Pounding those keys

I've been told many times that I type unusually loudly. I'm not sure how much of that is because I started writing back in the 1970s on manual typewriters, and how much is due to years of playing pianos and keyboards with stiff action. (My Fender Rhodes Mk I was a beast until broken in!) Probably a combination of both.

Because of my keyboard-pounding tendency, my preferred laptop computers have always been models with sturdy keyboards. I have used Lenovo Thinkpad models for the last 20 years, mostly for that reason. I've broken a couple of keys off them, but compared to other models, Thinkpads have held up well to the keyboard abuse that I like to dish out. I requested Thinkpads for my work laptops at Microsoft and Google whenever they were an available option, and I've used Thinkpads exclusively for my personal laptop since a couple of failed experiments with other manufacturers around 2010-2012.

My current laptop is a Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 8, which I bought just after we moved to Butte in early 2020. And although the keyboard has held up well, the surfaces of some keys have started to wear off, as shown in the photo above.

My most-worn letter keys are E, T, A, O, I, N, S, with just a little wear on the H key, and those particular keys identify me as an English speaker/writer, because those happen to be the eight most common letters in the English language. (I've also worn down the Ctrl and Shift keys with my left little finger, but those don't count for letter frequency distribution.)

Every written language that uses a Latin-script alphabet has its own letter frequency distribution "signature." For example, the eight most frequently used letters in French are ESAITNRU, in Spanish EAOSMIDL, and in German ENSRIATD.

I'll end this with a story of the aforementioned Fender Rhodes electric piano, which I bought when I was a high school senior. I used to pretend to go to bed in the evening at the time my parents expected me to, and then after I heard them go to bed (their bedroom was directly above mine), I'd get up and practice my Fender Rhodes in the dark, using headphones so as not to awaken anyone.

One night, I was really getting into the tune I was playing (No Quarter by Led Zeppelin, one of the classic Fender Rhodes riffs of the 1970s), and I was pounding on the keys so hard that the sound of my fingers hitting the keys woke up my Dad, and he came downstairs to see where that rhythmic sound was coming from.

My back was to the door, and while playing that eerily atmospheric tune in complete darkness, thinking I was the only person awake in the house, Dad's unexpected hand on my shoulder made me scream out loud!