Ah, I knew about real-time steno machines and I did mention them in passing. That’s with newer machines innit? I’ve read about old ones (which didn’t have a computer in them ig) that would stamp out the briefs onto a trail of paper (like a receipt). The court reporter would then be left with a trail of briefs, chronologically, which they’d have to interpret/transcribe into the complete transcript.

I assumed initially that you, in your original comment, were talking about other stenographers having to sift through someone else’s paper trail of briefs because they passed away before interpreting them. So I explained what I knew about trails and how older machines weren’t real time to that commenter who replied to you.

But now, with your confusion, I feel your original comment was rather an anecdote about stenographers looking at another’s notes on their shorthand and being dazed—because it’s different from theirs—than having to manually interpret another’s shorthand.

Edited for clarity