Random memory: dittos

[pne]

When I was a schoolchild, we still had spirit duplicators (aka "Ditto machines") at school, and worksheets were often dittoed.

Later on, though, the ditto machines were replaced by xerographic photocopiers.

Comments

[pthalo]

oh, i remember those. I didn't until you mentioned it, but now I do. :)

[pyr8queen.livejournal.com]

We had ditto machines when I was young also. Very young - but I remember getting the blue-ish, splotchy pages.

[eva]

I love how that Wikipedia article has an entire section on the smell. We had these things (they were called "Matrizen") in the mid-to-late 80s when I was in elementary school, and many of us indeed loved smelling the sheets we got when they had been freshly copied.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

There's a scene in an '80's movie -- I think it's either Better off Dead or something from John Hughes -- where the teacher passes a test to the class and everyone picks it up (with both hands!) and sniffs it. So true!

[pne.livejournal.com]

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, perhaps?

(I've never watched it - or even heard of it -, but it's referenced in the section of the Wikipedia article that Eva mentioned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_duplicator#Smell).)

[jixel.livejournal.com]

sher they were cool cause you could write/type whatever you wanted on the template thingy and then just crank away!

[alsatia.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I hated those things. They tried to teach us to count change by handing out sheets with blurry pictures of the coins...and not only could you not see the details on them, but they weren't printed actual size either.

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

I remember these from elementary school, but I don't remember them smelling like anything. We had the standard purple machine. I still remember that blurry purple look of 'dittos'. Only later -- in middle school + -- were they 'worksheets' or 'handouts' or what have you. In elementary school they were always called dittos.