Shorthand

Shorthand

Lecture notes take time to write down if you do not have a shorthand system. For instance, instead of writing 'the', you might write t' because your pen can do that a lot quicker.

Some people use the first 4 letters of a word but remove vowels from the rest of it; they hope to write their notes out neatly later but, in the meantime, this way, they can write notes at the speed that the lecturer is giving notes.

Beyond those techniques is the idea of learning several shorthand ways of writing common grammatical words which frequently occur in sentences. I set out to do that also. I tried to use letter pairs and letter-digit codes to represent common grammatical words. In this way, my writing time could be reduced. Also, I have developed a memory system for actually memorising paragraph text: using images from my AA-ZZ alphabet pair library, etc.. [see the 'Memorising Text' article]

The NakedScience.com Shorthand System by Michael Curtis

why	0
how	1
because	2
what	3
for	4
where	5
or	6
when	7
and	8
if	9
a / an	A
always	AA
about	AB
add	AD
above	AE
after	AF
again	AG
anyhow	AH
aim	AI
ask	AK
all	AL
anyone	AO
able	AP
arrange	AR
as	AS
at	AT
order	AU
avoid	AV
anywhere	AW
away	AY
so	B
best	B0
sell	B1
buy	B3
bad	B5
before	B7
back	BA
become	BC
behind	BD
be	BE
because of	BF
being	BG
behave	BH
big	BI
below	BL
bottom	BM
been	BN
both	BO
borrow	BR
bit	BT
but	BU
believe	BV
between	BW
her	C
carry	C0
clear	C1
call	C3
change	C5
cause	C7
can	CA
concern	CC
could	CD
correct	CE
choose	CH
certain	CI
can	CN
contain	CO
compare	CP
care	CR
consider	CS
come	CU
these	D
day	D0
decide	D1
die	D3
do	D5
doubt	D7
during	DA
direct	DC
did	DD
depend	DE
differ [maybe different also]	DF
doing	DG
difficult	DI
done	DN
do	DO
direction	DR
Due [meanings: pending/due to]	DU
down	DW
they	E
everything	EB
either	EC
enter	EE
effect	EF
else	EL
end	EN
each	EP
enough	ER
easy	ES
else	ET
every	EV
everywhere	EW
exclude	EX
every	EY
this	F
far	F0
fear	F1
find	F3
few	F5
for	F7
fact	FA
feel	FE
favour	FI
from	FM
follow	FO
further	FR
front	FT
future	FU
favourite	FV
something	G
great	G0
greet	G1
grow	G3
good	G5
group	G7
gone	GA
went	GD [go-ed']
get	GE
give	GI
general	GN
go	GO
got	GT
guess	GU
he [/him]	H
had	H0
here	H1
hard	H3
happen	H5
high	H7
have	HA
happy	HE
hardly	HI
hold	HL
however	HO
help	HP
hear	HR
hope	HU
I or me	I
imagine	IA
inform	IB
important	IC
idea	ID
I've	IF
are there	IG
inside	II
I'm	IM
in	IN
intend / intent/ intention	IO
I'll	IP
into	IR
is	IS
it	IT
involve	IV
that	J
journey	J1
job	J2
better	J3
jump	J4
angle	J5
stage	J7
already	J9
join	JO
just	JU
your	K
key	K0
keep	K1
know	K2
kind	K3
knew	K5
almost	K7
anything	K8
anybody	K9
kill	KI
his	L
large	L0
leave	L1
lie	L3
let	L5
likely	L7
last	LA
like	LE
left	LF
little	LI
look	LK
limit	LM
lend	LN
lot	LO
listen	LS
late	LU
level	LV
those	M
may	M0
mean	M1
my	M3
maybe	M5
more	M7
many	MA
me	ME
much	MH
main	MI
major	MJ
make	MK
most	MO
measure	MS
might	MT
must	MU
move	MV
no / not	N
nature	N0
need	N1
never	N3
new	N5
note	N7
now	NA
number	NB
include	NC
next	NE
negative	NG
neither	NH
near	NI
name	NM
none	NN
nor	NR
nothing	NU
nowhere	NW
nobody	NY
other	O
opinion	O2
only	O3
outside	O4
once	O5
out	O7
odd	OD
one	OE
of	OF
off	OG
OK	OK
old	OL
opposite	OP
or	OR
onto	OT
over	OV
owe	OW
it is	P
pay	P0
perhaps	P1
piece	P3
place	P4
put	P5
poor	P7
part	PA
problem	PB
person	PE
point	PN
possible	PO
purpose	PU
positive	PV
any	Q
could have	Q0
is a	Q1
are a	Q2
quite	Q3
is the	Q4
are the	Q5
can the	Q6
could the	Q7
could you	Q9
quick	QK
question	QU
another	R
right	R0
reach	R1
ready	R3
regular	R5
around	R6
rest	R7
rather	RA
relate	RE
refer	RF
regard	RG
reason	RI
real	RL
remember	RM
result	RO
respect	RS
return	RT
run	RU
reverse	RV
really	RY
some	S
say	S0
see	S1
show	S3
soon	S5
shall	S7
same	SA
somebody	SB
success	SC
should	SD
specific	SE
safe	SF
sign	SG
somehow	SH
since	SI
subject	SJ
still	SL
similar	SM
someone	SN
so	SO
stop	SP
start	SR
sense	SS
sometimes	ST
such	SU
somewhere	SW
size	SZ
it	T
take	T0
TRUE	T1
type	T3
too	T5
talk	T7
than	TA
two	TE
thing	TG
then	TI
think	TK
tell	TL
time	TM
to	TO
top	TP
times	TS
try	TU
typical	TY
our	U
act	U9
unknown	UB
unless	UC
understand	UD
use	UE
useful	UF
usual	UG
unusual	UM
up	UP
under	UR
us	US
until	UT
usually	UY
the	V
various	V0
variety	V1
view	V3
do you	V5
did the	V7
value	VA
very	VE
visit	VI
do the	VO
does the	VU
we [/us]	W
way	W0
we	W1
why	W3
wish	W5
work	W7
whereas	WA
which	WC
would	WD
we	WE
wrong	WG
whether	WH
with	WI
will	WL
want	WO
word	WR
was	WS
without	WT
wonder	WU
will the	WV
while	WY
there	X
their or theirs	X0
there is	X1
there are	X2
there was	X3
there will	X4
there would	X5
there should	X7
there has	X8
there was a	X9
there has been	XB
there can	XC
there had	XH
there needs	XN
there could	XO
you	Y
yes	Y0
yet	Y1
you'd	Y3
you'll	Y4
you	Y5
you're	Y7
you've	Y9
yesterday	YE
yourself	YF
are you ...	YO
yours	YS
young	YU
too	Z
who	Z0
whom	Z1
whose	Z2
was a	Z3
was the	Z4
according	Z5
also	Z6
would the	Z7
were the	Z8
although	Z9

