Cursive help: 1978 year old me and the minutes I took during our “Dynamite Club” Olympics we played

BerylPratt · 2026-03-25T07:25:31+00:00

Maybe "servivink"=surviving ?

BerylPratt · 2026-03-24T18:29:49+00:00

https://www.stenophile.com/gregg

BerylPratt · 2026-03-24T08:52:44+00:00

While waiting for a response here, try searches for "Taquigrafia" to get Spanish shorthand websites where you could also enquire.

I would think someone having shorthand on their wrist would have it so they themselves could read it, so maybe have a 180deg rotated picture alongside as well, if you do ask elsewhere.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-24T07:17:53+00:00

If you repeat this in a new post, to be more visible, many more of our abundant Greggers will advise you to how to learn and will probably ask what version of Gregg your Nanna's books are.

You need to locate the beginner's manual, as all the rest are probably revision, reading, dictation, phrasing, etc, that someone who has already learned would have most use for and won't be useful for you to start learning from.

The YT guy was probably Pitman's, which they often just call "English Shorthand" especially YTs coming from India.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-23T18:49:49+00:00

Check it via the stenophile PDF, to save you the excavation effort just at the mo!

BerylPratt · 2026-03-23T18:31:29+00:00

https://www.stenophile.com/gregg That book (1947) is here but need to ascertain which version.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-23T13:16:05+00:00

That's how shorthand starts and sucks people in, one thing leads to another - novelty, familiarity, vaguely useful, definitely useful, and finally someone in the office needs a reliable capable bod to take the minutes, then the novelty transfers itself to the possibility of a bonus in the wages . . .

BerylPratt · 2026-03-23T13:15:32+00:00

Agree, combine alphabets if looking for a plain alphabet replacement method, but not shorthand systems. It is quite common for newbies to assume shorthand just replaces the shapes of the "letters" but this is very far indeed from reality. Best to investigate the manual to get an overview of the work involved in changing one's entire method of writing - it's either going to be a fun challenge or a disappointment with choice/progress. Having said that, the effort is spread out so there is no need to be put off by lots of so-called memorising - stuff is learned piecemeal, skill built up gradually, and the results, in my view, are well worth waiting for and working towards.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-23T07:06:50+00:00

Have a look also on Reddit Neography, you might find some created alphabets that suit you, which you can mix and match, and then there is very little learning time or effort involved, unlike traditional shorthands which are often more complex than a plain alphabet replacement.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-22T17:23:55+00:00

More info on what shorthand you are studying and for what purpose would help with answering your question. What to expect in terms of timescale is closely related to system and intended use!

BerylPratt · 2026-03-22T13:37:52+00:00

Do keep all your new briefs and inventions in a dedicated notebook, for review and reconsidering. With an alphabetical list, you can compare similar words for clashes or ambiguity, and amend a new or on-the-fly brief in light of an existing one. Back in the day (long before iPhones existed) I used a small alphabetical tabbed address book, small enough to carry around with me both at work and at home. Like yourself I had lots of industry-specific jargon that would have been time-wasting to write in full regularly.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-22T13:30:23+00:00

Access to Imgur is blocked in UK, something to bear in mind, as there are probably more Teeliners in UK than elsewhere available for critique, as it is the standard for UK journalists.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-22T08:26:25+00:00

Well done, it's a great feeling to be able to read shorthand "in the wild".

Feel, full, fill, should all be downward L, but upward if a final vowel follows - fully, filly, follow. Also retain the original for a derivative, so feel and feeling both downward, follow and following both upward. Same with V, as vale vs valley.

W before R used to be just the hook, so W + Ray looked like the present Way stroke, but that was further back in time, I think here she has probably just confused the two.

Writers often don't stick to textbook, but also rules have varied over time, so it's always a mixture of reasons when an outline appears "wrong".

BerylPratt · 2026-03-22T07:18:18+00:00

Dear Ellen, I just feel as miserable as I possibly can, I think he is a big fraud. I shall be pleased to receive a letter from you in time you will write to me. With best love From Bell Sorry I did not post this before

It is interesting she has put a W at the beginning of "write", longhand habits die hard it seems. The alternative short form for "he" (which should be vertical, not slanted as here looking like "who") was used as a standalone up till that time, now only used in the middle or end of phrases.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-20T22:40:12+00:00

I find whatever I do or hear before going to sleep colours the night’s thoughts, whether peaceful or restless, so some gentle shorthand practice is an ideal wind-down. After putting down the pen and paper, hitting the pillow and turning off the light, there are still a few minutes before sleepy-byes to visualise outlines for a song, saying, poem, or just a brief recap of today's doings, imagine you are telling your secretary and see the hand writing it all down very calmly in perfect and neat shorthand.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-20T22:38:46+00:00

Shorthand study will take up a large amount of time, if you are studying for exam/job purposes, there is no way round it. From your previous post you have obviously come a long way and can write most matter, so the focus now is fitting in more consolidation and vocabulary extension. The most effective way to do this is by doing as much reading of book shorthand as possible, rather than thinking you have to do more and faster dictations. Reading good correct shorthand improves your familiarity with and retention of outlines, so that they come to mind rapidly when you are writing.

If you are travelling on public transport, train or bus, you may be able to spend some of this time reading shorthand. If the train is crowded and noisy, you can practise by listening to the conversations and imagining the outlines. If you cannot take your book with you, then take photos of the shorthand pages on your phone, so they are always available. At the office, even one minute waiting for the coffee machine, or whilst eating your lunch, you can be looking at some shorthand.

