Long Live Pitman's Shorthand! Reading 

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Shorthand, text and notes for Youtubes

On this page:

G01 Just Supposing

G02 The Tale Of The Three Shorthand Bears

G03 A Dip Into The Thesaurus

G04 Note To King Charles

G05 Mary Had A Little (Shorthand) Lamb

G06 Quote from “Stenography” William Williamson 1782

G07 David Copperfield Learns Shorthand

G08 Not So Secret After All

G09 Abe's Cheques

G10 Quote from “Universal Stenography” William Harding 1827

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G01 Just Supposing

https://youtu.be/nL5Z_p5_WWg

Just supposing ... you received this unexpected email at work - are you ready to take up the challenge?

Dear Mr Blackley, I notice on your staff record that you listed shorthand as one of your hobbies*. You may know that, since the retirement of Mr Long and Mr Hand*, we are looking for someone to take the minutes of the directors' meetings. Would you be interested in doing this for us? We prefer to have a trusted and experienced employee rather than an agency person for this confidential work. If you are willing to do this, we can discuss the arrangements for the remuneration and other expenses. Yours sincerely, Mrs Whiteley, Secretary to the Managing Director (98 words)

* "hobbies" Helpful to insert first vowel in this and in "habits" as the meanings are near

* "Mr Hand" Names do not generally use short forms

G02 The Tale Of The Three Shorthand Bears

https://youtu.be/ZilcNuSZhj0

The Three Bears have brought themselves up to date by learning shorthand, for both work and hobby, although it seems they are unlikely to overtake the diligent Goldilocks in speed and skill.

The Tale of the Three Shorthand Bears. Once upon a time there were* three bears learning shorthand in their* little cottage in the woods. The breakfast porridge was too hot and the shorthand exercise very difficult so they went for a walk in the woods. Along came Goldilocks by the bears’ cottage. She ate the porridge and transcribed* the shorthand. The hungry bears came home to find the porridge all gone. But there was a name in shorthand at the end of the transcript.* They went to the nearby college at lunch time*. In the canteen, there was only one student with gold locks. They congratulated Goldie on her transcription* but she had to promise to knock and ask next time*. On the way home they bought a video doorbell. They could welcome Goldie but not open if they saw it was the Big Bad Wolf. Goldie and the three bears became shorthand buddies. The bears kept shorthand diaries and Goldie became a reporter. They all lived happily ever after. The End. (172 words)

* Omission phrases "there (w)ere" "ne(k)s(t) time"

* "in their"

* "transcribe, transcript, transcription" These omit the middle N and R

* "lunch time" Halving for the T of "time"

G03 A Dip Into The Thesaurus

https://youtu.be/fM23ep7lKYE

School learning versus shorthand learning

School days had taught us to consider, reflect, deliberate, contemplate, ponder, study, cogitate, ruminate, think through, mull over, chew over, weigh up, reflect on, bear in mind* and take into account.* Our minds slowly became soaked, immersed, steeped, marinated, infused and saturated with all the necessary facts. Surely in the shorthand class, we could continue with our slow, sluggish, unhurried, measured, deliberate, leisurely, dawdling, relaxed, gentle, *gradual, lengthy, lingering and laborious ways. After all, shorthand is so brief, it would produce speed all on its own, and we could stay comfortable, contented, calm, cosy, happy, easy, snug and restful*, and continue to loll, lie, lounge, sprawl, slouch, slump, flop, relax, recline and lie back.

* Omission phrases: "bear (in) mind" "take (into) account"

* "gradual" has full stroke D, so as not to look like "greatly"

* "restful" omits the T sound

Then outline drills and dictations started arriving and we had to hurry, hasten, rush, dash, scurry, accelerate, quicken and speed up. To survive we had to become* fixed, focussed, firm, dedicated, determined, dogged, driven, resolute, persistent, tenacious, single-minded, unswerving and unwavering. It was exhausting, fatiguing, draining, gruelling, arduous, strenuous and tiring having to be so brave, valiant, heroic, bold, daring, fearless and plucky for the whole two minutes. We looked forward to the final relief, respite, release, reprieve, break, breather, interval, liberation, lull and let-up, to recover before tomorrow’s repeat of the battle, fight, clash, encounter, confrontation, skirmish, scuffle and struggle. Finally the exam pass slip arrived in the post, making us joyful, elated, ecstatic, thrilled, pleased, jubilant, glad, happy, delighted and exultant. It was worth it all! (242 words)

* "to become" Based on the short form phrase "to be"

* "fixed" "focussed" Inserting a vowel is helpful as the meanings are very close

* "tenacious" Insert the vowel after the N, so it does not look like "contentious"

* "dedicated" (and "deducted" and "detected") all need their second vowel, to differentiate between them

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G04 Note To King Charles

https://youtu.be/gokClxJPHnU

A short note of good wishes penned on the day after Charles’ Coronation on 6 May 2023

Dear Charles, I am glad that you, your family and friends had a good time on your big day, and that everything went very well at the event. After all the parties and the meetings with your visitors, I hope that you can have a good rest, before starting work again on all the things in your very full diary. (60 words)

G05 Mary Had A Little (Shorthand) Lamb

https://youtu.be/fQ12jjuFivQ

An admirable effort at shorthand learning by Mary’s other pet lamb.

