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October 2020

Lots Of Isms Part1

Lots Of Isms Part 2

Long Letters 1

Surrey Docks

Lots Of Isms Part 1 (5 October 2020)

We are surrounded by lots of Isms nowadays. This particular suffix is one that can be added to almost any word and if someone regularly makes the same kind of comment or turn of phrase, the suffix may end up being added to their name. The basic outline from which such words are derived may be a common one that you already know, but, in the heat of the shorthand chase, you don’t have time to go through the options, and something must be written instantly. An emergency* outline would just add the “ism” syllable after the basic outline, and I know that all my fellow shorthanders* just can’t wait to get off the bus, train or car, and rush indoors to look it up in the shorthand dictionary, to avoid* a sleepless night being tormented by a dodgy outline. Save yourself all this botheration and learn them in advance, thus reducing the threat of gaps, unreadable outlines or falling behind the speaker.

* "emergency" Contraction that omits the N sound

* "shorthanders" Plain doubled N (not thickened) as the doubling includes the D sound. A thickened doubled N would be "ing-ger" or "ing-ker".

* "avoid" "evade" Advisable to insert the first vowel, as they are similar in outline and meaning

I am sure you do not want to escape from the shorthand study room, you are merely escaping from the chains of longhand. After a time of studying the shorthand book, you may wind down by watching a video or reading a book as a form of ESCAPISM. It is a good idea to learn, rest and review in equal measures. The ideal is to spread out these activities. You may be an idealist with the perfect learning plan, and your IDEALISM may involve a lot of hard work to achieve. Your real ambition is to gain a really useful skill. You are a realist who realises that it is more interesting to pursue REALISM than daydreams. NATURALISM in art concentrates on the natural world and rural scenes. A journalist* writing sensational stories purely for effect is indulging in SENSATIONALISM. THEISM is the belief that God exists and ATHEISM* is the opposite.

* "journalist" Optional contraction

* "atheism" Always insert the first vowel to ensure correct reading

The word ego* is the Latin for "I". A conceited or self-centred person is called egotistic and their actions are described as egotistical. The quality of EGOTISM is very unattractive. EGOISM is a less common version of this meaning. A more attractive character trait* is ALTRUISM, where the person has unselfish concern for the welfare of others. They are an altruist and their actions are altruistic. A TRUISM is a statement that is so obvious as to be unnecessary to mention, in other words a platitude. It is a TRUISM to say that learning shorthand takes time and effort*.

* "ego" Using the pronunciation "eego". Can also be "egg-o"

* "trait" Sometimes pronounced "tray"

* Omission phrase "time (and) effort"

CAPITALISM is an economic system where goods and wealth are produced by private individuals and companies, as opposed to the state. A person who promotes and is involved in this is* a capitalist. The word comes from the Latin for head, and a capital city is the main one in the country. To capitalise on something is to turn it to your advantage. Material is another word for substance, and when something comes into existence, it has materialised. The concept of MATERIALISM places emphasis on material objects, as opposed to intellectual or immaterial ideas. COMMUNISM* is a political system where all property is deemed to be held in common by the community as a whole and supporters are called communists.

* "this is" Not phrased, as the two words don't belong together i.e. you could insert another word between e.g. "... involved in this, in their business life, is a capitalist."

* "Communism" Note the dot vowel goes after the N stroke, as it comes before both the S and M sounds

I hope you have an optimistic view of your steady progress in learning and improving. OPTIMISM* makes light work of studying. You have chosen the optimum subject for training your mind to react quickly, and I hope you have found the optimum mixture of reading, practising and resting. We don’t want to dwell on PESSIMISM* though. The pessimist thinks the worst of everything and their pessimistic outlook can bring about the very thing they are fearful of. ANARCHISM is a system of belief that is against government of any kind, in order to* attain social liberty, and anarchy describes social disorder due to the absence of any government or control.

