📕 Part 1: Typing

This episode's vocabulary

Done and dusted (idiom) – completely finished. → I just type the message to get it done and dusted as soon as possible.

Type up (phrasal verb) – to type a final version of a text on a computer. → I like to write it by hand before making it look all nice and official when I type it up.

Write by hand (phrase) – to write something using a pen or pencil, not by typing. → If it's a longer written piece, then I like to write it by hand.

Touch type (verb) – to type without looking at the keys. → I was pretty pleased when I was able to partially touch type.

Bang down the keys (phrase) – to press the keys on a keyboard forcefully and loudly. → I learned to type without banging down the keys like an old-fashioned typewriter.

Pick up (phrasal verb) – to learn a new skill or start a habit without intending to. → It was just something I picked up over the course of my childhood.

Techno-literate (adjective) – having a good knowledge of technology, especially computers. → It helped having parents who were reasonably techno-literate for the time.

Nice and official (binomial pair) – appearing both pleasant and formal or professional. → I type it up to make it look all nice and official.

Conscious effort (noun phrase) – an action or thought that is done with intention and awareness. → There wasn't any conscious effort involved in learning to type.

A moderate speed (noun phrase) – a speed that is average; not too fast or too slow. → I suppose I type at a moderate speed.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Do you prefer typing or handwriting?

Rory: I'm pretty fine with both, to be honest. Though if it's a short message I can send online to someone easily enough, then I just type it to get it done and dusted as soon as possible. If it's a longer written piece like an essay, then I like to write it by hand to organize my ideas before making it look all nice and official when I type it up.

Maria: How do you improve your typing?

Rory: I don't know. I just got used to it over time really. There wasn't any conscious effort involved. I do remember the first time I was able to partially touch type and do it without banging down the keys like an old-fashioned typewriter. I was pretty pleased when that happened and I've only gotten better since.

Maria: When did you learn how to type on a keyboard?

Rory: We didn't really have any specific classes for that at school. It was just something I picked up over the course of my childhood. I suppose it helped having a computer at home and parents who were, well, reasonably techno-literate for the time as well.

Maria: Do you type on a desktop or laptop keyboard every day?

Rory: I suppose I must do. Since I'm never far from my laptop and I'm always on it for something that requires using keys, even if it's just playing video games. And if I'm not doing it on there, I'm definitely doing it on my phone.

Discussion

Maria: So, dear listener, typing is when you use a laptop or your computer and you type things. You can handwrite things or you can type things. So you can say, I prefer handwriting or I prefer typing. Or I use a pen or I use a keyboard. And you can say I'm fine with both. So the examiner asks you, do you prefer typing or handwriting? You can say, I'm fine with both. So both typing and handwriting are fine for me. If it's a short message, I can send it online, I can type it up. So you type it up.

Rory: But that just means you type it.

Maria: You could type it up or type it out. You can write something up or write it out as well. Many prepositions.

Rory: If it's a longer piece, like a piece of writing, like an essay, I write it by hand. So you say, to write something by hand, using your hands to write, using a pen. You can say I prefer to write with a pen, or I never write anything by hand, I only type.

Maria: It's a good paraphrase of handwriting. Write something by hand. You don't say write something with my hand, or with hand, or on hand.

Rory: Oh, but you've missed something. Two things in fact, because I type things up or I type things quickly to get them done and dusted as soon as possible. So if something is done and dusted, it's just completed and you can move on to the next thing. But we also type things to make them look nice and official, not official and nice. So these are binomials. We've talked about these before. But they're pretty good. We don't say official and nice, we don't say dusted and done. It's done and dusted, nice and official.

Maria: How do you improve your typing?

Rory: How do you improve your typing?

Maria: We go to a typing instructor.

Rory: You just improve your typing by typing, okay? And you can say, to improve my touch typing. You can say I learn touch typing, I trained myself to use the keyboard. You can say I just type regularly, I typed regularly. I took a course on typing. I used proper hand position. So can you position your fingers in the right way and it helps you to type faster. You can say I used some online tools, typing academy, or typing.com.

Maria: Is that a thing?

Rory: Yeah, it's a real thing. So pretty much dear listener, you can say, I didn't do anything. I just kept typing or yeah, I learned the positions of the letters on the keyboard. I trained my fingers. So pretty much it's just training your fingers and knowing the proper position of your fingers so you can type faster. And some people they type slowly first, but then they start typing faster. Regular practice. When you bang down the keys. The keys here are buttons on the keyboard. We have a keyboard and when you type, you touch the keys of a keyboard, right? So when you bang down the keys, you do it with force, like bam, bam, bam, your fingers are.

Maria: Very loudly. Some people find it very annoying. I don't have a problem with it but other people find it irritating.

Rory: Yeah, but it also depends on the keyboard. Some keys are quite noisy.

