I type for a living and often type either with my eyes closed or watching the TV, so I’m pretty accurate. My biggest problem is that I use a lot of shortcuts, so typing words out fully is more of a challenge than hitting the keys without looking at them. Also, I routinely test at over 100 wpm, although I always type slower on tests because I have to remember not to use all those shortcuts. Also, I leanred to type numbers – 1234567890 – and punctuation – ?.,’? – by touch, too.
And that paragraph was typed while watching a bad first season episode of STNG. One mistake that I knew I made as I made it, but I deliberately didn’t correct it like I normally would.
Excalibre, that’s freaky. I’ve been usitg ‘The Raven’ for touch-hyping prartice berause of all ins punctuation and repeated elements.
I’ve been working os numbers, but becaust they’re tvo rows up my fingers wander about a bin. I still haven’t kicke d tha habin of using only the left shift key. Still morking on nat congising my as ond os and es… which are usually the only kers I sis-finger.
I learned how to touch type in 10th grade, because I was doing a lot of writing and figured it would be a useful skill to know. Mind you, this was before computers were in regular use (well, it was 109=, to they weren’t all that common. I’m quite glad I did it now, typing away on those horrible old manual typewriters–I think it prevented me from getting carpal tunnel syndrome, which I should have gotten long ago, given how much I type.
(Hey, not too bad. I do mess up numbers sometimes…“109=” should have been “1980”…but I even got the dashes right. Better than I thought I did.)
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day’
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
I slave over a hot keyboard for a living, and tend to clock in at about 80wpm even with backspacing to catch errors. That apostrophe is because I couldn’t remember where the semicolon is (due to a fatal hatred for the punctuation mark. )
I learned to touch type as a result of online roleplaying on Prodigy and GEnie before the Internet arrived for the huddled masses – but I use a self-taught method of typing as the home row method made me bonkers.
This I will type with my eyes closed, as I usually touch-type anyhow. I’ll try not to correct myself but it’s instinctive now.
I have been typoing every day for the past fifteen years or so. I can’t think of a time I didn’t have a computer nearby to type on. I barely even pick up pen and paper any longer. I write a lot and I have typed for tech support and I play on MUSHes and I play games where your reaction time is going to SUCK if you have to look at they keyboard all the time.
looks back
Hee. I’ve been typoing every day. That’s not untrue.
I learned to type at a relatively young age, in school, back when computer screens were still green (or in this case, orange). I have relative confidence in my skills in this arena, though I admit I can, and probably already have, made mistakes (make mistakes?)
At any rate, one funny thing about learning to type in that particular era: I was one of those who picked up the habit of two spaces after a period, which I know now is a no-no, a holdover from the olden days of publishing and typewriters. Do typing students these days now learn NOT to use two spaces after a period?
I guess I better wrap this up for now. Hopefully, this was a sufficent sample to display to give a reasonable idea of my touch typing skills.
I am a fairly fast hunt-and-peck typist, with only a limited feel for where the keys are. Below is my attempt to touch type the first line from the introduction to The Straight Dope:
(That should have read I first became acquainted with Cecil Adams, self-proclaimed omniscient, in the fall of 1978, when I was asked to become his editor. Maybe I should concentrate on learning Morse code)
Here I am, toiuch typing with my eyes closed. I feel oddly self-conscious doing this. I had ;my eyes open when I put my fingers on the ome row, though.
)