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Over the Back Fence By HANK HENRY Typewriters were good in their day By HANK HENRY I was watching a TV documentary the other night on the Y2K problem when I was struck by the fact that a large percentage of the executives who were pictured in front of their computers were hunt-and-peck typists. These were men and women in their 40s and 50s, baby boomers all, and yet a whole lot of them apparently had never had a typing class. I must confess right here that I am a hunt-and-peck typist, as were a lot of people of my generation and generations before me. I would have thought that untaught typists would have practically died out by now, but then I added up the figures and realized those born 40 or more years ago were in high school before computers became commonplace. As the Y2K documentary showed, children as young as 8 or 10 appeared to be typing with all their fingers, while some of the older people were not. One man who looked to be under 40 typed only with about three or four fingers of his right hand, yet his left hand did not seem paralyzed. Several years ago, I wrote about my experience in the '50s working for the radio station owned by the now-defunct Oregon Journal, Portland's afternoon newspaper. Much of my time was spent in the paper's newsroom where I broadcast from a small radio studio near the city desk. I estimated about half of the reporters and editors were apparently self-taught typists. Some of them could type at least 60 words a minute. They talked about "banging out copy," a phrase which was literally true, because the typewriters of that era were strictly mechanical. Operating them with the light touch used on today's computers would not have moved a type bar to the platen. My experience with typewriters began when my parents bought one for the family when I was 12. Less than six months later, I had figured out how to type using two fingers. Now, 64 years and more than a million words later, I still use the hunt-and-peck system. During World War II, I lugged a Royal portable around in my Jeep on Okinawa, and I later had an Underwood in China. Between 1946 and 1986, I used a variety of typewriters, and the only way to get any of them to produce the original and two carbons that most jobs required was to literally pound the keys. Electric typewriters came along in the '70s, but for a long time I clung to the old ways, afraid that the new machines couldn't stand heavy pounding. Finally, an electric typewriter arrived in my office, and I was surprised to learn that it didn't bite and that I could type faster without pounding the keys. A computer was the next logical step. When the county's machines were upgraded, one of the old computers was moved into my office. Having a computer at work made me want one for home use. I read an advertisement by a mail-order firm for a clearance of "laptop machines," and I bought one. That was more than 10 years ago. What we now call "laptops" had little in common with the one I bought. First, it had no battery -- you had to plug it into an outlet. The machine was about 30 inches square and about 2 inches in height. It was simplicity itself. Lifting the lid revealed the keyboard, and inside the lid was an LED screen. Below the keyboard were two floppy disc ports. The contraption could be connected to a separate monitor and a printer. I really liked this machine. I carried it through a lot of airports where it was sure to be inspected by security folks who had never seen such a primitive computer. I always carried an electrical cord in my pocket, because they all wanted to see it in action. By 1993, I decided my little machine was too primitive, so I bought one of the clones with a monitor and color printer, all for $2,000. This year I bought a much more powerful machine for less than $600. So here I am with a computer that does almost everything, and I still use it primarily as a fancy electric typewriter. Maybe I'll stop now and try to use one of the many games hidden in my programs. It's about time I got up to date. (Hank Henry is a retired Jackson County commissioner and a former radio and television announcer. Call him at 772-9055.) Prime Times front page Mail Tribune front page Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA