So we're watching Ratatouille with Tova, and it gets to the part where Anton Ego is writing his review. Typing it, I mean.
Tova asks, "What's that?"
We tell her it's a typewriter.
She says, "What's a typewriter?"
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
I remember using a typewriter in the 7th grade. It was the coolest thing that I had ever seen.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
Well...don't leave me hanging! What IS a typewriter?
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
I love the feel of typewritten words. There's nothing like a printer that actually imprints the words on the paper, rather than merely applying the ink to the surface.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
When I was a kid my family was, apparently, "early adopters". We were the first among our friends to have a digital clock. It was on the bedside table in my parents' bedroom. It wasn't LED, though. It had these little cards that would flip to the new number.
My friends used to come over to watch the time change. They'd come by in the morning, so that they could see the big event of 9:59 flipping to 10:00, which was the best, since all four cards flipped at once. Then they'd stick around watching it for another hour or so, so that they could catch 11:11, which was cool because all the cards showed the same number.
After that, we'd ask each other, "What do you wanna do?"
"I dunno. What do you wanna do?"
So, you think YOU'RE old? Ha! It's a wonder we didn't all cut our wrists and get it over with just to escape the ennui!
Posted by Tristan (Member # 1670) on :
quote:After that, we'd ask each other, "What do you wanna do?"
"I dunno. What do you wanna do?"
The answer. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Ha! When I was your age we didn't have web comics. We had Nancy, and Richie Rich, and the Archies.
It's a wonder any of us survived the ennui.
Posted by baduffer (Member # 10469) on :
Ok, so when I took P-Chem in college calculators were just coming out and cost >$300 so the Prof didn't allow anyone to use them because not everyone could afford one. Slide-rule was not accurate enough so we had to use Logs to do all our problems. (no wood jokes please). It would take pages of adding and subtracting to do the problems.
I had this great little round slide-rule with a copy of the Periodic table on back and a slide out card with all kind of formulas. It fit in my pocket protector .
I guess I qualify as old.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
I once had to explain to my niece how a vinyl record works.
She looked at me like I was crazy, forcing me to show her that these things actually *do* play music... "badly", according to her.
"But uncle... that's so archaic!"
I was impressed that a twelve year old would use the term "archaic".
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
I had a co-worker over one evening for dinner. We were playing a large reel-to-reel tape, 7.5 IPS, with all of Glen Miller's recordings on it. She commented on the "no commercial radio". When I explained about the tape, she asked if it were not some "new kind of cassette"
Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
I used a typewriter often while I was on my mission.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
When I was 14 I took a typing class on real typewriters. The school only had so many electric ones so I had to use a manual one.
I was SO tiny and my little fingers couldn't push down the very stiff keys hard enough. As a result I typed VERY slowly and ended up with a D on my mid-semester report card. I'd never gotten one before and I was terrified.
Fortunately for the 2nd half of the semester we swapped and I got an electric. That brought my grade up to a B. whew!
Tante: I wish we'd had webcomics when I was little. Just think of the huge head start I could have had embarassing myself on the internet.
Tristan: I didn't know that rule when I was single =(
Posted by Pegasus (Member # 10464) on :
quote:After that, we'd ask each other, "What do you wanna do?"
"I dunno. What do you wanna do?"
I am reminded of the Beatle-like vultures near the end of Disney's The Jungle Book Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:We were playing a large reel-to-reel tape, 7.5 IPS, with all of Glen Miller's recordings on it.
You could have stopped there and not needed a punchline. Posted by SC Carver (Member # 8173) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nighthawk: I once had to explain to my niece how a vinyl record works.
I had the exact same conversation with my 21 year old brother the other night. He found it hard to believe you could play music by putting a wire down on a plastic disk. He's not really into history or "thinking too much"...
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Tante, it was a thrill a minute at your house back then!
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I used to be Glenn Miller
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: Tante, it was a thrill a minute at your house back then!
Quite literally, yes. For some definition of "thrill".
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: I used to be Glenn Miller
So that's where you went!
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
We played all the "Sing Along With Mitch" (Mitch Miller) albums in the evenings when I grew up.
My sister and I can still launch into an impromptu duet of "Sweet Violets" anytime anyone goads us into it Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I've been here all along.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
We had a computer in my house as early as kindergarden based on my teachers advice that I proficient at using them. Every school I attended after that had a newly constructed computer lab and we took classes so that we would know how to type, use MAC OSs, and later Windows.
We still had typewriters in the library however and they were still superior at filling out forms.
In the English department we could write our assignments on a computer or on a typewriter and it was purely based on preference.
