to Ex Exec Secs: my IBM Executive typewriter is responsible for of my OCS (obsessive compulsive syndrom). Am sure of it!

I do the shorthand thing too, quite often find myself with a shopping list in shorthand !

And if I have to spell anything out loud I move my fingers as if I am typing it on a keyboard at the same time.

Do you remember the old Gestetner stencils - typing onto a waxed sheet, using pink correction fluid when you made a mistake, fitting it onto the drum, turning the handle hundreds of times. Oh thank goodness for whoever invented the photocopier.

nanasam - Me too! Have just realised I also continue converting words into Pitmans shorthand form. Often, I am unsure and as I have lost my original Shorthand Dictionary it drives me mad!

Tried typing I was completely hopeless my fingers would miss the letters and then be trapped in between the keys.

A few years ago DH & I decided to take a Spanish language course.
I drove myself mad,
I found I was translating every Spanish word I had to remember in to German.
To make matters worse when DH & I were practising together, I would drive him mad by telling him the German equivalent.

Obviously our brains are completely programmable.
I am definitely programmed to iron a shirt the way I was taught by my Domestic Science teacher.

I still "think" in Pitman's. When I watch TV and in some conversations I'm converting the spoken word into shorthand. I hate doing this, drives me mad but I have no control over my brain!

Oh yes I'd forgotten the ruler. And my teacher would hit our ankles with the window pole if we crossed our legs!!!!

Not to the sound of a violin, but at Pitmans in the sixties we had to type to music.
The teacher (a real dragon who called us "gals") , used to rap our knuckles with a wooden ruler if our elbows stuck out while typing.

Anybody else learn to type to the sound of a violin? We had to hit the keys in time with each note. The "music" got progressively faster so that our typing speeds got faster too.
But if you got too fast the keys stuck together.

Ah, happy days!

Almost the same but not quite. Early days I was a library assistant. Still arrange books in alphabetical order of surname, cd's as well. Find myself tidying the shelves and bringing everything to the front. Can't bear a book or CD out of order. Amazing what stays with us.

I remember teaching that way of centring. It was quite a difficult concept and to do it under timed exam conditions could be very stressful.

Don't worry, most people will come here from "Active".

I never had a typewriter like that, but I do remember counting the letters to find the middle to centre a heading. In fact, we were taught to position the pointer exactly in the middle of the line and then spell the word, two letters at a time, moving one back space for each set of two letters. Saved counting and dividing by 2.

I did have to explain to a younger colleague today the difference between True Type fonts and Courier New.

SORRY! Wrong site. Don't know how to remove though.