# How fast are your hands?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 20, 2000, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724 "2000-10-20T23:12:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/1 "2000-10-20T23:12:00Z")
According to the test I took at the employment agency–I have what can only be described as
“MaD w0Rd Pr0ceszz!ng sk!llZ!!!”
87 WPM, 1% error.
How fast are you?
DRAW!
---
### Author:  [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/2 "2000-10-20T23:17:55Z")
Haven’t tested in a while, but last time I did, I could type 120 wpm… my mom teaches type/keyboarding, so I learned when I was like 8.
---
### Author:  [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/3 "2000-10-20T23:20:02Z")
Oh…typing? About 30-50 _short_ words a minute.
With Colt SAAs, however…😃
---
### Author:  [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/4 "2000-10-20T23:21:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Rasa \*
> \*\*Haven’t tested in a while, but last time I did, I could type 120 wpm… my mom teaches type/keyboarding, so I learned when I was like 8. \*\*
_whew!_ You’re quick. 🙂
This doesn’t have to be limited to typing speed. I wanna know how nimble the other people are out there. Are you a Duke of Dexterity? Can you perform neurosurgery with one hand while playing the piano with the other hand?
I can’t, either. But I once saw a guy named Rod Miller at Disneyland who plays the piano like a surgeon. Fingers dancing everywhere so fast it’s all a blur! (He still works there, actually.)
---
### Author:  [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/5 "2000-10-20T23:29:09Z")
Mostly I am not to agile with my hands. I do, however, have a distinct talent in starting IVs. I used to be the clinic specialist for starting pediatric IVs in one of the hospitals I used to work at. I’ve even had people come request my help in the emergency room to start IVs when they couldn’t get them.
My six finger typing technique isn’t very fast…
---
### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/6 "2000-10-20T23:34:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Oh…typing?
Hahahahahaha 😃
[sexist item]I once saw a cartoon in a magazine similar to _Sex to Sexty._ The scene was a young woman’s front door. A young man who has come to the house is standing just outside the door, holding all of the woman’s clothing behind his back. The woman stand naked, facing him. She says, “You must be the guy my roommate said has fast hands.”
Hahahahahaha 😃
[/sexist item]
---
### Author:  [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/7 "2000-10-20T23:36:25Z")
My hands are FAST-just ask anyone who has seen me talk!
(See, when I talk, I use my hands. My mom always used to say that if she tied my hands behind my back, I would never be able to say another word. Seriously.)
Okay, I will shut up now.
---
### Author:  [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/8 "2000-10-21T00:07:56Z")
Demo: No matter who else posts, YOU win in my book. I have a real phobia/panic attack thing going with needles and I would pay extra for someone who could get it done and get the hell away from me!
---
### Author:  [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/9 "2000-10-21T00:12:56Z")
Depending on the situations, I go from 30 to 80 wpm, with the former being when I am damn nervous or don’t care, and the latter being when everything goes as I want it to (think cute girl nearby or such).
I have pretty good hands otherwise, though. My fingers are pretty quick.
---
### Author:  [@Baglady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baglady)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/10 "2000-10-21T00:42:32Z")
I’m assuming you mean a computer keyboard, and not an electric typewriter, right? Or slower still, a manual typewriter?
I think I can only type around 70wpm on an IBM Selectric. On a keyboard though, when I’m on a roll and I don’t have to type a lot of numbers, it’s somewhere around 90wpm. **Obfusciatrist** types at least as fast as I do.
I know of two people who have been tested at around 110wpm on keyboards. It is almost like listening to a symphony when I listen to them clack away, it’s amazing.
---
### Author:  [@tubagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tubagirl)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/11 "2000-10-21T00:49:28Z")
[www.typingmaster.com](http://www.typingmaster.com)
here ytou can find out your accuracy and typing speed. Mie was 43wpm.
Try it out
---
### Author:  [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/12 "2000-10-21T00:55:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tubagirl \*
> \*\*[www.typingmaster.com](http://www.typingmaster.com)
>
> here ytou can find out your accuracy and typing speed. Mie was 43wpm.
>
> Try it out \*\*
That was weird.
I took the test and scored 97 WPM, with 2% error.
That’s nearly 10 full points above the test the employment agency gave me. Quick–bring me a statistician! Is it normal to have a variation that high?
Maybe I was just having a slow morning the day I went to the agency.
Thank you for the URL, Tubagirl.
---
### Author:  [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/13 "2000-10-21T01:11:00Z")
I got 57WPM, with 97% accuracy. I type with two fingers, and I can’t type without looking at the keys. C’mon, 57WPM with 2 fingers isn’t _that_ bad!
(Of course, by the time I type a long post, 10 people have already responded to it. I hate that. :))
---
### Author:  [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/14 "2000-10-21T01:39:01Z")
I only got 31 wpm, not nearly my best, I think.
On the other hand, I was back-spacing out the errors on the fly (my fingers know when they hit the wrong key!), and got 100% right.
This test seems a lot nicer than the other ones I’ve seen. Most just count keystrokes, and don’t recognize backspace as removing the wrong character; they count it as another error! Then the corrected one is off by two spots, and you have to skip a couple to get back in sync.
---
### Author:  [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/15 "2000-10-21T01:40:39Z")
I took the test twice and both times I got 38 wpm with 0% errors. BTW, most of the time, I look at the keyboard while I type, never got rid of the habit.
Just for fun I re-typed the above without looking at the keyboard:
I took the test twice and bith times U got 38wpm with 0% errors. BTU, most of the time I liik at the keybiard while type, never got rid oof the habit.
I guess I can type without looking at the keyboard…just need to practice it more often.
---
### Author:  [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/16 "2000-10-21T02:06:29Z")
D’oh! I only got 110 when I took the test on that site. But I just spilled gin and tonic on my keyboard… I don’t think it liked that.
---
### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/17 "2000-10-21T02:11:47Z")
106 wpm, 97% accuracy.
My mom made me learn to touch-type when I was in grade school. She used to be a copywriter and still secretares. (I guess that would be the verb form of “secretary” and if not, well it is now.)
I can get up to 130 wpm if I try.
---
### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/18 "2000-10-21T02:28:07Z")
I have you all beat. 247 WPM over the course of two minutes. My arms are tired as hell though.
---
### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/19 "2000-10-21T03:05:20Z")
Mine was 52 wpm with 99% accuracy on the second go-round. I lost some time on the first try because I kept hitting the wrong key for the backspace and just got completely buggered at one point.
Of course, it’s not how fast your hands are, but how well you use them, right rjk?
---
### Author:  [@Bluemonchichi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluemonchichi)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2000, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724/20 "2000-10-21T03:14:00Z")
Wow, I feel slow. I got 58 words a minute with 98% accuracy. Oh, well. It’s a good thing I don’t have to do much speed typing.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-are-your-hands/37724.md?page=2)