longest word question
pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
Here's one:
What is the longest word in the english dictionary that you can type on
the top row of a typewriter?
(ie using only the letters Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P)
BTW, can use each letter as many times as you want, and you
don't have to use all of them.
Peter
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Dave
Spoiler
Typewriter.
--------------------------------------------
rat...@ibm.net
(Hammer nail here--> <-- for a new monitor.)
(Remove XXXX to reply)
Jay Cox
pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca wrote:
>
> Here's one:
>
> What is the longest word in the english dictionary that you can type on
> the top row of a typewriter?
> (ie using only the letters Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P)
>
> BTW, can use each letter as many times as you want, and you
> don't have to use all of them.
>
> Peter
>
> -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
typewriter?? (that was the main seller for these keyboards I hear. the
inventer put all the keys for "typewriter" on the top row so that he
could type out the name really fast for demonstration.
jay
Joost de Heer
In <8816083...@dejanews.com> pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca writes:
:Here's one:
:What is the longest word in the english dictionary that you can type on
:the top row of a typewriter?
:(ie using only the letters Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P)
:BTW, can use each letter as many times as you want, and you
:don't have to use all of them.
:Peter
Longest I can think of atm is TRUETYPE (or is 'truetyper' a word too?)
But I think there are longer words possible.
Joost
--
Quick to judge, Quick to anger, Slow to understand WITCHHUNT
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand [RUSH]
The righteous rise with burning eyes of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies - to beat, and burn, and kill
Blade-Runner
It was Tue, 09 Dec 1997 04:09:14 -0600. You remember? Course you do!
Jay Cox <Jay...@ramail.angelo.edu> wrote some of this :
>
>typewriter?? (that was the main seller for these keyboards I hear. the
>inventer put all the keys for "typewriter" on the top row so that he
>could type out the name really fast for demonstration.
Shurely shome mishtake? I always thought the jumbled arrangement was
to slow typists down to prevent key jams. Can't say it was ever a
satisfactory explanation though.
--
Geoff (Blade-Runner)
Put the cat out to reply via e-mail
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/2333
Go placidly amid the toys and waste (sign on kids' bedroom door) [me]
Maxim Westman
In article <348D18CA...@ramail.angelo.edu>, the Usenet Conspiracy led millions to believe Jay Cox <Jay...@ramail.angelo.edu> wrote:
>typewriter?? (that was the main seller for these keyboards I hear. the
>inventer put all the keys for "typewriter" on the top row so that he
>could type out the name really fast for demonstration.
>
Uh huh. The only thing meant to be easily typed on the QWERTY keyboard. Old
typewriters couldn't type too fast, so the letters are arranged in the most
difficult arrangement possible. The "Dvorak" configuration, which came later,
is meant for ease of use, but didn't catch on. (It was standard on my first
computer. Just a button to press. :)
M.
--
matan...@starplace.commander (remove mander to reply)
Joost de Heer
In <66i1jl$6e9$1...@fanth.sci.kun.nl> joo...@sci.kun.nl (Joost de Heer) writes:
:Longest I can think of atm is TRUETYPE (or is 'truetyper' a word too?)
:But I think there are longer words possible.
And there is of course TYPEWRITER
Andrew Pople
pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca wrote:
> Here's one:
>
> What is the longest word in the english dictionary that you can type on
> the top row of a typewriter?
> (ie using only the letters Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P)
>
> BTW, can use each letter as many times as you want, and you
> don't have to use all of them.
>
You can spell TYPEWRITER from these letters. Strange, huh?
--
Andrew Pople
Daniel Gruhl
At 10 letters:
perpetuity
proprietor
repertoire
and the classic
typewriter
In article <8816083...@dejanews.com> pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca writes:
What is the longest word in the english dictionary that you can type on
the top row of a typewriter?
(ie using only the letters Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P)
BTW, can use each letter as many times as you want, and you
don't have to use all of them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Gruhl MIT Media Lab E15-348
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Gruhl MIT Media Lab E15-348
pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
Jay Cox <Jay...@ramail.angelo.edu> wrote:
>
> pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca wrote:
> >
> > What is the longest word in the english dictionary that you can type on
> > the top row of a typewriter?
> > (ie using only the letters Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P)
> >
> > BTW, can use each letter as many times as you want, and you
> > don't have to use all of them.
>
> inventer put all the keys for "typewriter" on the top row so that he
> could type out the name really fast for demonstration.
You're right, the longest word you can type is 'typewriter'.
Though I didn't know the inventor did it on purpose to sell it easier.
That's odd because I've also heard the layout of the keys was purposely
made inefficient to slow down fast typers, as mechanical typewriters
would jam themselves up when too many keys were hitting the paper at
once.
Mike Zammit
PERPETUITY
PROPRIETOR
REPERTOIRE
TYPEWRITER
Ed Sibre
Jay Cox <Jay...@ramail.angelo.edu> wrote:
>pj...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca wrote:
>>
>> Here's one:
>>
>> What is the longest word in the english dictionary that you can type on
>> the top row of a typewriter?
>> (ie using only the letters Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P)
>>
>> BTW, can use each letter as many times as you want, and you
>> don't have to use all of them.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>> -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
>> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
>
>
>typewriter?? (that was the main seller for these keyboards I hear. the
>inventer put all the keys for "typewriter" on the top row so that he
>could type out the name really fast for demonstration.
>
>jay
Interesting problem and interesting comments from correspondents, too.
The best I could do on long words in the qwerty row of keys:
PERPETUITY
PEWTERWORT
PIROUETTER
PREREQUIRE
PRETORTURE (prerequired for acceptance into Torquemada U.?)
PROPRIETOR
PROPRIETORY (As Dave Barry would say, I'm not making this up!)
PROTEROTYPE
RUPTUREWORT (This must be the real heavy PROTEROTYPE kind of wort)
Regarding the keyboard:
The qwerty keyboard was designed by Christopher Shoales, the
typewriter inventor, for the express purpose of SLOWing the typist.
The original typewriter had keys which hung down in a basket
arrangement and pivoted upward to strike the platen (roller) from
below. The keys returned to their rest position thanks to gravity - no
springs helped the return on the early models. This resulted in a very
sluggish action, and if two keys close together in a quadrant of the
basket were struck rapidly, they would interfere with each other's
travel and "stick" or jam together - the rising key would contact the
falling key and the action would lock. The typist would then be forced
to stop typing and manually unjam the stuck keys. Shoales reasoned
(correctly) that the typist would be more productive by typing more
slowly than by stopping every so ofter to unjam keys.
We still use this inefficient-by-design 1873 keyboard layout, even
though the need for it disappeared more than 100 years ago. A chap
named Dvorak (a professor of education at U-Wash in Seattle) analyzed
the problem, designed and patented a better arrangement in 1932. His
design is known as the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK) and has been
offered as an alternate keyboard arrangement by some word processors
(such as WordPerfect.) It increases typing efficiency by 30% to 50%
and is much easier to master than the standard layout. But because of
the vested interests of the typewriter industry in the "established"
design (the NIH syndrome) his keyboard layout has effectively been
squelched, and all the rest of the world are the worse because of it.
Interested readers can find a comprehensive DSK report in the 11/72
edition of Computers and Automation. The article is titled "The Dvorak
Simplified Keyboard: Forty Years of Frustration" by Robert Parkinson.
Good luck on finding a copy...