Within the digital age, taking notes is straightforward with the assistance of expertise. Conferences, conversations, and concepts can all be recorded with apps that allow you to doc and even simply basic recording. Nonetheless, issues weren’t really easy earlier than these useful innovations. Previously, taking down notes, in real-time, was made doable by a means of writing, known as shorthand.
In accordance with Encyclopaedia Britannica, shorthand was initially developed by the Greek historian Xenophon. Nonetheless, it wasn’t till the Roman Empire that the writing system was popularly used to pen notes rapidly as folks spoke. The Latin shorthand system was used for over a thousand years earlier than it virtually disappeared in the course of the Center Ages.
After an extended pause, shorthand gained reputation once more in the course of the Victorian Period. It was additionally used in the course of the Reformation to extra rapidly notate Bible translations. Ultimately, trendy shorthand developed by demand for stenographers in the course of the Industrial Revolution.
Sir Isaac Pitman developed a contemporary model of shorthand in 1837, and his brother introduced the system to America in 1852. Whereas the Pitman fashion was broadly utilized in Britain, it was finally changed in america by the fashion of John Robert Gregg. Initially known as Mild-Line Phonography (1888), it later grew to become often known as Gregg Shorthand.
The time period lengthy hand referred to the lengthy strokes used to write down phrases whereas shorthand was designed to scale back letters all the way down to their easiest types; that is what made it simpler to take notes and doc issues quicker. As a result of shorthand has little to no resemblance to the phrase it represents, it’s straightforward to mistake it for some historical textual content. Due to the varied dots and loops that shorten our common technique of writing vowels and consonants, some folks assume it resembles Arabic greater than English.
With Gregg’s shorthand, folks had been capable of take down 280 phrases after mastering it. The follow shouldn’t be utterly out of date, as it’s nonetheless used to take notes in authorized, medical, and secretarial fields.
What do you consider shorthand? Have you ever used it your self or know anybody who has used it earlier than? Make sure to tell us your ideas and move this on to others to allow them to study extra about this peculiar script, too!