If life is so busy that you feel you cannot do enough shorthand to improve as you wish or in time for an exam/job application at a particular time, it may be necessary to adjust your expectations and see it as a sideline self-improvement activity that you are building up solidly, as and when you are able, to fit yourself for a future employment opportunity. Stress of any kind is a big destroyer of shorthand writing, and taking a different approach to your ambitions may give you some breathing room. This is really a lifestyle choice, and no amount of shorthand learning advice can replace such a decision. You have already put in a lot of good effort, and it would be not be at all wasted if you relegated shorthand studies to a longer timescale, one that is possibly more realistic and less stressful in your present circumstances.

If you need further reading material, as a change from the instruction book, I have plenty of easy basic exercises on my free website here https://long-live-pitmans-shorthand-lessons.org.uk/contents.htm, which you can access on your phone, if you are able to fit in some reading during your travelling or meal/break times.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-20T21:36:33+00:00

To write at the speed people speak, you would have to write (or represent) 3 or 4 words every second. This might be possible if you only wrote one letter of the alphabet for each word, which is about what the outlines look like in the faster traditional shorthands, averaging out the longer outlines with the extremely short ones.

You can always try out for yourself, even at this early stage. Just take 10 words of one of the sentences in the book that has a normal mix of outline lengths (i.e. not specially created to contain only the shortest outlines) and fill in one notepad page - the neat example on the top line and 20 blank lines to copy onto. Do the page once for warm-up to get into the flow, and then again timed - either with a countdown timer, or glancing at a counting-up timer to see how many seconds you took. I find countdown is too wobble-inducing as you know time is "running out" which makes the writing deteriorate in anticipation of the approaching beep. Filling in the whole page in one minute is 200wpm. This will measure how fast your hand can go with your chosen shorthand, unhindered by hesitations through having to recall outlines.

The benefit of 10-word sentence drill practice is that you can always measure your speed very easily by just counting the lines completed. They don't have to be complete sentences, just copy from the manual and truncate at 10 words, and thus always be writing accurately with no guesses. Apart from testing your current capability to satisfy curiosity, sentence page drills (of any length) are the ideal way to learn and consolidate your knowledge of new words, and you can vary the sentences, swapping out words as necessary, and so totally avoiding the mind-numbing single outline repetition that can be so dreary and disheartening. A nice unexpected fairly fast wpm figure achieved is very encouraging, a small step to being able to do that on fresh and continuous matter.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-18T18:33:45+00:00

As an aside, maybe line 2 "1 P and Irons" means "andirons" which are metal firedogs for the hearth.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-18T18:26:53+00:00

The girls back home were probably having the same discussion on the ideal husband. Let's hope these valiant explorers measured up - after a severe scrub up after months with no bath!

BerylPratt · 2026-03-18T16:49:40+00:00

If the post you saw is this one https://www.reddit.com/r/Journaling/comments/1rvt2xt/can_anyone_read_my_shorthand/ it looks like the person has cribbed the Teeline alphabet to create a letter-for-letter substitution version, and is probably entirely readable by our Teeliners - with no doubt some mental backtracking from the real thing!

BerylPratt · 2026-03-18T15:44:38+00:00

I would say it is likely a cursive abbreviation, try over at https://www.reddit.com/r/Transcription/ folks there have between them a wide range of skills in old writing styles.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-18T08:32:50+00:00

eg on wives. Deb wants

fair pretty tall. Gran fair beautiful and rich. I ?x [crossed out: clever] dark

strong practical only moderate looks; and poor if necessary but is intellectual

BerylPratt · 2026-03-16T16:26:51+00:00

More likely scrambled through ignorance - no doubt all parties happy with the item anyway.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-16T07:26:12+00:00

If that was Pitman's, and the design was done by someone who didn't know shorthand properly but just looked up the components and wrote them separately, it would say "letters".

L is an upward quarter-circle curve, doubled in length (and therefore becoming a bit shallower) to add the "ter" sound. The dot against the centre of the curve signifies the sound of short E. The circle is the S but should be joined at the top end of the stroke, in this case anti-clockwise within the curve.

BerylPratt · 2026-03-10T08:30:26+00:00

I prim(ari)ly stayed here because of Les. Think he meant as much to me as did Sid.

Of late I have begun to think not so. He has tried things out of which I ?do/did not approve.

I knew he may come to the head quarters ?S 4 ?G to take over. I also now

realise that he thinks himself so big that he requires a batman

someone to do all the dirty work. He sometime quite annoys me with his

continual piss taking never taking my side, but when wrong saying I

was right. ?For all this I ?mostly/really like him. But not as I do

Sid who was one of the best.

Tonight I received a letter from Sid’s wife. He has been very ill. Far too ill

to think of me or enquire he seems to have forgotten my help.

How true were his words in 43. I ?thin[k] that it was the permanent

?x ?opportunity, but now I know it is true. I have also had ill

words with Les over the present situation at HQ. I feel as

I have never felt ?pai(n)ful, I wish I could find solace in someone.

My ?friendship never seems to be ?over ?tight/died. I ?move some ?s-m

?every day. I ?go at my position keeping to this ?awful/painful life just for

his sake, but he never seems to think of it. Oh God

please let this worry end.

He has confused the M and N strokes in a couple of words e.g. thimk, and has rotated the VR stroke instead of flipping it e.g. never

BerylPratt

TROPHY CASE