As I said I never had a manual typewriter and my family did not have any type when I was a child. They never needed one.

Then you're safe... you're not senile... (* LOL *)

Like I said... you probably never even seen one.

But that's what that lever was for and I actually used it a couple of times for emphasis in red.

Note: It was OK to use red back then. (* GRIN *)

FWIW

Yes, red was a proper color. Now it’s a triggering color. Although I would like to know percentages of how many children and teenagers were traumatized by red ink.

Showtalk said...

Although I would like to know percentages of how many children and teenagers were traumatized by red ink.

Probably only a small minority, but as it's been publicized in the news, many who aren't traumatized would probably lie and said they were!

FWIW

Edited to add: [Over 50 years and nobody triggered... then all of a sudden... in the midst of the offended over everything crowd... it suddenly becomes triggering or offending?]

It’s all tied up in the culture.  It started out as a good idea about the time we took a stand against bullying.  But it morphed into being offended by just about anything.  There are legitimate complaints and there are ridiculous ones.

But it still doesn't change that red & black ribbons were used in manual typewriters and that there was a specific lever with a black and red tab to change the color of the ribbon when typing on certain manual typewriters long before red became offensive!

FWIW

You are right about that.

Thanks Walter784!  My head said, Yuck! I learned how to type on electric and manual. I was never a fast typiest. 

I do remember, they were red and black, and a right pain in the arse to change.  Back in the day, typewriters were used in business offices for "ledger sheets" and red was used to denote a negative balance ie. "red ink."  Now we can type in every colour of the rainbow.

Well, on the older manual typewriters, you couldn't type with 10 fingers. Your pinky finger and perhaps even ring finger just couldn't depress the keys hard enough to get a good solid letter print on the paper... it would be very light due to the weak stroke. Because of that, most people used only pointer finger on both hands or pointer and middle finger on both hands.

But yes on an electric typewriter. That's where I learned my speed typing. I can type over 80 words per minute on an electric typewriter and now on a computer, probably even faster but haven't measured it recently.

FWIW