Answering the Meaningful Questions of Life: Hit Any Key
A few days ago I posted a question regarding which key you would hit in response to a prompt saying "Hit any key to continue" (note - the original article did not appear in alt.folklore.computers, but somebody suggested it as a possibly appropriate place for this, so you are getting the summary). The question was posted out of frivolous curiosity, and the answers have ranged from serious to frivolous, but interesting none the less.
The responses I got were as follows:
Preferred key: Number of responses:
space 37
space-return 36
shift 23
return 19
return-space 13
other 13
hj 9
The meaning of the titles is:
space: Those who use the space key (I counted myself here)
space-return: Those who use the "space" bar usually, but sometimes the return (or enter) key.
shift: Those who claim to use "shift", "control", "alt", or some other modifier key to see if the program really meant it. BTW: These are the people that local police departments should be watching closely - I suspect that one day we will be reading about them shooting up a McDonalds somewhere :-> BTW2: After reading a number of these I found myself looking at a "Hit any key" prompt two days ago, so I hit the "shift" key. Nothing happened. Somebody please notify the local police ;-)
return: Those who use the "return" or "enter" key.
return-space: Those who usually use "return" or "enter", but sometimes use the space key.
other: Responses that were a little difficult to classify - see below.
hj: Anybody who mentioned hitting some printing key - "h" and "j" were the most frequently mentioned, but a few people claimed to take random swings at the keyboard.
Anyway, the responses were very interesting. I figured everybody would be so habit-bound that there would be one key they always used, but a large number had multiple responses, sometimes depending on which operating system they were using (unix, DOS, VMS) but sometimes just depending on their mood.
And just for the heck of it, here are some of the more diverse comments (all attributions removed because I didn't ask anyone's persmission - if you want credit for your prose, email me and I will followup to this followup :-):
The first response I got was this:
i'm not sure *what* key to press for the "press any key" message, but i do know *how* to press it.... (di'ya ever see the duck w/ the *BIG* hammer aimed at the keyboard...) alternate form of pressing any key... from back of _pc mag_.... shows a guy w/ an ironing board and a big key ring....
A literalist in the crowd writes:
The user should strike the seven-character string "any key", of course.
I found this one interesting:
either
(a) whatever key i hit last
or
(b) whatever key is closest to my hand
And for those who wanted to correct my misguided use of bandwidth:
I'd just like to suggest that alt.folklore.computers is probably a better group for this sort of thing.
And someone who knows where he's going:
My front door key.
According to the "shift" crowd this counts as *two* keys (but it actually got three votes total):
^C :-)
Some people really want to solve this problem:
Well, you get a little sticker and write "any key" on it.
Then you stick it on your least used key (like the line feed button).
Now you have an 'any key'. ;)
And here is the ultimate answer:
um, I have a great deal of success using the following key(s):
[ctrl][alt][del]
(end of problem)
But I couldn't let the kudos go by:
p.s. I'm glad to see someone address those issues of true importance.
Thanks to all who responded!
John Reading
readingj@cerf.net
