Learning to type on a QWERTY keyboard as a metaphor for life—perfect!
Random thing: Having a shared fondness for MAD magazine, I recall they once named an Eischer-like geometric shape, a “poiuyt.” (Top row of keys, starting from right to left.)
I’ve used QWERTY keyboards in foreign countries, including Tahiti (France), South Korea, and Japan, mostly to type emails back home in the US. The French have a variation called AZERTY, where some key locations are different, such as the “A” key located where the “Q” should be, and “Z” and “W” are switched. It really messed me up. In South Korea and Japan, they use QWERTY, but there are toggle keys that switch between English and the native characters (Hangul in South Korea and in Japan Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji Chinese characters). It’s amazing how the QWERTY is converted in these languages, because both languages are fundamentally different than English or any European language. Also, in Japan they have 109 keys versus 104 QWERTY keys to accommodate specific Japanese functions.
My first computer operated on DOS and I was so computer illiterate I spent all day entering our bank statements for the previous year into the DAC-easy program and then just turned the computer off. I didn't know I was supposed to save anything. For Pete's sake, I entered the numbers...why weren't they there the next morning when I proudly tried to show my husband how we didn't have to use a spreadsheet and pencil...
Learning to type on a QWERTY keyboard as a metaphor for life—perfect!
Random thing: Having a shared fondness for MAD magazine, I recall they once named an Eischer-like geometric shape, a “poiuyt.” (Top row of keys, starting from right to left.)
Excellent trivia!
I’ve used QWERTY keyboards in foreign countries, including Tahiti (France), South Korea, and Japan, mostly to type emails back home in the US. The French have a variation called AZERTY, where some key locations are different, such as the “A” key located where the “Q” should be, and “Z” and “W” are switched. It really messed me up. In South Korea and Japan, they use QWERTY, but there are toggle keys that switch between English and the native characters (Hangul in South Korea and in Japan Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji Chinese characters). It’s amazing how the QWERTY is converted in these languages, because both languages are fundamentally different than English or any European language. Also, in Japan they have 109 keys versus 104 QWERTY keys to accommodate specific Japanese functions.
Interesting stuff, Bob. I can only imagine the havoc.
My first computer operated on DOS and I was so computer illiterate I spent all day entering our bank statements for the previous year into the DAC-easy program and then just turned the computer off. I didn't know I was supposed to save anything. For Pete's sake, I entered the numbers...why weren't they there the next morning when I proudly tried to show my husband how we didn't have to use a spreadsheet and pencil...
My Kaypro used CP/M, the standard, until MS-DOS dethroned it. Then came the Macintosh, and everything was simpler and more fun.
"In 1873, Sholes sold the rights to his type-writer to E. Remington and Sons, the firearms company..."
Thanks, Jim, for another trivia tidbit to add to the "module" attached to my neck! And, for the first time ever, I now know why it's called QWERTY. :)
Happy to help! That's what WW is all about.