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Topic: QWERTY Keyboard (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 22 July 2014 at 8:45am | IP Logged | 1  

I was introduced to QWERTY in a Lois Lane story, where she "proves" some bad guys are not really reporters because they don't know "who" Qwert Yuiop is. Years later, MAD magazine would name an eye-bending optical illusion the POIUYT, reversing the sequence.

(If this is making no sense to you, take a look at the top row of letters on your keyboard.)

Today, tho, I came across a Fun Fact that was new to me. The word "typewriter" uses letters only from that same top row.

I know, meaningless, pointless, but I get a kick out of this kind of stuff!

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Doug Centers
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Joined: 17 February 2014
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 9:44am | IP Logged | 2  

Here's one that is totally pointless but I always found interesting;
The number 40 written out (forty) is the only number in alphabetical order.

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Darren Taylor
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Joined: 22 April 2004
Location: Scotland
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 9:54am | IP Logged | 3  

---The word "typewriter" uses letters only from that same top row.---JB

Oooo & Prototype!

There's bound to be a website filled with those.

-D
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Ryan Maxwell
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 10:08am | IP Logged | 4  

I type 'reserves' a couple dozen times a day.  Always nice to leave my lazy right hand on the mouse.  
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Bill Collins
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Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 10:46am | IP Logged | 5  

I think Querty was devised for manual typewriters to stop the keys jamming,with the advent of electric,and now computer keyboards Querty is probably redundant and a more logical layout would be more apt,except we are all now used to Querty!
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Steven Myers
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Joined: 10 June 2004
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 10:49am | IP Logged | 6  

The QWERTY keyboard is one of those outdated things that could disappear with new, virtual keyboards making typing customizable for future generations.

Of course, with voice recognition, typing might become obsolete.
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John Byrne
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Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 10:54am | IP Logged | 7  

Yes, QWERTY was designed to place the most frequently used letters under the weakest fingers, precisely to reduce the number of jams. And, also yes, altho it is therefore impractical, it is the one we're used to.

One of the great confusions when I allowed myself to be drawn into the world of text messages was the difficulty of "typing" on my phone's alphabetic keypad. I bought my first iPhone in large part due to its QWERTY keyboard.

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Stephen Churay
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Joined: 25 March 2009
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 11:25am | IP Logged | 8  

Of course, with voice recognition, typing might become obsolete.
=======
Good Lord I hope not.
As bad as some of the phone voice recognition menus are, I'd hate to
see commerce become reliant on it.

I can just see myself on Craig's List trying to order yellow pine wooden
boards and receiving nine cowardly men with no facial expressions
who tell bad stories and don't like to do anything.

Besides, for some, typing is the last line of defense for them
commenting on something they should keep to themselves.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 11:50am | IP Logged | 9  

There's an old story of a machine intended to translate English into Russian and back. For a test, it was given the phrase "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." The Russian translation came back in English as "The wine is good, but the meat is poor."

Luckily, this was not connected to the Hotline!

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Brad Brickley
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Joined: 29 April 2004
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | 10  

Has anyone tried to switch their keyboard to a Dvorak layout? I type pretty good on the Qwerty, but the Dvorak is supposed to be easier and faster to use. 
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Robert Cosgrove
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Joined: 16 January 2005
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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | 11  

Just wasn't up for the effort it would take for the extra speed.  Have QWERTY down; too lazy to learn Dvorak.
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

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Posted: 22 July 2014 at 4:11pm | IP Logged | 12  

QWERTY is the devil I know!
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