My How Keyboards Have Changed

Right out of college I took a job as a paralegal where I spent hours typing legal forms on a typewriter. My first day there I had no idea how to make that thing work. Someone trained me to use the typewriter!

It’s been almost 10 years since those days, and I haven’t touched a typewriter since — at least not until yesterday.

While enjoying a fine “grownup grilled cheese sandwich” at a delightful cafe, I noticed an Underwood typewriter on the table next to me. So charming.

Notice anything about the keyboard that differs from today’s keyboard?

Where’s the key for the number one? Like me, you probably assume that the upper case “I” or lowercase “l” would fill number one’s shoes. But why did it have to?

After a bit of rooting around, I learned that it was about design simplicity. Some typewriters even older than this one did not have a zero key either. Apparently, the “O” did the job just fine.

My how things have changed…

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