Mary had a little lamb
Its fleece was black as soot
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was underfoot.
It followed her to school one day
And joined the shorthand class
But its outlines were too woolly
And its notes too BAA'D to pass. (45 words)

G06 Quote from “Stenography” William Williamson 1782

https://youtu.be/PNCMrhuV9UM

It often happens, that the most pertinent remarks, the most lively images, occur to the mind instantaneously; but are so transient and fleeting, that sometimes, before they can be reduced into writing in the common way, those extensive ideas, with the beautiful language which then flowed to express them, are quickly gone, and perhaps never to be recalled. Nothing can be more desirable than an art whereby those sentiments may be noted down as soon as they are* conceived in the mind. Stenography by William Williamson 1782 (87 words)

* "they are" Short form phrase

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G07 David Copperfield Learns Shorthand

https://youtu.be/V7jQhdmwOkc

Beginning of chapter 38 of "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens, who wrote Gurney's system of shorthand. Approx 86wpm.

I bought an approved scheme of the noble art and mystery of stenography (which cost me ten* and sixpence); and plunged into a sea of perplexity that brought me, in a few weeks*, to the confines of distraction. The changes that were rung upon dots, which in such a position meant such a thing, and in such another position something else, entirely different; the wonderful vagaries that were played by circles; the unaccountable* consequences that resulted from marks like flies’ legs; the tremendous effects of a curve in a wrong place; not only troubled my waking hours, but reappeared before me in my sleep.

* "ten" Always insert the vowel in this and in "eighteen"

* Omission phrase "few wee(k)s"

* "unaccountable" Insert the vowel after the N, to differentiate this from "uncountable"

When I had groped my way, blindly, through these difficulties, and had mastered the alphabet, which was an Egyptian Temple in itself, there then appeared a procession of new horrors, called arbitrary characters; the most despotic characters I have ever known; who insisted, for instance, that a thing like the beginning of a cobweb, meant expectation, and that a pen-and-ink sky-rocket stood for disadvantageous. When I had fixed these wretches in my mind, I found that they had driven everything else out of it; then, beginning again, I forgot them; while I was picking them up, I dropped the other fragments of the system; in short, it was almost heart-breaking. (214 words)

G08 Not So Secret After All

https://youtu.be/Q2NAWrWLBNk

Prudence has given her parents a list of confidential information in shorthand, while she is away from home, in the mistaken belief that it is sufficiently cryptic - not realising that "found" shorthand can be posted on the internet for "deciphering". If only Prudence had lived up to her name, she would not have lost her money, house, car, valuables and investments, as well as identity theft by access gained to her computer. Keep your private shorthand diary and office shorthand notepad in a lockable drawer, exactly as you would with your personal bank papers and confidential files at work, and obscure your PIN reminder note in some other way.

Hi Mum and Dad, I am so glad it is only you and me that can read this.

My computer password is my middle name and birth year.

My bank account password is my dog’s name plus the year I bought him.

The key to my house is hidden under the big stone in the front garden.

The spare key to my Porsche is hidden behind the oil can in the shed.

My credit card number and PIN number are on the back of this piece of paper in reverse order.

All my jewellery is in the red box in the loft including all the solid gold things and Granny’s diamond necklace.

There is a big wad of emergency cash behind the soap powder boxes.

The password for my high yield savings account is the same as my birthday date in numerals.

Your loving daughter Prudence

P.S. This is a warning to people writing stuff in shorthand expecting it to stay secret! (162 words)

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G09 Abe's Cheques

https://youtu.be/yqa6KXcdfhA

Right from the first chapter of a Pitman’s shorthand instruction book, we meet “Abe” who “paid a cheque/check”. I have been trying to find out what he actually paid those cheques for and have come up with some possibilities. Plain strokes, basic vowels/diphthongs, circles and loops only - no hooks, halving or doubling.

Abe paid a cheque. Maybe it was to pay back Ted, Ed or Joe for the café bill last Sunday, as they ate a meal of sausages and tomato sauce, cookies, cakes and loads of icy beer. But I think the cheque was for Abe’s new red car which he bought at the garage up in the city, and a new bike at the small bike shop in the village. In the store he bought a long wide yellow rug for his back room, so his dog Jack can sit on it by the log fire. Abe took loads of money out of his savings to buy a big sail boat so he can go to Sandy Bay each Saturday, for a few hours sailing on the calm sea. He wrote a cheque for a large bunch of red roses and some lovely perfume for Auntie Sheila’s birthday. He had bought so many things he had to stop and add it all up. It was a fairly big shock as he looked at the bank list of items he had paid for. At last* Abe said, in a sad voice, I shall have to eat nothing but eggs on toast and milk for a long, long time! (207 words)

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

Fully vocalised:

G10 Quote from “Universal Stenography” William Harding 1827

https://youtu.be/puyg4h7PTD4

Harding’s shorthand was the system that Sir Isaac Pitman first learned, before he invented his own.

“The motto of every young Stenographer should be, Persevere! The theory of the art may be speedily attained; but to acquire a practical proficiency in it, more unremitting diligence and vigorous assiduity are perhaps requisite*, than in almost any other* study whatever; without these, genius will be of very little avail, for so much of the attainment is entirely mechanical, that practise, and nothing but practise, can impart and increase expedition. Neither this nor any other* treatise can make a man a good Stenographer, without exertion on his own part. Let then those who value the purchase be willing to pay the price.” From William Harding’s Universal Stenography 1827. (103 words)

* "requisite" Insert the vowel before the T, as this could be misread as "requested" in some contexts

* Omission phrase "any oth(er)"

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"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

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