hunt-and-peck - adjective - using only one or two fingers on a computer keyboard (Lexico.com)
Until about three minutes ago, I didn't know that there was actually an adjective to describe how some manage to negotiate a computer keyboard. According to a friend of mine who is a compact storeroom of isolated facts, many people go about hunting and pecking but don't advertise their ineptitude. Over dinner, he indiscreetly pointed out that a mutual friend of ours who heads up a Montessori school in the Philadelphia area has succeeded in hoodwinking her superiors that she can touch type at a rapid speed. Because she has not mastered the dying art of keyboarding with two fingers at a rapid pace, he has had to do much of her word-processing for her. Needless to say, neither of us thinks that she'll be able to pull the wool over her bosses' eyes for two long, meaning that they will probably issue walking papers soon. On the other hand, my father, a World War II vet (God rest his soul), was a hunt-and-peck prodigy, whose two index fingers sped across the keyboard of his IBM Selectric typewriter at fifty words per minute. Why we got rid of that typewriter after he passed, I don't know, but his is now worth about $500 on eBay.
The good news is that hunt-and-peck as a legitimate word may become antiquated soon since more and more middle schools are requiring their students to take keyboarding. I remember that the most valuable class I had taken in high school was typing, especially because after I had graduated from a hidden Ivy League university, the first thing prospective employers would ask before interviewing me was "How fast can you type?" I'm glad that as a society, we have progressed from there. To tell you the truth, though, I have no idea what the initial question posed to recent college grads is today–probably, "Did your parents write and word-process all of your term papers for you as an undergrad?" I'm a bit cynical, I know, or maybe just realistic.
Anyway, don't worry if you lag behind others in terms of your hunt-and-peck prowess. As long as you get the message across, it really doesn't matter. It's Monday. We all move just a bit slower today anyway.
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