Friday, June 18, 2010

My keyboard and I fell into a disagreement.

Too hungry for cell power, or getting too old and begging to retire; lately my keyboard has been acting erratically, skipping characters and making me look like a worst speller than I actually am. It got me thinking to the days when the written word was actually written and not typed via the use of the “dactylo” (typewriter). Then every time a mistake was done, the entire paper had to be retyped again; requiring even more time and effort (and definitely not environmentally friendly). In the eighties I worked in an Arabic publishing house where we use to receive numerous manuscripts (exceeding a hundred pages) from hopeful writers, hand written. The process was for a team to read all those stories and pick up the few that the company judged worth publishing, and those few went on to proof reading and editing ending up being transcribed onto the linotype machine before going to print (skipping a few stages).
The “written” word then held more value than most of the written words we read today. Then the process of putting your thoughts onto paper was a long and tedious process which every writer struggled before he was sure that his was true to his message. They did not rely on “wordperfect” or even “word” to spell check (wrongly at times) or even correct their grammar; they just spilled their guts on “pen and paper”.
Some claim to be able to depict ones character by analyzing one’s calligraphy, the way they loop their L’s and O’s. the tail on their J’s up or down..etc. I tend to agree, a “hand” written note can tell much more about the author’s state of mind than any “typed” text filled with beautiful words.
So, here I go : “ I love you”.
What do you make of it?




3 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Nice Handwriting !!! ;O)

Marillionlb said...

Trust me that is not how it looks like on normal days. This page and a half was rewritten at least 3 times.