* "optimism" "pessimism" These outlines (and their derivatives) could look similar if written hastily, so advisable to insert the first vowel in each

* Omission phrase "in ord(er to)"

Nowadays EXTREMISM is seen as undesirable but it is possible* to think of extremist activities that are not bad. If you are extremely determined to pass the exam, some extremist ploys are necessary to fit it all in before the day of the test. Maybe a better word for this than EXTREMISM is determination or resolve. Such a frame of mind* will prevent ABSENTEEISM in the shorthand class. Those who absent themselves may end up being regular absentees. It cannot be put down to absent-mindedness but the shorthand certificate will probably be noticeable by its absence. They may feel that their exam paper was failed on a LEGALISM, but legalistic marking is necessary to ensure adherence to the system being tested. INDIVIDUALISM is the belief in the importance of the individual’s actions and can also mean individual peculiarities of behaviour, and the person may be described as an individualist. (917 words)

* Omission phrases "it is poss(ible)" "frame (of) mind"

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Lots Of Isms Part 2 (7 October 2020)

The Classics refers to the history and culture of ancient Rome and Greece, and a person who studies this is* called a classicist. They may become a professor of CLASSICISM at a university. A race is a group of persons related by common descent or characteristics, and this meaning is nowadays covered by the term ethnic group. The adjective is racial. Unfavourable discrimination between such groups is called RACISM, and a person so inclined is called a racist. They may find themselves ostracised and it is expected that this OSTRACISM will lead to a change of attitude.

* "this is" Not phrased, see note Part1 Para1

A critic is someone who criticises on a regular basis. It is critical to your success to criticise your own shorthand in a constructive way, sometimes called a critical appraisal, so that improvement is maintained. CRITICISM from others is not enjoyable* unless requested for practical purposes. A WITTICISM is a jest or joke, and CRITICISM can be hidden behind witty remarks. A skeptic is someone who is doubtful of certain information and wary of believing what they are told, in other words they have an attitude of SKEPTICISM. EMPIRICISM is the system of gaining information from experience or experiment. Empirical data is observed data and not derived from arguments of theory. A person who adheres to this is* an empiricist. A pacifist is someone who is opposed to war and violence, and their PACIFISM may cause difficulties with the defence forces of their country. An alcoholic beverage is one that contains alcohol. A person who drinks too much alcohol can be said to be suffering from alcoholism.

* "enjoyable" Always insert the triphone, as otherwise this is identical to the contraction "knowledgeable"

* "this is" Not phrased, see note Part1 Para1

Your shorthand studies may lead you into JOURNALISM and by then you will no doubt be using this optional contraction for journalism* and your other journalistic* endeavours, as a fully qualified journalist*. Belief in the Biblical account of creation is known as CREATIONISM, in contrast to the theory of evolution. Electricity used to be called GALVANISM in the days when it was first discovered and investigated. Strictly speaking* GALVANISM refers to electricity produced by chemical reaction. It is also used figuratively when the shorthand students were galvanised into action by the announcement of a shorthand test next week*. An anachronistic use of a word, which does not fit the historical timescale of the text, is known as an ANACHRONISM, which comes from the Greek for “wrong time”. An ANACHRONISM can also occur in a film or play, such as when an item is mentioned or shown that had not been invented at that time.

* "journalism, journalistic, journalist" Optional contractions

* Omission phrases "strict(ly) speaking" "nek(st w)eek"

The suffix is written differently after N Hook or Shun Hook. Using stroke Zee is the MECHANISM that allows the suffix to be written conveniently. An ORGANISM is a living entity, whether animal or plant. MODERNISM is an adherence to modern values or styles, in order to* break with the past. The system of values relating to human* interests is called HUMANISM. Artists whose work gives just an impression of the scene without close detail are called impressionists*, as they are working in an impressionistic style, and this art movement was labelled IMPRESSIONISM. The opposite of this is* the technique of ILLUSIONISM where the very exact detail is intended to fool the eye into accepting it as real.

