We are living in a Blackberry world! Until it goes down. That is. It wasn’t so long ago that I expressed regret that I did not take typing 101 in High School. Watching my wife cruise the keyboard like a stenographic super woman, made me jealous of the amount of text she could out put while I still, after all these years, have to look at the key tops to insure that my typing reflects what I am thinking.
But I got along just like so many others! When I hired my first secretary more than 35 years ago I asked two basic questions: How fast can you type? (I have a cousin that once hit 90 plus words a minute). And, do you take shorthand? Later, working for Dictaphone Corporation, shorthand was not a requirement as we had telephone like devices on our desk. We just picked up the handset and started talking. We could say whatever was on our mind into this device as it was called the “Think Tank.” Somewhere a stenographer was typing our thoughts at blazing speed on typewriters that had balls whacking away on the paper in a blur!
Shorthand is back. Instant Messenger made thumb based communications even easier as words are not required. “cul8tr.” “50.” So many cryptic messages, “lol.” The new shorthand! You bet! After all, how much work can two thumbs do? There is a new etiquette or a lack of etiquette that is acceptable when using just thumbs. Spell check not required. In fact, it is distained. Buying vowels is a Vanna White service – not for Smart Phones.
A short while ago I wrote about the difference between the thumb and the fingers in communications. I was right and I was also wrong!
My first Smith Corona portable typewriter entered my life at age 14. More than a half century later, I am only slight better at typing than I was at 14. It is not a matter of just speed, it is a matter of spelling, spacing, hyphenation, indents and so much more that makes written (typed) page a work of art! Be sure, I am among the vast majority who are NOT artists!
But I got along just like so many others! When I hired my first secretary more than 35 years ago I asked two basic questions: How fast can you type? (I have a cousin that once hit 90 plus words a minute). And, do you take shorthand? Later, working for Dictaphone Corporation, shorthand was not a requirement as we had telephone like devices on our desk. We just picked up the handset and started talking. We could say whatever was on our mind into this device as it was called the “Think Tank.” Somewhere a stenographer was typing our thoughts at blazing speed on typewriters that had balls whacking away on the paper in a blur!Those were the good old 70sa and 80s! Stenography was a career! Need a stenographer - just dip into the “pool.” They did it all – took your thoughts converted them to scribbles (shorthand), then typed them on correcting typewriters and voila – your thoughts on paper, spelled correctly with the proper punctuation and in one of maybe seven typefaces that IBM has on balls!
Now that we have desktop, laptop and note book computers along with iPhones, Thunderbolts, Droids and BlackBerrys and other devices that fin into a small bag, pouch, belt-clip or inside pocket, the world has changed - or has it? White Out gave way to Spell Check, ink erasers are extinct, 12 point type is a thing of the past just like the three cent stamp.
“I am all thumbs” has a new meaning! Left and right thumbs are the new source of information. Left and right thumbs connect with the rest of the world. Just as Emperor Nero would put his thumb up or down to indicate whether the combatant would live or die, our thumbs do the same – will that deal live or die? We thumb are way through the process no matter where we are– will we have the meeting or not, we will have the date, is it a deal – so many questions rest on how well our thumbs communicate.
Even the worst typist can manipulate their thumbs – after all, it is just two of ten fingers. My thumb was once a proven method of transportation and now it is proven method of communication. My thumb got me all over the country, now I use it to get all over the world – instantly! My thumbs do not have to obey any posted speed limit! Thumbs take me to wherever I need to go with my thoughts and words.
Shorthand is back. Instant Messenger made thumb based communications even easier as words are not required. “cul8tr.” “50.” So many cryptic messages, “lol.” The new shorthand! You bet! After all, how much work can two thumbs do? There is a new etiquette or a lack of etiquette that is acceptable when using just thumbs. Spell check not required. In fact, it is distained. Buying vowels is a Vanna White service – not for Smart Phones.
We had to know this was coming. So many states have vanity license plates these days. There have been some very compelling messages on these plates with just seven letters:“htgrdma.” “l8agn.” Hot grandma and late again – for those of you who are ‘Thumbish” Language challenged.
For those of us that sort of miss the good old 70s and 80s where the English Language, and other languages of the world were all typed on a QWERTY keyboard, take heart.
Your left and right thumbs compete favorably to that stenographer who whizzed across the keyboard creating machine gun like sounds that would make a marine gunner proud! We have our thumbs to thank. Is it not our thumbs that separate us from primates?
Pull out your Blackberry or iPhone and start creating information that will impact the world or your world, at least. Write that one great book that supposedly resides in us all. You can do it with just your thumbs. Imagine how fast you can create the tome of your life if you are using “u” for “you.” “l8t” for “late” or “st8” for “state?” get out the dictionary of Thumbish or get a teenager to assist, they have the latest “411.”
As you can see all this technology made the world an easier place to be, that is, unless you are all thumbs!
That is my take, you decide – send me a thumb generated text!
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