A Journey Down Memory Lane. Wiping Away Errors, the Tipp-Ex Way

                                              

 Until recently, I was not aware that Tipp-Ex, the correction fluid, was still available.

I have not used it in years.

There was a time when I was a regular user. It was a necessity.

For me, that was in the days of pen and paper, long before the arrival of the personal computer and laptop. And for some time after they became available, they were expensive to buy, as was a typewriter or word processor.

I tried using a typewriter, but I soon discovered that I was never going to master it.

I was left with a pen and paper.

But before Tippex, writing anything could be problematic, as mistakes stood out.

At school, most of the time, I did not know that I had made a mistake. My English teacher was the grammar checker. She would return my essays with many red marks and notes in the margin.

She would comment that I needed to improve in certain areas.

“Could do better.”

So many boys had the same three words written on their essays.

One day I noticed that a friend of mine had a little white plastic container. He was applying, via a small brush, that was part of the lid top, a white liquid to his essay.

Once dried, you could write over any mistake.

Maybe with this magic liquid I could do better?

Of course, you do have to know that you have made a mistake, and checking words using a dictionary was very time-consuming. More so if the alternative was being outside playing football with my mates.

Tipp-Ex did not stop the red marks from my English teacher, but it did mean that if I spotted a mistake, I could rectify it.

It offered a possible solution, but it was not without problems.

Tipp-Ex could be messy.

It would often leave blotches on the paper, and sometimes the fluid went on unevenly. Most of the time, that was my fault as I would use too much, and it was not so easy to wipe the excess away.

It also highlighted how many mistakes you had made. All you needed to do was hold the paper up to the light, and you could see them.

Using Tipp-Ex, you also notice something else: that paper and liquid don’t mix well.

Sometimes, I would look at the end result and decide to rewrite the whole thing anyway.

That worked until I made another mistake.

I never did master the art of applying Tipp-Ex perfectly, and these days I rarely write with pen and paper. When I do, it is mostly note-taking, and if I make a mistake, I just cross it out and rewrite.

I can do that now because no one is going to leave red marks on what I write or tell me that I could do better.

Although I know, I could always do better — maybe.

As for Tipp-Ex, I doubt that I will ever use it again.

However, for anyone that still does, I only have one piece of advice.

Never use it when writing a love letter.

                                              

That will always lead to questions about what you “Tippexed” out.

Just rewrite.

 

Thanks for reading! 

This story was originally published on Medium, Nov 6, 2024.

A Journey Down Memory Lane. Wiping Away Errors, the Tipp-Ex Way

Images:

1)  Free image by Victoria, Pixabay.

2)  Free Image by beasternchen from Pixabay.