Maria: Some people have keys or keyboards which are designed to make that noise because they find it therapeutic because they're nuts.

Rory: I'm nuts. I'm totally nuts. Yes.

Maria: Because you're nuts.

Rory: Hi, I'm Maria and I'm nuts. Yum, yum, yum nuts.

Maria: And I am asylum inmate Maria Bolashenko.

Rory: And Rory is a chewing gum tester. Well, at least I'm telling the truth Rory, okay? And you are lying. Love it. I might be crazy, but at least I'm telling the truth.

Maria: Exactly. Yeah, dear listener, I'm just telling you the truth. I'm a bit crazy, so.

Rory: I learned to type on a keyboard at school. We didn't have any specific classes at school, but I started using a laptop, I started using a computer. I picked up, I picked up typing over the course of my childhood. So I picked it up. I learned something. I picked it up. Or you can say I picked it up from my friends, I picked it up at school. Pick something up, learn it.

Maria: It's important to point out that picking something up involves usually not conscious learning. It's something that you do while you're doing something else. For example, people talk about picking up a language or picking up bad habits. It's something that you don't really think about to do it.

Rory: Yeah, for example, when you go to China, you may not learn Chinese but you pick up some Chinese.

Maria: Yeah, you pick up some phrases.

Rory: Having a computer helped me. We start a sentence with ING. Having a computer, typing on a computer helped me to learn how to type fast. And I had some technoliterate friends, for example. Technoliterate. This means that people knew something about technology so they were in the know how to use computers a long time ago. Literate. Literate is actually a C2.

Maria: Not bad for a chewing gum tester.

Rory: So literate means a person who is able to read and write. But you can say computer literate. So a person who knows how to use a computer well. Tech literate. And you can say I was tech literate as a child or I wasn't.

Maria: Now I'm not so technoliterate.

Rory: But have you ever do you have a person maybe some of your friends or your parents, your family who can't type or who types with two fingers?

Maria: I mean, maybe my dad, but that's just because he doesn't do it so much. He repairs things instead.

Rory: Yeah, because I think most people can type now. Maybe somebody from a village, like older people. But generally.

Maria: These villages with no infrastructure.

Rory: Yeah, like no computers, no connection. Well, there are many villages, in the mountains for example. In some far away places.

Maria: What a privileged existence that must be. I would love that.

Rory: Yeah, but mostly people are fine with typing. And at work we usually type different documents. You can say I type lots of documents. And we say I type on a keyboard, right dear listener? I type on a keyboard. A laptop keyboard, a desktop keyboard, if you have a big computer so a desktop keyboard. And you say, yeah, I usually use my desktop computer or laptop. Can I say I usually type on my phone?

Maria: You could, yes. Although that's not really related to the question here. It's talking about typing on a desktop or a laptop keyboard. However, I mentioned it just to point out that I'm doing it all the time regardless.

Rory: Mhm. Yeah, dear listener, if you don't use your desktop or laptop, you can say, oh, I don't use a desktop or a laptop, I just use my phone, my smartphone. So I usually type on my phone.

Maria: When else do you type? You type on your phone, you type on a keyboard. I don't think you'd really use a typewriter anymore. Does anyone use a typewriter?

Rory: No. I don't think so. Why? Maybe if you're a writer, but yeah, everything's done on a computer, so. Right dear listener. How fast do you type? Are you a fast typer or are you a slow typer? Rory, do you type fast?

Maria: Usually. Especially on my phone. But not on a keyboard. I suppose it's the moderate speed just because I'm old and I need to check my work. I can touch type though. So I think that's a pretty good skill to have.

Rory: But touch type means using your phone.

Maria: No. Well, it could be. Touch typing means that you type without looking at the keys. Instead, you just look at what's on the screen.

Rory: Yeah, you see dear listener, touch type. You don't look at the keyboard, but you're looking at what you're writing. So you just like this.

Maria: You can do it on your phone. It's usually associated with a computer or maybe a typewriter if you live in the 1990s or 1980s.

Rory: And now here's a joke for you to wrap it up. So, the joke is about handwriting. Dear listener, when you write something by hand. So the joke is I took a handwriting test and the results came back. Doctor. Rory, explain the joke.

Maria: Okay, so doctors have notoriously very bad handwriting. So it's difficult to read. And so, if you take a handwriting test and it comes back, you're a doctor, that means that your handwriting is very untidy.

Rory: Yeah, I think dear listener, in every country, doctors, if they handwrite something, it's impossible to read. Because they usually write very fast and it's kind of just like this. So yeah, I took a handwriting test and the results came back like you write, you are a doctor. Or you write as if you were a doctor. Right dear listener. Thank you very much for listening and being with us. We love you, we hug you. And we'll get back to you in our new episode, okay? Bye.

Maria: Bye.