Shorthand

 By Bruce Shawkey

Does anyone use shorthand anymore? Turns out yes, it's still an essential tool for many secretaries, especially those who are executive secretaries. It's still taught, using the time-tested "Gregg" system. My mom was a secretary and was fairly fluent in shorthand. Here is a sample page from a book titled "5,000 most-used shorthand forms."


Not surprisingly, the most common words stenographers use are, "the," "and,"  "a," "be," and "all."

Here is the symbol for "a":


Shorthand was invaluable for business records before stenography machines, dictation machines, typewriters, recorders, and personal computers. Gregg shorthand was invented by John Robert Gregg in 1888.

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