I don't know why, but I like asking this question. You can tell a lot about someone in many cases based on how fast they can type.

This could also get into the questions "How did you learn? When did you start?"

Well, as for myself, I began typing properly in the 7th grade, which would put it at around 25 years ago. They were computers that time, but when I did it again in the 11th grade, they had us on typewriters for some reason. Either way, I owned it that time because by then, I was in the middle of writing a book.

You see, I wasn't a very good student - academically, not socially. I didn't cause problems at school or anything. I wasn't a bully, nor did I get bullied, and things like sports and student counsel didn't interest me in the slightest. But I was horrible at completing homework, finishing projects, studying topics that didn't grab my interest whatsoever. I failed a lot of classes for this reason. It's not that I didn't get it. I got it just fine, it just bored me to death; it put me to sleep.

But, when I was in the 10th grade, I got a Brother word processor for Christmas.

Not a computer. A word processor.

Specifically, this thing:

And I LOVED it. I did so much on this thing for the 3 years I had it before replacing it. Mostly, though, I wrote a daily journal (which I think is the root I'm going back to when I write here these days), and I wrote a book.

Yep, 15 years old. Started writing a book. Took me over 2 years to complete, about 2 months before graduation.
Man, what a feeling of accomplishment. I spent 2+ years spending every emotion I have on that book.
Excitement, determination, anticipation, anxiety, boredom, neglect, guilt, and of course, the dreaded writer's block.

I'll keep this short, but the story was about a group of friends that grew up and went to a school in a really bad part of a large city. Dealt with gangs, drugs, metal detectors at the schools, etc. A lot of my inspiration came from movies like "Lean On Me" with Morgan Freeman and "The Principal" with John Belushi, both from the 80's. It was totally spur of the moment to even begin writing it, and it suddenly came to have a life of its own. I tried doing a 2nd draft to fix some things I knew needed it, but then graduation came, then summer, then I tried going to college, got a job, etc etc etc, and it never happened. Never published it or anything.

But ANYWAY...

That word processor is what gave me the typing skills I have today. I can't stand internet shortspeak, aside from the usuals, like "lol" or "brb". Those are just convenient. But the nearly speaking fully in that shortspeak is enough to drive me up a tree. I even have to have capitalization and spelling as correct as I can.

That's because of that Brother word processor.

This thing had a beep that would go off while you were typing if something was incorrect. Not like the red underline you get these days. This was nearly an evil alarm clock ::BEEP:: that would rattle your eardrum every time it went off. It was like electric shock therapy for learning how to type correctly, or maybe the game "Operation".

So now I have a kind of rigid method of typing, but it's efficient I suppose. On a nice warm day, I can cap out at about 80+ wpm. Temperature drops, suddenly I have the rusty hands of the tin man and no oil.

On a sidenote, have you ever argued with a friend in chat or messenger who can type that fast? GOOD GOD. Even if you're as fast as they are, what a pain in the ass it is to get a word in edgewise, right? It's like you're trying to be the 9th caller!

Wow, okay, this was supposed to be a short post, but it grew a life of its own and took over.
Huh...that's how my book got started.

So, back to my original question:

How fast can you type?

If you need to find out real quick, you can check your typing speed at http://typingtest.com