# Dirty Letters \[A Poll\] **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894 "2003-01-31T16:49:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/21 "2003-01-31T19:06:50Z")
None. It’s brand new yesterday afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/22 "2003-01-31T19:08:04Z")
0 Most certainly. ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/23 "2003-01-31T19:13:15Z")
my “a” “s” and “e” keys are faded-- none are really dirty tho. ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/24 "2003-01-31T19:14:28Z")
d’oh-- I am instant messaging with my sister-in-law, that should be “though” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/25 "2003-01-31T19:14:49Z")
I’m with Ethilrist and LindyHopper; pipes/backslash. We’ve got funky old DOS stuff that we still use, though, so that may be part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/26 "2003-01-31T21:17:22Z")
Out of habbit I never use the seperate number pad, yet those keys are not dirty but just dusty. So I guess the dirt is somehow related to touching the keys, but keys used often don’t accumulate the dirt. Is this dirt some sort of finger-sweat residue (Yuck) or airborn pollutants getting stuck to the keys that have picked up sweat and oil from my typing fingers? I know that when I worked in an office with a laser printer in it the ammount of fine black dust was terrible, but that does not seem to be a cause in this case. So what makes keyboards dirty, whilst the monitor surroundings (for instance) seem to stay relatively clean? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/27 "2003-01-31T21:26:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Amp \* > \*\*Mine is the colon, semi-colon key. \*\* Heh heh…Amp’s colon is dirty. [sub]oh I really should grow up sometime[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/28 "2003-01-31T22:07:39Z")
space-bar and 5/% ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/29 "2003-01-31T22:26:22Z")
Mine are “C” and “V”. ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/30 "2003-01-31T22:44:56Z")
And “R”. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/31 "2003-01-31T22:45:02Z")
Huh. Weird. Never thought about this. In order, top five ending with most dirty: O 8\* ]} -\_ And the number one dirtiest key on my keyboard… [{ Most strange. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/32 "2003-01-31T23:40:46Z")
Does seem to be that touching the keys has a partial cleaning and partial dirtying effect. P.S. does anyone have good keyboard cleaning advice. I usually rub off the worst with a dry tissue, but the keys soon get dirty again. Cheers, Bippy ---
**Author:** ![kirk280980](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c77e96/32.png) [@kirk280980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk280980)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/33 "2003-01-31T23:53:24Z")
Mine would definitely be the Space and Enter keys. They always develop a buildup of brownish crud, which looks like the kind of muck you see under people’s fingernails. **Bippy** , the only way I’ve found to thoroughly clean the keys is to lever each one out individually with a pointed object, and clean them one at a time with a damp cloth. They usually just click back into place again afterwards, but try this one at your own risk. And WHY has nobody invented a waterproof keyboard which can be run through the dishwasher? I’d be the first to buy one of those if they were to appear in the shops. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/34 "2003-02-01T03:04:22Z")
[Waterproof indestructible keyboard.](http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?SRCCODE=BEFREE&SKU=G126-1008&sourceid=00383892046587137950) Might even be dishwasher safe. Certainly you can spray it off in your sink. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/35 "2003-02-01T03:55:45Z")
The Shift key on the right. I never use that one, so it has years of crap accumulated on it. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/36 "2003-02-01T04:51:46Z")
It appears to be F9. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/37 "2003-02-01T05:13:54Z")
Oddly enough, all of the keys are pretty clean, save the top portion of the spacebar. I discovered my mouse needs cleaning. There are two lines of dead skin on either of the mouse buttons, with a little more on the left (main) button. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/38 "2003-02-01T05:32:46Z")
[ul]“W” 😕 [sup]I have no idea what Morrowind is.[/sup][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/39 "2003-02-01T05:45:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > \*\*“F” > > Seems the little bumpy placeholder thing is quite the schmegma magnet. \*\* From [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com): > [@](#): > > smeg·ma > > A sebaceous secretion, especially the cheesy secretion that collects under the prepuce or around the clitoris. What the _HELL_ are you doin’ with your keyboard?! Also on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com): > [@](#): > > Get the Top 10 Most Popular Sites for “smegma” I think not. And **kniz** , I assume it’s a game. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894/40 "2003-02-01T05:51:14Z")
Mine is the spacebar except the spot where I have worn a dent into it from hitting it with my right thumb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirty-letters-a-poll/151894.md?page=3)