Dear LPG,

I suppose that, in particular, I am talking to all those retired secretaries and touch typists who have continued to practice their skill and anyone who has regularly used their computer to the point that they have learned exactly where the keys are on the keyboard.   I remember the RSA typing course, which I took at school and then forgot about until ten years later when I got a job copy typing.  It is like riding a bicycle as they say, even though you don’t indulge for ages, the skill is hidden somewhere in the depths of your mind and, with just a little practice, comes right back whenever you try it again (health permitting!)

I know that I can be really thick sometimes, but I must have been over fifty and nearing the end of my career when I actually found out why typewriter and computer keyboards are referred to as QWERTY.  The word was part of a script that I typed one day and I realised that the letters were all lined up on the keypad; an interesting fact but it is something that I have learned and always taken for granted.

I also drive and bought a Satnav years ago when the keys needed to be stabbed rather than touched.  I remember proudly taking it out for a test run, but when I started to input the destination street-name I realised that the keypad showed the letters in alphabetical order, which as a typist, I found incredibly hard to navigate.  I needed to look for each letter, which was really frustrating.

I suppose it is easier now to take a tablet with you when you go abroad. They are pretty mobile but I tend to not bother, because it is just something else that you have to take special care of.

A couple of years ago I decided to go on holiday to stay with a friend in Nice, France because I thought it would be a way of brushing up on my schoolgirl French.  I must have been the oldest student at the foreign language school, but it was fun.  While there I asked if I could borrow my host’s computer to send an email back home and all seemed fine until I decided to type and email address and could not find the ‘@’ symbol.   The keyboard looked just like my one at home but there is so many differences.  As you can imagine there were many students at the school from many countries and it was really interesting to see all the subtle differences on their keyboards depending on the country they came from.  It is also interesting to note that there are many other layouts.

The moral of my story is, if you are going to type abroad take your own tablet or keyboard with you wherever you go.  All QWERTY keyboards are not the same!

 PA, Lewisham Park

LPG found some information for you about who invented them, how and why the QWERTY keyboard was invented, and the subtle differences to be found on the keyboards, depending on which country they are made in.  We also found a little information about the many other accepted keyboard layouts.

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