Between library contracts, I take what jobs I can. Lately, I’ve been working at a multi-national mega-chain retail cafe stationed among several government offices.
Everyday, I serve hundreds of bureaucrats. Sometimes people will complain about wrist pain from using their computers all the time.
Little do they suspect that a humble barista will lay this string of facts down on them:
1) Early typewriters used key arrangements that were more efficient and ergonomic than the now ubiquitous QWERTY format.
2) The ‘better’ formats were abandoned because people would type too fast, causing the mechanical typrwriters to jam. QWERTY was designed to slow typists down.
3) However, a side effect is that reaching for common keys like the space bar, enter etc. causes some of the ergonomic strain on your hand.
4) And, this is my theory, switching to a more ergonomic and efficient keyboard layout, now that computers are uninhibited by mechanical parts, would be so costly that it may never happen. Remember how confusing switching to metric was for people?
Your latte is ready, with extra Reference Bomb. Bam!
Further Reading: A Brief History of Typewriters
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