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Fun Facts About English #43 – Typing

02/07/2020 by admin

Kinney Brothers Publishing Fun Facts About English 43

I learned to type in 7th grade. I was one of only a few boys in the class as it was still considered a girl’s elective in 1972. I loved the class, was secretly in love with the teacher, and still consider it one of the most useful classes I took in middle school.

Typing Class circa 1972

There was just one problem. For months, I became obsessed with the keyboard in my brain. Every thought had to be typed out. I would become preoccupied with words I could type with my right or left hand, or only using one row of keys. I was like a kid who practices slow-motion baseball pitches in the supermarket except nobody could see me tapping away in my h-e-a-d.

This post is a raw look at my brain on typing.

As stated above, TYPEWRITER can be typed using only the top row of keys on a QWERTY keyboard. Other common and less common ten-letter words are:

  • PEPPERROOT
  • PEPPERWORT
  • PERPETUITY
  • PEWTERWORT
  • PIROUETTER
  • PREREQUIRE
  • PRETORTURE
  • PROPRIETOR
  • REPERTOIRE
  • REPETITORY
  • TETTERWORT

TEETER-TOTTER (12 letters) is possible if hyphens are allowed. Words not likely found in dictionaries would be POWERTRIPPER (12 letters) and TEETER-TOTTERER (14 letters).

typewriter Kinney Brothers Publishing

As there are no vowels on the bottom row, the only word that can be typed is ZZZ, the sound of snoring or sleeping.

At any rate, I can still type pretty fast. The skill I learned on those old manual typewriters so many years ago has served me well. Even n-o-w.

If you enjoy reading about word oddities, you might also be interested in the longest word with no repeating letter, the word with the most consecutive vowels, or the meaning of a sentence that only uses the word buffalo eight times!

See the previous or next Fun Facts About English

Donald's English Classroom Fun Facts About English

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Filed Under: Fun Facts About English Tagged With: 1972 education, Donald's English Classroom, gender stereotypes in classes, keyboard layout, keyboard quirks, keyboard rows exploration, Kinney Brothers Publishing Blog, manual typewriters, middle school electives, nostalgia in education, QWERTY keyboard, typewriter memories, typing class, typing practice, typing skills, typing speed, unique typing words

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