The *tick* *tick* *tick* of a typewriter is still more musical to my ears then the *tucka* *tuck* *tucka* of a computer.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
quote:I've been here all along.
OK then, I want to know, was it the "little French girl in trouble" and the Army helped you to disappear? That rumor has been around at least since 1945.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:The *tick* *tick* *tick* of a typewriter is still more musical to my ears then the *tucka* *tuck* *tucka* of a computer.
Get yourself an IBM brand, "old school" keyboards. You know, the ones you can drive your car over and they'll still work.
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
Imagine, a generation without the comforting smell of correcting fluid - mmm correcting fluid...
I myself am on the cusp. I remember the pain my Dad used to go through with type-written stencils and the duplicator to print the parish magazine.
Ah, the eold days are the eoldest...
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
I remember when photocopiers put out this shiny paper that came out warm and smelling of something akin to ditto fluid. Mmmm... ditto fluid.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: We played all the "Sing Along With Mitch" My sister and I can still launch into an impromptu duet of "Sweet Violets" anytime anyone goads us into it
Shvester!
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I remember when photocopiers put out this shiny paper that came out warm and smelling of something akin to ditto fluid. Mmmm... ditto fluid.
And they wondered why those SAT scores kept falling . . .
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
My mother in law gave us a typewriter because she thinks that when the drop the bomb all the computers will stop working.
Because when all the computers have stopped working, you can't just handwrite your letters, apparently.
But my daughter thinks its cool.
I used to have a manual typewriter. Man, I loved that thing.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote:OK then, I want to know, was it the "little French girl in trouble" and the Army helped you to disappear? That rumor has been around at least since 1945.
Don't know. I was born in 1964. I was Glenn Miller from 1972 to 1978. Played trombone too.
Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
I played trombone in school because of Glenn Miller.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
My dad always made fun of Glenn Miller cause it was the music old people liked when he was growing up. <launches into parodic version of "string of pearls">
Games Magazine had this cool visual game once where you find the anachronisms in this picture that was purportedly from the 1970s. The dude had a fro and stuff. It was funny. I got all the anachronisms except for the sticky note. Who remembered that we used to live without sticky notes? I can't imagine such a time, even though I know intellectually that it was true. It must have been a poor paltry sort of life, just the same.
Posted by baduffer (Member # 10469) on :
In the gym yesterday a kid was running on the treadmill next to me at 8.5 mph texting the whole time on his cell phone. Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:I am reminded of the Beatle-like vultures near the end of Disney's The Jungle Book
I'm sorry.
Posted by DeathofBees (Member # 3862) on :
My family's always been on the cutting edge. My dad was a microfiche reader salesman.
I had a typewriter I used for making my school papers look more "professional" than the alternative requirement of double-spaced cursive. Wish I still had it for my kids to play with. My mom still uses her electric typewriter for her business. It's easier to fill in small-size forms on a typewriter than any other way.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
One of my accomodations to my geo-batchlor status, is the resurection of my Pentax K1000 camara. I've found lots of fun toys to attach to it on the e-bay and am having a ball. It is surprising how many people ask me to "send me that picture when you get home". Unfortunatly, I haven't found any way to connect the camara to the computer for the download. Seattle Film Works (or what ever they call themselves now) will put them on disk if I wanted. I might have to try that just to share.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
quote:I played trombone in school because of Glenn Miller.
I played trombone in school with Glen Miller. Actually, I did study with Tex Beneke's lead tenor sax picker.
Posted by firebird (Member # 1971) on :
You had comics!!! All we had were cardboard boxes ...
Posted by BandoCommando (Member # 7746) on :
I love "The Typewriter" by Leroy Anderson. Wonderful use of musical onomatopoeia. Brilliant.
Here is an excerpt. This recording seems to use an actual typewriter, though versions that I have played use a woodblock, wooden ratchet, and a bell set (glockenspiel). Enjoy!
Posted by BandoCommando (Member # 7746) on :
And speaking of Glenn Miller, my dad is named after him, hence why my dad has the rather less common spelling that incorporates two 'n's rather than a singular 'n'.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
Yes, I missed that. I knew better. Sorry.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote: And speaking of Glenn Miller, my dad is named after him, hence why my dad has the rather less common spelling that incorporates two 'n's rather than a singular 'n'.
In my experience, most Glenns have two "n"s in their name. In fact, I found a reference in a dictionary one time that said that glen with one "n" is a narrow wooded ravine, while Glenn with two "n"s is a boy's given name. I like to quote that from time to time.
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