Lately, I have been seeing vintage typewriters show up all over the place, and I'm starting to covet them in a major way. The clicking keys, the smell of the ink tape, the fact that when you typed something, you were really creating it, right there, in your hands . . . and, of course, that little ding! when you reach the end of the row and slide the carriage back.
Typewriters, like so many things, are going the way of the dodo, but I hope vintage-hounds like me will keep them alive;)
I was recently talking with a teenager and I mentioned carriage return . . . and you know what comes next. She had no idea what I was talking about. I had to explain that the ENTER button on the computer's keyboard used to be called the RETURN button, and that was short for CARRIAGE RETURN, and the carriage was the part of the--you know what? Forget it.
Yes; I weep for the youth of our generation.
Maybe I'm on a retro-Mad-Men-vintage-y kick today, but there is something so romantic about the typewriter. Let's hope they never disappear completely.
3 comments:
When I was at school in the late eighties my school updated their typewriters for the first time in 30 years (!) and went from vintage (1950's) manual to electric. I was learning to type at the time and the teacher wanted to get rid of the old typewriters, so asked us girls if anyone wanted one. I bought the typewriter I learned on for £5. I don't know exactly when it was made, and I have no idea how I learned to type on it as you need fingers like bricks to push the keys down, but I love it. It sits on my desk, next to my laptop to remind me how much I love writing! I totally get where you're coming from with this post!
for christmas last year i found a typewriter from the 1920's for my 16 yr. old aspiring writer...the machine is in excellent shape and works very well....she loves it and has dubbed it "agatha" for her favorite author who was writing in the 20's....she spends a lot of time writing on her laptop, but i love it when i hear her clacking away with "dear agatha"!
Yay! Hope for the future!
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