The Typewriter that got me through high school

I'm fascinated, as was my father, by how technology changes the world around us. I've decided to use this blog to discuss.

Here for instance, from the attic, is the typewriter that I used to write my high school papers. It's a Smith Corona. There's a printer ribbon which can set to type in red. I suppose eraser ribbons might have also existed for this type of typewriter although I never had one.

To erase, I used either an eraser (if I was using erasable paper) or white tape.

The return key that you see on the computer keyboards is an echo of how we use to hit the silver return bar at the end of the line. The next generation electronic typewriters, which I used in college, had a Return Key.

I graduated from high school in 1976. The hands in this picture are those of my daughter who thought this was really cool. The kids love the typewriter. And when I showed them carbon paper (which is the next post), they really thought it was cool.

Mighty Aphrodite

Mighty is a word that should be used with care.
If you use mighty as in "I'm mighty glad to see you," it will either date you, as someone who actually worked on the original Foghorn Leghorn comics, make you sound Southern, but cheesy Southern, not the cool Southern that you would like to be, or make you sound stupid.

The only way you could convincingly use the expressive mighty is if you are writing for a network television show and you write a line to be said by someone who is rescued out of, say, a well, right before a cliff-hanging commercial break, as in:

Brock wipes the two inch layer of mud from his eyes, reaches for his cowboy hat, and says, "I'm mighty glad to see you!"

Otherwise, keep mighty to be used as an adjective when describing something of great power, skill, strength, or force, such as Aphrodite

Material Girl

Materialize actually means to "make material" or to "invest with or regard as material."

It does not mean "to take place or to happen."

So, when you say"the party never materialized," you are just plain wrong, and should have been home reading fine literature that night instead of worrying about some silly party.

Mannish Boy

Forgetting for a moment that we all love Mckinley Morganfield, a.k.a. Muddy Waters, who masterfully rendition of Mannish Boy could be titled nothing else, the words mannish and manly are not synonymous.

Manly signifies of or becoming to a man, man-like, and also manfully. Mannish means masculine, or suitable to a man. We characterize a brave and courageous man as manly and a woman's masculine attire as mannish.

A Likely Pet Peeve

Here is another misuse of words that is on the top third of my Teeth Gritter List.

Likely. Liable. They are not interchangeable. Really. And liable is not a fancy way to say likely, and no, it doesn't make you sound more Southern. You won't be increasing your grammatical status or your cool by saying liable when you mean likely.

"He's not here today, but he's liable to be in tomorrow." This is wrong. Say instead, "He's not here today, but he's likely to be in tomorrow."
Liable is used chiefly with regard to answering the consequence of an act that is likely to be the cause of trouble; as in, "The arrest of one who exceeds the speed-limit is likely, and may render him liable to a fine."

Am I Idle or Lazy?

The words idle and lazy are not synonymous. Let us be precise in our speech and use them correctly.

Idleness describes the state of one given to empty, vain, or useless effort. It does not mean inaction, but the absence of useful action. This differs from laziness, which is indisposition to exertion, indolence, or a state of sluggish inactivity.

I supposed laziness is a moral step-up from idleness, as laziness can be a temporary state or a habit which can be corrected, while idleness seems to me to be more of a permanent state or character flaw.

This is open to debate. Your ideas?

Knitted vs. Knit

"The stockings were knitted with care by Grandma."

No, no, a thousand times no.
"The stockings were knit with care by Grandma."

If you speak this way you might as well have putted your sippy cup on the table, you are So Very Preschool.

A more common use of this phrase might be, "The stockings were knit with care by a lead-laden machine in China." In any case, a dollar fine for misuse of this verb would be fair.