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Return, short for Carriage Return, makes no contextual sense unless you're old (really old) enough to have seriously used typewriters. Nowadays, I get "WTF" fa

Return, short for Carriage Return, makes no contextual sense unless you're old (really old) enough to have seriously used typewriters. Nowadays, I get "WTF" faces whenever I go down to the office supply store and ask them where they have their typewriter ribbon cartridges. It's like Floppy Disk for the Save button, except Return didn't have the cultural weight behind it.

reaperducer 2y ago
Return, short for Carriage Return, makes no contextual sense unless you're old (really old) enough to have seriously used typewriters. You don't have to be all that old. I had a job in 1995 where I was the only person in the building with a computer, while everyone else (30ish people) had typewriters. People like to believe the computer revolution happened overnight. It didn't. Businesses didn't suddenly throw away all of their equipment and employees in one day.
- bravetraveler 2y ago
  I was a child in 95 and am far too familiar with the workings of typewriters. I didn't seek it out
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  1995 was 29 years ago, so those 30-ish people will be in their 50s or 60s, maybe even 70s by now. So, "really" old by practical standards. Incidentally, I'm 35 years old and I know how to handle a typewriter thanks to my late mother. Even in this day and age, some things are done quicker and easier by just busting out a typewriter out of the closet.
rswail 2y ago
Teletypes are the original use of "Carriage Return" and "Line Feed". Manual typewriters had an arm that did both as you dragged it. IBM 3270 terminals were screen/form based, not line based. So the "Enter" key was "Submit this screen/form". "Return" was "I'm typing in a multiline text element and I want to go to the next line". They also had separate "forward/back" to move between input areas of the screen, which was not "tab/backtab".
rswail 2y ago
Return meaning Carriage Return only made sense with electric typewriters, not manual typewriters.

reaperducer 2y ago

Return, short for Carriage Return, makes no contextual sense unless you're old (really old) enough to have seriously used typewriters. You don't have to be all that old. I had a job in 1995 where I was the only person in the building with a computer, while everyone else (30ish people) had typewriters. People like to believe the computer revolution happened overnight. It didn't. Businesses didn't suddenly throw away all of their equipment and employees in one day.

bravetraveler 2y ago
I was a child in 95 and am far too familiar with the workings of typewriters. I didn't seek it out
Dalewyn 2y ago
1995 was 29 years ago, so those 30-ish people will be in their 50s or 60s, maybe even 70s by now. So, "really" old by practical standards. Incidentally, I'm 35 years old and I know how to handle a typewriter thanks to my late mother. Even in this day and age, some things are done quicker and easier by just busting out a typewriter out of the closet.

rswail 2y ago

Teletypes are the original use of "Carriage Return" and "Line Feed". Manual typewriters had an arm that did both as you dragged it. IBM 3270 terminals were screen/form based, not line based. So the "Enter" key was "Submit this screen/form". "Return" was "I'm typing in a multiline text element and I want to go to the next line". They also had separate "forward/back" to move between input areas of the screen, which was not "tab/backtab".

rswail 2y ago

Return meaning Carriage Return only made sense with electric typewriters, not manual typewriters.