* Omission phrase "in ord(er to)"

* "human" Special outline, above the line following its second vowel, to differentiate from "humane"

* "impressionists" A very few outlines have an upward halved S, as unavoidable

* "this is" Not phrased, see note Part1 Para1

The suffix can be added to contractions. COMMERCIALISM is the principles and practice of the commercial world in general. REFORMISM is a movement supporting political or religious reform. REPUBLICANISM is the adhering to the principles and practice of Republican policies. SUBJECTIVISM is the doctrine* that knowledge is limited to internal experiences and thoughts, in other words mental processes. It is the opposite of OBJECTIVISM which is the tendency to deal more with external things and objects. And finally, we have those shorthand students* who are perfectly devoted to the subject, strive for perfection of knowledge, outline and speed, and have earned the title of perfectionist, one who is committed to PERFECTIONISM. (647 words)

* "doctrine" Optional contraction

* Omission phrase "shorthand s(t)udents"

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Long Letters 1 (18 October 2020)

Each of these letters is 300 words, in easy matter, for your stamina training, which in total would be fifteen minutes at sixty words a minute* or nine minutes at a hundred. Practise any new outlines, and prepare using the facility drill book provided, then take down one letter at your comfortable rate, to gain endurance rather than pushing for speed. When you can do all three successfully, repeat them all in one take. Your shorthand notes will be neat, flowing and correct, and you will have made a start on silencing the annoying mental running commentary* which seeks to interrupt and discourage you from giving your full attention to recalling and writing the outlines. Its shrill, irksome and nagging little voice gets fainter and after a few minutes, assuming you are writing fairly easily and calmly, it will give up in disgust and leave you alone. Therefore you need to record the matter yourself, reading as evenly as possible from the shorthand given, which should then match your present comfortable writing speed. Repeat it all another day, to ensure you have made a consistent gain in your ability* to concentrate and keep going. A victory against mental interruptions is like getting gravel out of your shoes in order to* run a race and is just as necessary as learning new outlines. (222 words)

* Omission phrases "words (a) minute" "in ord(er to)"

* "running commentary" See blog April 2012 "Running Commentary" that discusses this

* "in your ability" Using the suffix to represent the word

Dear Thomas, Thanks for your phone call the other day. That is a brilliant idea to get all the family photos together and finally get them sorted. In this package are all our photos. Some of them* are very old, so you will have a time recognising some of us, looking very young and different from now. There are bits written on the back to help with names, but when you have copied them all, you can send me some printouts and I will write on who everyone is and any other* information that Janet and I can remember. I think if you contact Rick and Linda they will have more for you and can also help with the family tree you are doing, as they also have an interest in that. What a shame you couldn’t* come up here, but our friend Mike is going to help us buy a good sized* tablet so that we can see each other online, and he will help us to make our first call, to get us started. We are glad Mike has offered to help us. It’s* all new to us but I am sure we will manage fine.

* Omission phrases "some (of) them" "any oth(er)". The strokes are not doubled, as that would read "some other" and "another"

* "couldn't" "It's" Apostrophied phrases are always written in full and with all their vowels

* "sized" Ensure the loop is clear, as "good size" would also make sense

While digging for photos, Janet found all her cake recipes and has written out the ginger* cake one for Sarah, as we know you always enjoy that when you come. I wonder how your college plans are going, with all the disruptions. Don’t* forget, it’s the keenest ones who will make it through and I know you will do the necessary and study hard, to make up for the time spent away from the college classrooms. Do let us know what you are getting up to next, so we can follow your progress from our armchairs this winter! Love Joe and Janet (300 words)

* "ginger" Optional Contraction that omits the N

* "Don't" Always insert the vowel for this apostrophied phrase, as without it, this would read "do not"

Dear Uncle Joe, How are you doing? I hope everything is going well for you and the family. We really wanted to come and see you but it just hasn’t* been possible over the summer. I hope you got my parcel OK returning all the photos that you let me have. I spent a whole week copying them all onto my computer, so they are now safe for the future, and we can share them around the family. I also had a great time editing the scans of the damaged photos to get rid of the marks, as I have a really easy programme to help me do that. I will send you a copy of that wedding one, with all the creases and spots gone, it looks great. This summer has been an unexpected opportunity to get on with creating the family tree and everyone has been able to give me loads of information which has been very interesting.

