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"What use is shorthand?" "What use are many things?"
Gregg Shorthand
Introduction
Many years ago when I was maybe 12 years old, I read a cartoon strip in my parent's newspaper. It featured a secretary with a huge head and nose who was using shorthand. I asked my Dad what shorthand was. He told me it was a way of writing as fast as a person could talk.
This seemed magical. I assumed he meant that one trained in a special manner to write fast, i.e. write normal 'longhand' in a fast manner. I resolved to learn this magical method and figured that my school buddies would be mightily impressed with such fast scribblings.
After much searching through book shops (the internet didn't exist then) I came across PitmanScript by Emily D. Smith. Not knowing any better I assumed this was Pitman Shorthand. I used PitmanScript for several decades, a lot at school but less so as an adult.
Eventually I discovered the zenith of shorthand writing in that of Gregg Shorthand I practice it but its not something that I particularly need in my line of work, though I did get to use it some months ago for an audit of one of our suppliers;
Faster
One can of course simply write faster but there is a limit to this, beyond that one must write more briefly. Here are some ways of writing more briefly;
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Write each letter in a simpler form.
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Write the sound of a word rather than its spelling.
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Miss out vowels.
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Write out only part of the word.
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Blend sounds ('letters').
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Blend words into sentences.
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Miss out words altogether.
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Position sounds or words for different meanings.
These techniques can also be applied to much greater effect within the context of what is being written.
In the old days, prior to the smartphone and digital watch, shorthand was use by court reporters, news reporters and secretaries. These days it is not much used except in those countries where it is still cheaper to use human recorders rather than computers.
I learned the Pre- and Anniversay editions of Gregg Shorthand from Andrew Owen's site. You can learn it too before AI takes over the world.
22nd March 2024