What does "asdf" mean? I wonder if it's an expletive.

[raccoon]

or just a space-filler, like "Now is the time for all good men...."

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. if you are a touch typist, it is what you type with your left hand to start

in typing class, all we heard was "asdf....jkl;" over and over as the teacher beat down a ruler on the desk!

[Xyzse]

2. Like Nraleighliberal mentioned.

I tend to do the same thing, especially when I am just filling up space to type something.

Any how, it is the first four letters in the middle portion of regular QWERTY keyboard on the left hand side. If you are typing with all of your fingers except for the left thumb, it is the easiest thing to type as you flourish your fingers.

Kinda like how you hit four keys on a piano.

If you have an AZERTY keyboard, the letters would be qsdf...

The first time I tried an AZERTY keyboard, I was confused as f-ck. I almost cussed out the IMF guy that had it.

[Chan790]

4. I have a Dvorak keyboard I don't use regularly.

It's great for f**king with typists who have never seen one before. The question most often asked is "what's the purpose of that?" and the answer is actually pretty simple.

QWERTY and AZERTY keyboards were designed in a different era, the era of the manual typewriter, and the keys are laid out with a purpose other than the fastest typing possible in-mind; they're laid out to prevent typebar jams--the keys are laid out to slow users down to a speed where one key will be returned to initial position before the next is struck and also to minimize scenarios were adjacent letters in a word would be adjacent typebars.

With the advent of electric typewriters and word-processing, these concerns no longer existed. So two scientists, Dr. August Dvorak and Dr. William Dealey, set out to design a key-layout that would instead emphasize speed, accuracy and comfort for the typist. Too bad it never caught on. A properly-trained and experienced Dvorak typist is much faster than even the fastest QWERTY typist.

[Xyzse]

5. Geeze... the Dvorak one I've never encountered.

I wonder if I should try to find one for kicks and giggles.

[Chan790]

7. You can actually try it out simply by changing a few settings in Windows.

A tutorial:

http://www.wikihow.com/Switch-to-a-Dvorak-Keyboard-Layout

Basically, there's no need to buy a Dvorak keyboard if one's interest is novelty and trying it out; they're hard to find and expensive anyways. You can change the key-mapping in Windows to reassign the keys to Dvorak layout on any QWERTY keyboard.

[Xyzse]

8. Interesting...

I may have to try that.

[jakeXT]

3. A common password after "qwert" nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Sadly, you never see "etaoinshrdlu" any more.

The first two lines on an old Linotype machine - sometimes used as space fillers in the olden days.