* "hasn't" Apostrophied phrases are always written in full and with all their vowels

I have also had more time* to catch up on college revision, so I was well prepared when classes began last week*. I have made the most of the time available and I feel that* it will really get me ahead, so that I get more out of the course work and lectures. Please thank Auntie Janet for sending us her ginger cake recipe, Sarah made it straight away. It turned out great and we are enjoying every bite, plus we have some in the freezer as well. We really appreciate it now that the weather is colder. Can we be cheeky and ask for her Christmas cake recipe as well, so that Sarah can get started on that? Thanks for everything, Uncle, and we really hope we can see you before Christmas. With much love and best wishes*, Tom (300 words)

* "more time" Halving to represent the T of "time"

* Omission phrases "las(t w)eek" "I fee(l) that"

* "best wishes" Upward Ish in order to make the join

Dear Rick and Linda, Thanks for your email, sorry I wasn’t* able to reply straight away. That is a great idea if you can scan your photos for me, it is quite time consuming to do them at high res, so I am grateful you can do that. Sometimes it’s better to do something else while the scanner moves along so slowly, especially on the big photos. Thanks for the write-up of various bits of family history, I will add that to my folder. Well, you never know what is going to turn up and I was amazed* to hear that Linda was a shorthand teacher in the days when it was used in offices everywhere. And yes, certainly, I would love to have those books so I can learn to write shorthand for my future career. I will be doing Business Studies at Uni and I know there will be loads of note taking necessary, and indeed I will always need to do that as I work my way rapidly up the corporate ladder! What a fantastic opportunity.

* "wasn't" Apostrophied phrases are always written in full and with all their vowels

* "amazed" "amused" Always insert the second vowel

I know Linda says it doesn’t* take that long, but as I have lots* of college work, it may take me just a little longer. I think when the books arrive, the* family tree stuff will get put on hold, so I have more time* for the shorthand. I can’t wait to see how it all works and get started. I am sure I can do it all from the book, as I am used to studying like that, and it is so kind of Linda to offer to read and record all the passages for me and send them as sound files. It’s going to be a great year ahead and I feel my future really does start now! Tom (300 words) (Totals: Letters 900 words, Article 1122 words)

* "doesn't" Apostrophied phrases are always written in full and with all their vowels

* "lots" "masses" Insert the vowel, as these are similar in outline and meaning

* "arrive the" Not using Tick The, as there is a slight pause

* "more time" Halving to represent the T of "time"

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Surrey Docks (24 October 2020)

Bronze relief map on top of Stave Hill

I am always scouring the online map for places of interest in London. This has been a challenge this year, and we have restricted ourselves to the open spaces to the south of the river, to avoid using the tube trains. There is always the river itself to provide interest at a multitude of viewing points along its banks. A few days ago we revisited some of the open spaces around Rotherhithe, which is just west of Greenwich, and to the north of the railway line that leads to London Bridge Station. This area was known as the Surrey Commercial Docks (now called Surrey Quays), which fell into disuse in the nineteen sixties and were transformed in the nineteen eighties into business, housing and parkland areas. Most of the docks have been retained as bodies of water and some filled in and landscaped.

Russia Dock

Many of the road and dock names reflect the trade of the past: Watermans Way, Deal Porters Walk, Timber Pond Road, and Deck, Keel, Hull, Galleon, Schooner and Skipper Closes. Gunwhale Close seems to be a mixture of gunwale and a reminder of the Arctic whaling trade that unloaded at Greenland Dock. My only encounter with this word is the phrase “stuffed to the gunnels” meaning loaded, right up to the top plank or wale of the ship, or in knitting where a wale is a vertical row of stitches. Place names are an equally intriguing part of the history of an area, the older ones describing what was there at the time, and the modern ones on new roads and housing estates providing a particularly long-lasting way of marking the past and giving a fitting character to the area.

We went by train to Canada Water Station and walked to Canada Water itself. It was a very pleasant* October day, almost like a spring day in May, with mild breezes and a blue cloud-dotted sky. The water was sparkling, and moorhens* and swans were meandering along the edges of the water. They like to keep an eye on people walking about, in case anything edible comes their way from the left-over sandwiches. There are little perching and resting islands and duck houses on floating platforms*. One side of the water is entirely filled with wide reed beds and trees, providing shelter and foraging places for the birds and wildlife. We walked down to Greenland Dock, a large long rectangular water. It was a pleasant* and expansive* outlook today, but in winter it must be* a very chilly sight for the residents, probably best viewed while leaning on the warm radiator under the window. We wondered whether it ever froze over, or at least* the edges, and thought it probably did, which was confirmed when we made an online image search when we got home.

