Any Shorthand Fans?

[fiberdrunk]

Here are a couple of recent articles for shorthand. Really fascinating!

Despotic Characters: Researching Shorthand at the New York Public Library

 

 

How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

 

I took one semester of Gregg shorthand in high school (Diamond Jubilee, I think). I didn't do anything with it after that. But my interest has been rekindled this year-- and hey, it's another excuse to use fountain pens! I recently acquired a vintage Gregg shorthand fountain pen, too, that is a dream to write with. I'm teaching my 13-year old son Gregg Notehand (a scaled-down version of Gregg shorthand, with fewer brief forms to memorize, that is designed for note-taking rather than verbatim dictation). Are there others doing shorthand on FPN?

Edited May 29, 2015 by fiberdrunk

[fiberdrunk]

This is my new vintage Gregg shorthand fountain pen. I'm not sure who the pen maker is (Gregg didn't actually manufacture pens, themselves).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2015 by fiberdrunk

[Freddy]

The clip and lever would indicate made under license by Sheaffer....

 

Nice.

 

Fred

[fiberdrunk]

The clip and lever would indicate made under license by Sheaffer....

 

Nice.

 

Fred

Oooh, thank you for telling me the maker! Now that you mention it, the shape does look like a Sheaffer pen.

[delano]

I never knew Gregg had pens made. Interesting. I'll look out for them.

 

I REALLY wish I knew shorthand

[fountainpenlady]

Never knew there was a special fp. Failed gregg too many years ago. Same teacher who instructed in Gregg had her also for typing. Try cutting one class and explaining why in the other as not to fail them both. Still cringing and it was centuries ago.

[fiberdrunk]

I never knew Gregg had pens made. Interesting. I'll look out for them.

 

I REALLY wish I knew shorthand

 

It's never too late to learn. There is still one Gregg shorthand book in print and you can certainly learn it without a teacher. You can find it on Amazon (used books for Gregg abound on Amazon, eBay and AbeBooks, too.) This in-print book is coming up on its 60th anniversary next week, I believe.

 

There are many free resources online, too, which have free .pdf's of many of the older Gregg out-of-print books.

 

• Andrew Owen's Gregg Shorthand website (great historical overview of each edition, plus lots of free .pdfs)
• Gregg Shorthand Group on Blogger (active forum of shorthand users; lots of practice materials for the various editions -- wonderful!)
• Gregg Shorthand Daily Notes (fun!)
• Gregg shorthand books Internet Archive (for the oldest out-of-print editions come here -- all free in various formats, including .pdf. Even has novels that were written in shorthand.)

Edited May 30, 2015 by fiberdrunk

[delano]

Thank you fiberdrunk!

[ac12]

I wish my mother forced me to take shorthand or notehand in highschool.

Trying to take notes in long hand in college killed my handwriting.

[SuperNib44]

Here are a couple of recent articles for shorthand. Really fascinating!

Despotic Characters: Researching Shorthand at the New York Public Library

 

 

How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

 

I took one semester of Gregg shorthand in high school (Diamond Jubilee, I think). I didn't do anything with it after that. But my interest has been rekindled this year-- and hey, it's another excuse to use fountain pens! I recently acquired a vintage Gregg shorthand fountain pen, too, that is a dream to write with. I'm teaching my 13-year old son Gregg Notehand (a scaled-down version of Gregg shorthand, with fewer brief forms to memorize, that is designed for note-taking rather than verbatim dictation). Are there others doing shorthand on FPN?

[fiberdrunk]

Some cool Notehand charts I scanned in from the inside cover of the book and created a key for:

 

 

 

[SuperNib44]

[fiberdrunk]

 

Translation: It is so good to find others who do shorthand!

Edited May 30, 2015 by fiberdrunk

[fiberdrunk]

By the way, have any of you found any decent steno pads that take fountain pen ink well? I've only found one so far: Ampad Steno Pad Orchid (the cover is orchid... the paper is more like a pale blue). The sheets are quite thick and don't bleed through at all.

 

I've also tested Staples Steno Book, Staples Graph Ruled Steno Book, and Tops Docket with blue paper, and they all bleed through.

 

I have heard that Field Notes makes an excellent steno book, but I haven't tried it myself. They are quite pricey, though... $9.95.

 

What do you use?

[SuperNib44]

 

Translation: It is so good to find others who do shorthand!

I can read almost all of it. Except for the brief forms I just can't figure how to write or read words with "w's" in them

Edited May 31, 2015 by SuperNib44

[AAAndrew]

I'm fascinated, and as with so many things in life, I wish I could do it, but I doubt very much the work needed will push aside any of the other priorities.

 

Unless they get on that immortality drug soon, it will just have to join so many other things (playing the guitar, learning to draw, learning French,...) that will most likely never get very far into my repertoire of skills.

[fountainpagan]

Great thread, Teri.

 

I am "attacking" a french method (sorry, no english version) named: Prévot-Delaunay

 

You can see sample, here.

 

http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/camt/fr/se/fiche4/fiche4-1.html

 

Those scanners of Gregg's Notehand are great. And I ignored there was a Gregg's pen - Very nice, too.

[fiberdrunk]

Great thread, Teri.

 

I am "attacking" a french method (sorry, no english version) named: Prévot-Delaunay

 

You can see sample, here.

 

http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/camt/fr/se/fiche4/fiche4-1.html

 

Those scanners of Gregg's Notehand are great. And I ignored there was a Gregg's pen - Very nice, too.

 

Prévot-Delaunay looks similar to Gregg shorthand-- so neat!

[fountainpagan]

You are right. Now that you said it, I see it is true.

 

There is a simplified version, also. I bet it will have similarities to Gregg's notehands.

[Lively]

I used to be able to write Pitman's shorthand. It was great in the days when I had to take a lot of notes. I haven't used it for over 10 years now, and can hardly remember a thing. I have notebooks full of it that I can't read anymore. Transcribing into longhand (reading it) was always harder for me than writing it. Funny because I learnt Japanese at school and that's the opposite, much easier to read Kanji than to write them.