West Africa III 7 Sep 2006 - French Keyboards

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006
Subject: The Trumble Travels - West Africa III 7 Sep 2006

When I was in 9th grade I took a typing class and that skill has proved very useful over the years. Little did I know that the keyboard I learned to use was an English keyboard. While I was in Ecuador last year I wrote the following:

P.S. Have you ever used a Spanish keyboard? Several things are out of place making it a trick to type correctly.

The ) is where the ( should be
The = is where the ) should be
ñ is where the semi-colon ought to be
' is where the - should be
_ is where the ? should be
The at sign that you use in email messages is apparently attached to the number 2 like it is supposed to be but don´t ask me how you access it from there. If you hit shift-2 you get this "
There is also these symbols:
Ç ¿ ª

That turns out to be not such a big deal compared to a French keyboard. Burkina Faso was formerly part of the French colonial system and still has ties to France (in fact, besides CNN, all of the television stations available in our hotel are in French). If Spanish and French keyboards are this much different from what I consider a "normal" keyboard, what do Russian or Greek keyboards look like? Yikes.

Here are a couple of examples of some of the issues you can face. Here are the lyrics of a Johnny Cash classic when typed on a French keyboard using the keys that I am accustomed to using.

French Keyboard
I heqr the trqin q co,inù
itùs rolling round the bend
qnd I qinùt seen the sunchine since I donùt knoz zhen;
Iù, stuck in Folso, prison; qnd ti,e keeps drqgginù on
but thqt trqin keeps q rollinù on dozn to Sqn Qnton::
Zhen I zqs just q bqby ,y ,q,q told ,e: Son;
qlzqys be q good boy; donùt ever plqy zith guns:
But I shot q ,qn in Reno just to zqtch hi, die
noz every ti,e I heqr thqt zhistle I hqng ,y heqd qnd cry::

I bet thereùs rich folks eqting in q fqncy dining cqr
theyùre probqbly drinkinù coffee qnd s,oking big cigqrs:
Zell I knoz I hqd it co,ing; I knoz I cqnùt be free
but those people keep q ,ovinù
qnd thqtùs zhqt tortures ,e:::

Zell if theyùd free ,e fro, this prison;
if thqt rqilroqd trqin zqs ,ine
I bet Iùd ,ove just q little further dozn the line
fqr fro, Folso, prison; thqtùs zhere I zqnt to stqy
qnd I let thqt loneso,e zhistle bloz ,y blues qzqy:::::
_____________________________________________

Correct Version
I hear the train a comin'
it's rolling round the bend
and I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when,
I'm stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin' on
but that train keeps a rollin' on down to San Anton..
When I was just a baby my mama told me. Son,
always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns.
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
now every time I hear that whistle I hang my head and cry..

I bet there's rich folks eating in a fancy dining car
they're probably drinkin' coffee and smoking big cigars.
Well I know I had it coming, I know I can't be free
but those people keep a movin'
and that's what tortures me...

Well if they'd free me from this prison,
if that railroad train was mine
I bet I'd move just a little further down the line
far from Folsom prison, that's where I want to stay
and I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.....

French Keyboard
Zhqt q zonderful bird the frog qre))
Zhen he sit; he stqnd ql,ost:
Zhen he hop; he fly ql,ost:
He qinùt got no sense hqrdly:
He qinùt got no tqil hqrdly either:
Zhen he sit; he sit on zhqt he qinùt got))ql,ost:
____________________________________________
Correct Version
What a wonderful bird the frog are--
When he sit, he stand almost.
When he hop, he fly almost.
He ain't got no sense hardly.He ain't got no tail hardly either.
When he sit, he sit on what he ain't got--almost.

This frog poem was one I memorized in 4th grade. We had it in a book at home that had a bunch of funny verse. One other that was in the book was by Shel Silverstein (I’m not sure I’ve got the spelling of his name quite right and at the moment I have no internet access). He is the same guy who wrote A Boy Named Sue, also made famous by the late, great, Johnny Cash.

Anyway, it went something like this:

The Slithergadee has crawled out of the sea
He may catch all the others but he won’t catch me.
No, you won’t catch me, old slithergadee
You may catch all the others but you wo—

Have a good day,
Dan