it out.

It was kinda funny my son went with school to a museum with old houses and a lot of stuff used way back when. He could point at a typewriter and a few more things his mom still uses, and I'm the youngest mom at his school.


I love using a typewriter and one of my friends just got one for her birthday and uses it to type letters and stuff. They are still cool.


Hi Helga. :wave:I like it for letters, too.
My handwriting is horrible and the typewriter adds a nice touch to a letter. I used it a lot when I was dating my wife, and I still use it to write my daughters when I'm out of town. My mother still gets misty to receive a note typed out on her dads old machine. At times, nostalgia can be very charming, even if it is silly.

All that aside, it is a poor choice for getting anything done, as JBI pointed out.

[GreenLucky]

I used to use a typewriter. It was a gift I received from a friend after graduating from university. Although I forget the brand name now, I had looked the model number up and found that it was from the 1950's and was an average model, nothing fancy but decent quality. It worked fairly well, smelled as old things should smell and I was always productive when I used it. An ex-girlfriend has it now, along with a set of tablas from India, and my university diploma. I suppose there's not much to be said regarding my feelings towards her. However I would like to get another typewriter. My hand tires too quickly when writing and I become distracted too easily when using a computer. Any suggestions or advice on acquiring one?

[Silas Thorne]

Why not train your computer to make a ka-ching sound when you reach the end of the line, and add sound effects for every keystroke?

[Delta40]

Why not train your computer to make a ka-ching sound when you reach the end of the line, and add sound effects for every keystroke?

Lol. That's a great idea! I did the hard yards with manual typewriters as a young secretary. I don't care if a writer looks cool or eccentric with one, they actually suck big time and are just burdensome bits of machinery that have no purposeful use other than an ornmental one in this day and age. Of course, if your daily dose of purple pills are just right, you could probably tap away on the keys for hours quite happily.....:hurray:

[TurquoiseSunset]

Hey, look what I found: the iTypewriter (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2191539/iTypewriter-iPad-gets-unofficial-typewriter-dock-mimics-pre-PC-days.html) :D

[LitNetIsGreat]

I leapt straight from pen to computer. Typewriters were impossibly difficult. One thing though, my hand learnt to spell with a pen. I struggle to spell correctly on a keyboard and often have to write a word out in the air to get it right.

The opposite seems true of me I think. At least typing seems much more natural to me than writing with a pen, even though I only started using the PC in the last 6/7 years or so. I find writing with a pen awkward.


I can see the 'romantic' attraction of a typewriter when one thinks of those photo's of Hemingway and others sitting at one, but although I have two stored away in a cupboard, I would never go back to using them. Typing on a computer is rather like driving an automatic as opposed to a manual vehicle because it's so much easier. One thing I have noticed is that my handwriting, never very good, has deteriorated since using a computer for virtually all written communication.
Another reason for abandoning the typewriter is that it is difficult to get ribbons for them nowadays.

Me too and I suspect it is the same for many others. My handwriting has always been horrible though.

[Kyriakos]

Typewriters are hard to use, and have none of the abilities a word processor has. Even if you buy a modernized one, it is still a lot harder to write with it than on the computer.
I wrote my first story with pen on paper, but later on i moved to the computer. At first it seemed horrible to be looking at a computer screen while trying to produce art, but i got used to it and now it does not mean anything to me (at least not consciously).

[Emil Miller]

Typewriters are hard to use, and have none of the abilities a word processor has. Even if you buy a modernized one, it is still a lot harder to write with it than on the computer.
I wrote my first story with pen on paper, but later on i moved to the computer. At first it seemed horrible to be looking at a computer screen while trying to produce art, but i got used to it and now it does not mean anything to me (at least not consciously).

This raises an interesting question. How significant are the original manuscripts of important writers that have been either written using a typewriter or a computer?
For example, Somerset Maugham used pen and paper to write his novels and short stories before handing them to his secretary for typing, but it's the original manuscripts in long hand that are prized by collectors and universities. Even a MS
from a typewriter will have visible alterations if the author has typed it himself but a computer will enable the author to put together a seamless manuscript that bears no characteristic markings at all.

[Kyriakos]

Old printed pages will again assume an aged form though :) I have most of my diary printed, and it already looks ancient after just 5 years...

[Emil Miller]

Old printed pages will again assume an aged form though :) I have most of my diary printed, and it already looks ancient after just 5 years...

Yes but it's possible to go to the Bibliotheque National in Paris for example and, with permission, see the original hand written pages of Emile Zola for example.

[Shea]

Today I visited a local shop looking to purchase my first typewriter. I went in dumb to the machine and I left mesmerized. It is a very powerful thing to hear the keys stamp the page, the carriage slide etc. It is like a musical instrument. Each one is different and you have to learn the machine. Typing on a keyboard is bland but a typewriter has personality. I'm looking forward to purchasing my first this Friday.

When I read this, the first thing that popped in my mind was the news reporter character from the movie "You've Got Mail.":p

But I completely know what you mean. I don't have a typewriter anymore, but I did enjoy the "music" it brought. I still find that if I write something creatively (in other words, not a research paper), I cannot use the computer. It must be done by hand, in script. I'll type it on the computer later and make all the changes that I need, but to acctually get my imagination flowing, I've got to use a pen and paper. Just one of my quirks I guess. :)