# Is type an acceptable verb for word processing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495 "2010-07-21T17:52:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/1 "2010-07-21T17:52:06Z")
I grew up in the days of typewriters and carbon paper. I typed a letter. Teachers require essays typed and double spaced. I continue to say type even though the process involves a computer & word processor. What verb do you use? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/2 "2010-07-21T17:54:14Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I grew up in the days of typewriters and carbon packs. I typed a letter. Teachers require essays typed and double spaced. > > I continue to say type even though the process involves a computer & word processor. > > What verb do you use? 🙂 I can’t think of any other word that someone would use in place of typing. That’s what I use, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/3 "2010-07-21T18:00:33Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > I can’t think of any other word that someone would use in place of typing. That’s what I use, anyway. _Keyboarding_ and _keying_ are common. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/4 "2010-07-21T18:03:10Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > … I continue to say type even though the process involves a computer & word processor. … what’s the alternative? key? stroke? enter? smash? 😕 on preview: keyboarding an email? keying a document? maybe key in your password, but that implies unlocking something rather than typing. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/5 "2010-07-21T18:03:22Z")
Never heard of keyboarding and the only time I’ve heard “keying” used is when it was about scratching someone’s car with a key. > [@](#): > > > [@shijinn](#): > > > > what’s the alternative? key? stroke? enter? smash? 😕 > > > > on preview: keyboarding an email? keying a document? Stroke seems fine. “Sorry, can’t talk, I’m stroking at the moment” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/6 "2010-07-21T18:05:25Z")
I can imagine someone on the Dope 20 years from now. Whats the origins of the word type. Then someone has to explain what a typewriter is. I was thinking about carbon paper recently. Remember making carbon packs with three sheets of paper and two pieces of carbon paper? One typo and you spent 5 minutes with white out fixing the error on each sheet of paper. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/7 "2010-07-21T18:18:59Z")
I’ll stop typing on a computer when everyone else stops dialing phone numbers. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/8 "2010-07-21T18:38:47Z")
“Typing” is fine, although honestly to my ear it is starting to sound ever so slightly dated. I usually just say “write.” As in, “I wrote an email.” I know it doesn’t make sense that “typing” sounds dated and “writing” doesn’t when handwriting is an even older technology, but I’m just reporting the situation as I see it. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/9 "2010-07-21T18:41:32Z")
I “type” words; I sometimes “key” data (such as numbers) but usually I just type that as well. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/10 "2010-07-21T19:15:52Z")
You type as much on a computer keyboard as you do on a typewriter keyboard. The same verb is used for both. Actually, I’ve never encountered anyone before who thought that writing something using a computer keyboard wasn’t typing. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/11 "2010-07-21T19:31:53Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Never heard of keyboarding and the only time I’ve heard “keying” used is when it was about scratching someone’s car with a key. > Stroke seems fine. “Sorry, can’t talk, I’m stroking at the moment” 😃 Man, I would love it if the computers at work would play ‘Stroke me, stroke me, …stoke,stroke.’ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/12 "2010-07-21T19:35:58Z")
If you’re sitting there wiggling your fingers on a keyboard, you’re probably typing. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/13 "2010-07-21T20:07:28Z")
Isn’t “type” an abbreviation for typewriter? There used to be a distinction between writing a letter and typing a letter. Writing implies a handwritten letter. Typing implied a typewritten letter. A lot of words get carried over from old technology. A poster above mentioned dialing a telephone. Even though those phones disappeared in the late 1970’s. I don’t have a problem saying I typed a letter and dialed a phone. I just didn’t want to sound like a dinosaur to some 18 year old that’s only seen those devices in books. > [@matt\_mcl](#): > > You type as much on a computer keyboard as you do on a typewriter keyboard. The same verb is used for both. Actually, I’ve never encountered anyone before who thought that writing something using a computer keyboard wasn’t typing. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/14 "2010-07-21T20:15:33Z")
I don’t think it’s a real concern. Typing and dialing are so overwhelmingly used as the common terms that even younguns who don’t know the origins of the terms still use them and don’t think twice about them. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/15 "2010-07-21T20:21:54Z")
To my ear, “type” as a verb seems to apply to either a human operator’s physical action upon a keyboard (of either a typewriter or a computer), or a machine’s action in printing characters sequentially on paper (rather than printing lines of an image). If someone speaks of “typing a document,” I take that to mean they are speaking of the physical action and time spent doing so. If someone speaks of “writing a document,” that’s usually also understood to be on a computer, but it connotes the mental act, not the physical. I might say “I’ve spent two weeks writing this paper,” to mean that’s been the focus of my mental energies, not that I was _typing_ all that time. A word processor is just software. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/16 "2010-07-21T21:14:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I can imagine someone on the Dope 20 years from now. > > Whats the origins of the word type. Then someone has to explain what a typewriter is. > > I was thinking about carbon paper recently. > Remember making carbon packs with three sheets of paper and two pieces of carbon paper? > One typo and you spent 5 minutes with white out fixing the error on each sheet of paper. You kids and your newfangled white out. We used erasers with little brooms on the ends. You had to be careful with the crumbs or they’d jam up the works. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/17 "2010-07-21T21:42:10Z")
I sometimes use “Enter” in place of “Type” but it’s always in the context of “Enter your last name in the NAME feild”. I like **shijinn** ’s suggestion: _stroking_. Sounds so much pleasanter than banging. I \*stroked \*out an email, mmmm. I \*banged \*out a response, ouch. I \*keyed \*in a document, sounds like using an olde time 10 key machine. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/18 "2010-07-22T02:11:54Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Never heard of keyboarding and the only time I’ve heard “keying” used is when it was about scratching someone’s car with a key. > > Stroke seems fine. “Sorry, can’t talk, I’m stroking at the moment” 😃 What? You can’t talk and stroke at the same time? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/19 "2010-07-22T03:28:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Isn’t “type” an abbreviation for typewriter? > > There used to be a distinction between writing a letter and typing a letter. Writing implies a handwritten letter. Typing implied a typewritten letter. > > A lot of words get carried over from old technology. A poster above mentioned dialing a telephone. Even though those phones disappeared in the late 1970’s. > > I don’t have a problem saying I typed a letter and dialed a phone. I just didn’t want to sound like a dinosaur to some 18 year old that’s only seen those devices in books. Typewriter is a compound word. That gives you a clue that ‘type’ is not an abbreviation for typewriter. Trust me, you won’t seem like a dinosaur for using a word that everyone uses. If you’re concerned, just say ‘wrote.’ There’s nothing wrong with ‘writing an email,’ because it’s about using written symbols in any form, not specifically referring to handwriting - that’s why we have the word handwriting. If someone in typewriter time were to refer to a previous typewritten piece of correspondence, they would say ‘I wrote to you on the 15th of August,’ not ‘I typed to you..’ or ‘I typed a letter to you…’ ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495/20 "2010-07-22T03:45:10Z")
FWIW: I “type” words I took a 1965 high school class in “typing” I “enter” or “key” numbers, codes (including passwords), and alphabetic strings which are not words or abbreviations. As I still do sometimes, I “edit” compostions. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-type-an-acceptable-verb-for-word-processing/547495.md?page=2)