* "pleasant" "pleasing" Insert the vowel to prevent misreading

* "moorhens" Note the clockwise first circle to denote the Hay stroke

* "platforms" Optional contraction

* "expansive" Keep the P stroke very shallow, to provide maximum differentation from "extensive" which has a similar meaning

* Omission phrase "it mus(t) be"

* "at least" "at last" Always insert the vowel

Canada Water

From there* we made our way to Russia Dock Woodland. Everywhere there are the remains of the docks - granite edging stones, rail lines inset into the granite, pieces of winding gear for lines and ropes, and other unidentified machinery*, some still in situ and some placed around as historical items from a past era. In a pit we saw the huge iron wheel and chains that moved a large swing bridge over the cut, now with ivy and brambles creeping towards and over it. The bridge is long gone and the cut has become a lower level path with an unassuming roadway spanning it. We took several guesses but had to wait until we got home to find out what the machinery* remains were. Russia Dock Woodland is a long narrow park, with a central ditch running where the dock once was. The straight path on one side retains the original enormous smooth granite blocks that formed the waterside edge of the dock. The other side has been planted as woodland with winding paths.

* "from there" Doubling to represent "there"

* "machinery" Optional contraction that omits the N sound

Swing bridge turntable beside Redriff Road

A half hour slow amble led to Stave Hill Ecological Park and Stave Hill, named after Stave Dock. The hill is an artificial conical mound* thirty feet high, created from rubble left over from the landscaping of the area during the mid nineteen eighties. I counted 58 steps, which was quite reasonable as they are not steep, although we did see two very fit enthusiasts running up the steps, walking down, and then repeating. On the flat top is a relief map in bronze, showing the docklands area as it was in the past, and there is a good view in all directions, just above the woodland trees.

* "mound" Same outline as "mount" which has a similar meaning. If felt necessary in another context, write either of these outside the rules, with full strokes.

Stave Hill

We then walked down Dock Hill Avenue towards Surrey Water and on to the river, passing the red bascule bridge over the cut between Surrey Water and the Thames. At the riverside is the circular red brick building housing the ventilation shaft of the Rotherhithe Tunnel, which runs under the river Thames north east from here, and it is quite amusing*, or maybe alarming, to see on the map the road name of “A101”* placed on the water itself. We turned left and walked westwards along the riverside paths and roads, through the old streets and between the close and looming old wharf buildings, which are now desirable flats and homes. We ended up at King's Stairs, a small green sitting area overlooking the river, for our well overdue snack. Despite it being high tide, the only movement on the river was a few of the high-speed river taxis, much fewer than normal and no cruise boats going up and down, due to the lack of visitors and tourists.

* "amusing" "amazing" Always insert the vowel in these and their derivatives

* "A101" Normal letters can be written either upper or lower case, whichever is more convenient. Letters and numbers can be marked by a wavy line underneath, to prevent misreading as shorthand.

Rotherhithe Street Bascule Bridge

We retraced our route back to Rotherhithe Station. The train line uses the Thames Tunnel created by the Brunels in the early eighteen hundreds, and the modern shiny steel stairs down to the platform* are surrounded by the very dark, dingy* and encrusted old brickwork of the original shaft. I am sure the Brunels would be delighted to see trains using their tunnel nearly two centuries later. Once home an online search revealed all sorts of other items that we missed, so a return visit is definitely necessary. Knowing a little of the history in advance adds interest to the various fragments of iron, steel and granite, and changes in level of the paths and roads, a faint mirror into the past three centuries of trading activity at these docks. (1051 words)

* "platform" Optional contraction

* "dingy" Meaning gloomy/dirty; the word for the inflatable boat is spelled "dinghy"

Mr Brunel respectfully requests . . .

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