# Mimeograph



## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

I had occassion to thumb through one of my old textbooks while talking to a 34 year old collegue yesterday. I pulled out a piece of paper with purple ink on it, and asked her if she had ever seen a mimeograph before. She said no. So now I'm asking you guys ...

... how many remember mimeographs? 

I remember when the teachers used to pass those out to us in class, there would be 30 noses going down to the desk to sniff the paper. Good scent. Good memories ... except that the smell also usually meant I had to take a test!

WM


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## john doe. (Aug 26, 2006)

I use to love that smell! Wow! You take me back a few years. We probably sound like a couple of old folks now. Ahhhh, the memories- mimeographs, Cake Face (the name we had for our math teacher- heavy makeup), holding your shorts in gym class so they are not pulled down by the class clown, Shooting paper clips with rubber bands, tying a string around a horse flies neck and walking it around like a puppy while it's flying...


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

tnoisaw said:


> We probably sound like a couple of old folks now ...


Don't look in the mirror.

We ARE old folks now. :smt022

WM


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## Waffen (Feb 8, 2006)

Ok so I'm old and remember them.. But oh the smell was so good...


W


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## SuckLead (Jul 4, 2006)

Wow... will it make you guys feel older if I say I have no idea what these things are? :smt083


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

I'm 33 and I know what they are. My grandmother used to be a secretary and I would go see her at work when I was little. She used one all the time.


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

SuckLead said:


> Wow... will it make you guys feel older if I say I have no idea what these things are? :smt083


Yes. So don't say it. :mrgreen:

Back in the day before copy machines were wide spread, teachers, churches, and others who needed to make more than two copies of something used mimeographs. You had to type (you know what a typewriter is?) whatever it was you needed copies of onto a paper that had a special kind of carbon attached. If you made a mistake, you either ignored it, or started over.

The carbon would be placed onto a drum, the drum filled with mimeographic fluid, and the copies could be run off. There was a limited number of good copies that you could make. The copies were always a blue or purple color and had a chemical smell.

If you only needed one or two copies, you placed a sheet of carbon paper between two sheets of paper and typed away. The top sheet was the original, and the others were the Carbon Copies. Which, I believe is why you put "CC" on the bottom of the page when you send a copy of a letter to someone: "Carbon Copy".

And that is history, according to ...

WM


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## 2400 (Feb 4, 2006)

I made 1000's of mimeographs over the years for my Mom. She was an English teacher and had a bunch of "master's" that I had to copy off for her each year. I can smell them now... :smt023


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## scooter (May 9, 2006)

I know what you're talking about but I never smelled them, I think you guys been sniffing other chemicals since then and are "confused":watching:


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## SuckLead (Jul 4, 2006)

Wandering Man said:


> (you know what a typewriter is?)


Yes, I have two of them, actually. Trying to find an older one right now. What kind of writer/owner of a journalism degree would I be if I didn't have one?! LOL!


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

SuckLead said:


> Yes, I have two of them, actually. Trying to find an older one right now. What kind of writer/owner of a journalism degree would I be if I didn't have one?! LOL!


When my wife started teaching business in high school in 1983 she was teaching typing.

By the time she left in 1999 there wasn't a typewriter to be found in the classroom, and she was teaching keyboarding. :smt024

I figured they had banned them from college, too.

:smt102

WM


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

scooter said:


> I know what you're talking about but I never smelled them, I think you guys been sniffing other chemicals since then and are "confused":watching:


Maybe your just in "denial." The rest of us mimeograph addicts have addmitted to our addictions.

Don't make us come over there and do an intervention. :mrgreen:

WM


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## propellerhead (May 19, 2006)

<-- raises hand.

Seen them running. Had a few of those copies.


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## john doe. (Aug 26, 2006)

I love the smell of a mimeograph about as much as I love the smell of napalm in the morning.


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## SuckLead (Jul 4, 2006)

Wandering Man said:


> When my wife started teaching business in high school in 1983 she was teaching typing.
> 
> By the time she left in 1999 there wasn't a typewriter to be found in the classroom, and she was teaching keyboarding. :smt024
> 
> ...


Nah! If you go after the nerdy journalism students - my peeps, yo :smt083 - then you'll find the people who drool on older typewriters like we drool on guns here.


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

SuckLead said:


> Nah! If you go after the nerdy journalism students - my peeps, yo :smt083 - then you'll find the people who drool on older typewriters like we drool on guns here.


Must make the keys awful sticky. 

WM


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## scooter (May 9, 2006)

SuckLead said:


> Nah! If you go after the nerdy journalism students - my peeps, yo :smt083 - then you'll find the people who drool on older typewriters like we drool on guns here.


We do NOT drool, we tactically salivate:smt083


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## SuckLead (Jul 4, 2006)

Wandering Man said:


> Must make the keys awful sticky.
> 
> WM


No, you're thinking late night google. :smt083


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## SuckLead (Jul 4, 2006)

scooter said:


> We do NOT drool, we tactically salivate:smt083


That only counts if it's OD Green.


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