The shorthand system was adjusted in August 2007 to allow images which represent 2 words. This was done by considering that the images for 00, 01, 02, ... 98, 99 [00 to 99] could all represent a pair of words if the first digit occurs in a list of 10 words and the second digit occurs in another list of 10 words:

First digit represents these possibilities:

0 you

1 he

2 she

3 we

4 they

5 there / where

6 I

7 this / which

8 that / what

9 it

Second digit represents these possibilities:

0 is / are

1 has / have

2 want

3 had

4 can

5 could

6 will

7 should

8 would

9 were

So, 23 is 'she' followed by 'had': 'she had'.

94 is 'there / where' followed by 'can': 'there can' or 'where can' [deduced from the context].

Another adaption is to allow a digit and a letter to represent 2 words; the intention is to create an image library to represent 0A, 3D, and so on [a digit followed by a letter].

First digit represents these possibilities:

0 why / from

1 how

2 because / with

3 what

4 for

5 where

6 or / through

7 when / on / in

8 and

9 if / of / by

The letter represents these possibilities:

A a / an

B so / such

C she / her

D these

E they / them

F this

G something

H he / her

I I / me

J that

K your / you're

L his

M those

N no / not

O other

P its / it's

Q any

R another

S some

T it

U our

V the

W we / us

X their / there/ they are

Y you

Z to / too

9R is 'if / of / by' followed by 'another':

'if another'; or

'of another'; or

'by another'

[deduced from the context]

If I refer to this shorthand system elsewhere in the course then I might be referring to a previous version; and that would perhaps explain any differences in the versions. This current version attempts to fit the shorthand system with ideas I had for an artificial language - hence the change.

By coincidence, in April 2007, I learned of the Gardiner system for representing hieroglyphs. It uses codes like A1 and A2. So, I resolved to build an image system for representing such codes by using images inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphs. But, as a memoriser of words, you can use a system which makes sense to you.

Lexical Necklace

Imagine stringing a necklace with beads where different bead types represent shorthand words or alphabet letters. By reading the beads across the string, you can reconstruct a message - and may have been a popular device before the popularity of portable paper.

Later in the course, you will learn the 'peg' method of memorising images in sequence. In that way, you can make a string of ideas and reproduce sentences from memory.

Further Reading

Inca quipu - An article about necklaces containing meaning.