What letter is used most often?
October 25, 2007 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
This is my keyboard. The E, A, S, N and D keys are missing and the O and R keys are going. Is it because I use them most or because I type those keys harder? According to one bit of trivia, E is the most often used letter in the English language and Q is the least popular.
I’ll tell you what, all these missing letters guarantee no one uses my keyword but me. Oh and this computer is only about three years old.
The missing letters on my keyboard are E, S, A, N and M. A little bit of L and C is gone too. There was this book which used no “E” in its entirety but I forgot what it is. I’m sure a lot of folks here know what that is
I guess that I have not hit this stage, yet! All of my keys are still here! In due time, though!
I usually spill coffee on my keyboard before letters wear out. The keyboards aren’t that expensive, though I do use the slightly more expensive MS Natural. I find it’s a lot easier on my wrists.
It would be a lot worse if it was a laptop, then the whole machine would be lost when the inevitable coffee spill happens.
I’ve only had my new computer and keyboard since May of this year, and already my ‘N’ and ‘O’ are shot: but then, I am a single mom (my son sends me email while at his computer right across from mine ;p); and I am on an online dating site. Maybe that explains mine, eh? lol
My letters are still there, but the texture is starting to wear off the E, F, O and A. I’ll make it a goal to erase the E by year-end.
On my old keyboard .. I had no H key, and remember typing with a pen cap I cut down and placed ontop of that cylinder under the keys.
But, since I got my Benq keyboard .. it’s filthy inbetween the keys but, everything works fine and no fading.
I just got this laptop less than six months ago, and my N has been halfway rubbed off for at least a month. On my last keyboard, T H E were the first to go, then N and D. I’m sure A would have gone, too, but my pinky finger is small enough to miss the actual letter on that key.
Back when I worked at the law firm, I was missing T H E R O F. I was so amused (yes, I amuse easily) that I talked my IT pal into letting me keep the old keyboard after I broke it (by spilling coffee — yay, Phil!). I’ve lost many keyboards to coffee spills, so I don’t let myself bring the coffee near my laptop.
Amy – That’s funny. My laptop was purchased in March and the N is also halfway gone!
My laptop was purchased in 2002 and the keys that are missing are . . . O, H, C, M, N and half of my space bar (where my thumb lands) is extra-super-duper shiny.
(and my backspace key is also extra-super-duper shiney)
Half my keys are missing. Thank heavens for knowing the touch typing system and not needing to look. My high school typing teacher never told me this would happen, God bless her.
Taking typing never really helped me; I can still type faster using keystrokes than on an electric typewriter.
Just wanted to say that I wear out ERAS and ON every year on my keyboard. I work at a small independent publisher in TN as an editor and proofreader (and everything else) besides freelancing when I get the time.
Funny how people rarely ask to use a keyboard that has blank spots, isn’t it ?
My E, A, S, D, M and N are gone. Also my C and V are gone too (I assume because of copy/paste). My K is 1/2 gone as well.
Amy,
I’m usually on the keyboard-a-month club at Office Depot due to coffee. I need it too close to me. I’m currently on a keyboard that I’ve actually had long enough for partial wear on CDEMA.
Dani
It took me a minute, but I understand your post now, it really has been a long day! All of my keys still have letters, but that might be because this keyboard is only 2 months old!
I had to look up that novel without an E. I had never heard of it before but I think it was worth it. I read the first part. Here’s the link I found it at. The book is called Gadsby and it’s by Ernest Vincent Wright.
http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby
How cool! My keyboard isn’t worn down even though I use it a lot. Maybe it’s just the type of keyboard it is. My daughter’s keyboard keys stick but that’s the only major keyboard issues we have in the household.
My computer is a little over a year old, and the A and E keys are already coming off:)
Phil,
Too funny. I could have used a mouse-of-the-month program back in the office days. This was more due to my own frustration (translation = mice die when you throw them into the wall) than coffee spills, but still. I blame the firm for giving us those really shiny slick mouse pads with the firm logo on them. Those things were majorly useless. Someone in IT actually printed me an award certificate for most mouses killed in a calendar year. I was so proud that I had it framed.
Mariella and Katina, I am going to have to check out that no-E book. I first heard of that when Gilmore Girls (yes, I’m a dork) did a spoof of it where Logan’s secret club tried to have an entire conversation without using words containing the letter E.
Hehehe. My laptop is 1 1/2 years old and is missing the S, half the A, half the C, the N, half the M, half the D. Upstairs, my desktop is missing the S, R, T, E, L, N, and A.
My brother is my computer repair expert if something goes wrong, he has a degree in computers so I trust him for everything, and the funny thing is that he only hunts and pecks when typing so if he has to use my keyboards he complains every step of the way.
A couple of letters on my keyboard wore out earlier this year and would no longer work. When I went to buy a new one, the girl at the cash register suggested (in all seriousness) that I simply use words that don’t have a K or N in them!
My keyboard is about 10 years old, the keys all stick, but all the letters are there. Weird, they must have used some different kind of ink back in the day.
While I’m still thinking about this, my brother keeps recommending I get this holographic keyboard from thinkgeek.com. It would be a pain to run that from my laptop, but I’ve contemplated it for upstairs if I ever have that much money to spend on a keyboard…
They also sell a blank keyboard!
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8396/
Katina, thanks a lot for finding the book!
I have used my whiteout pen to replace them, but it doesn’t last very long for me.
Another idea: use an exacto knife to cut out the letters (file folder labels, or something)from ’sticker’ paper, then stick them on the keys.
I got the whiteout pen idea when I was learning Greek and needed the Greek Key markings on my keyboard for ease of use when in Greek typing mode.
My N is missing. My E and A are worn.
Maybe it depends on whether you type with the “right” fingers or not. I never use my pinky… I type by remembering where the keys are. I can do 50 words per minute, but I have to backspace a lot.
your keyboards have letters?
I use a “skin” (silicone cover) over my laptop keyboard so the keys are still shiny and new. The skin, on the other hand, is worn in lots of places; ERTIASDFJCVBN and the spacebar are all a little thinner and shinier than the rest. Prevents drinks from doing much damage, too.
Get OUT! My N is almost gone too! What is up with that?
…There are ways to recover keyboards from coffee spills. I’ve done it, though it was admittedly a small spill to one side. (Prior to my laptop.)
Anyway, after 21 months with this laptop computer, E and C are gone (I think C went first). A, S, and D are almost gone. M is half missing, L has about 2/3 of it left, and N is starting to show some wear. Oh, and V is slightly shortened on the right side.
My are either gone or have a dot left, and my comma symbol has worn away to a period.
Edit: sorry, the two that didn’t show up in that last sentence there were my arrow brackets.