Blogs - 2015 - February 2 Habits · 2020. 1. 24. · expressions told it all without the need for words. * "favourite" Compare "favoured" which has the left hand Vr * Omission phrase

2015 February p1 A of 14Blog Archive Pitman’s New Era Shorthand 2015 February p1 B of 14Blog Archive Pitman’s New Era Shorthand

Images & Text © Beryl L Pratt www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand-reading.org.uk Images & Text © Beryl L Pratt www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand-reading.org.uk

2 Habits

5 Tides

8 Short Letters 2

12 Conversations

PDF Date: 24 January 2020

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Blogs - 2015 - February

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Habits

Many years ago I would avidly read thecartoons in the newspapers. I had nointerest in the political ones that wanted tomake a point, but I did enjoy the gentlerones that were light-hearted observationson the quirks of everyday life, with aninnocuous and inoffensive humour. One ofthe fluffier publications not only hadcartoons scattered throughout but also hadan entire page of them. I had myfavourite* artists who managed toencapsulate whole personalities andreactions with a few deft strokes of the inkpen, and I greatly admired their skill inusing the minimum of lines and detail. Eventhough the figures were wildly unrealistic in

shape and proportion, this did not matter,as it was the situation that was beingpresented, and the distortion had to makeup for the lack of real time movement. Iwould cut out and keep those that I reallyliked, in order to* revisit them another day.I particularly enjoyed those with no caption,where the situation, postures andexpressions told it all without the need forwords.

* "favourite" Compare "favoured" whichhas the left hand Vr

* Omission phrase "in ord(er to)"

Habits

One of my favourites was a short stripwhere the husband comes home from work,hangs up his coat, and, in the last frame, isseen in the act of sitting down onto thin air,with the appropriate whizz lines drawn in,expecting there to be an armchair behindhim. His words were, "Darling, you'verearranged the furniture again!" The wife isstanding by with a surprised and apologeticlook on her face, as she sees theunexpected consequences of her day of funplaying around with the furniture. I lookedback at the first two frames and noticed thehusband's cheery face, glad to be homefrom work, and, like a film with a teaser, I

now knew this was not to last more thanthe next half a minute. Then I filled in therest of the story, how she would movethings around, he would finally get used toit, and then it would all happen again.Maybe another day the kettle and teacupswould be in a different place, or the socksmoved to another drawer and beimpossible to find in the early-morning rush.I have done all this myself, having beenboth perpetrator and victim of the urge torearrange, and had the annoyance ofexpecting things to be found where I usedto store them.



Habits

I am sure beginners in shorthand willrecognise this scenario. New habits* arebeing learned, but if you drop your guardand allow the hand to fall into its formerhabit, it will revert to longhand. If youinterrupt it, it will then do neither longhandnor shorthand, and just wait in mid-airwhile you provide the alternative shapethat you want written. The problem withthis is that the outline does not alwayscome to mind as quickly as needed, if at all,and the poor old hand is caught betweentwo masters, old habit and new instruction.Clearly the new instruction must become ahabit, equal to or stronger than the old one,and this can only* happen if the action is

done repeatedly. Thinking, considering,pondering over and agreeing with the pageof rules in the book, and even reciting them,are not actually doing. The same thingapplies to wrong outlines that are leftuncorrected, they become ever moredifficult to root out, the more they arewritten.

* "habits" "hobbies" Always insert thevowel, as these are similar in outline andmeaning

* "this can only" On its own, "only" iswritten with full N and L strokes

Habits

The desire to romp through the chapters atlightning speed has to be curbed, andplenty of practice and review undertaken,not only to consolidate what has alreadybeen learned but also to form the newhabits of reaction and movement, so thatthey come easily and quickly. I know fromexperience the temptation to rush aheadwhich would leave the previous sectionshalf learned and the passages anddictations getting ever harder, as thememory burden increases. Fortunately Iwas in a college class so the pace was setby the teacher, and when I went to speed-building evening classes, it was entirely upto me* to work between classes to ensure I

got the best out of them, which meantreading my notes and working on problemsthat had surfaced. Practice on the currentchapter needs to be thorough not cursory,with regular review of previous chapters, toensure it all becomes familiar, well known,and, dare I say it, boring, meaning thatdifficulty and novelty have been drainedfrom them. Only constant actual writing willdo this, creating habits of mind and fingers,that is, instant responses, that cancompletely replace the ineffective jugglingact of memorising.

* "to me" Needs the vowel inserted,otherwise it would read "to him"



Habits

The way to form shorthand habits is towrite shorthand regularly, so that thestrength of the new habit equals that of thelonghand. Reading is also important as itincreases knowledge of outlines.Fortunately longhand is too well entrenchedto be threatened by this additional system,but I did find that I was increasinglyfrustrated with the excessive time andeffort* it takes to write it, it fell out offavour with me and rapidly lost its formerprime position. I found that the fightbetween longhand and shorthand onlyoccurred at the very beginning of learning,and quickly faded, but some might find itsurfacing during a fast dictation, it all

depends on how strict and firm you havedecided to be with yourself. In a real lifesituation it might be your last resort towrite a difficult word in longhand, as gapsand errors are not acceptable when you areentrusted with the task of producing areport, but in studies the pull to fill in withlonghand must be firmly resisted, as it canonly* undermine and contaminate thegaining of the new habit.

* Omission phrase "time (and) effort"

* "it can only" On its own, "only" is writtenwith full N and L strokes

Habits

I have assembled a selection of definitionsof the word habit and, like the related wordinhabit, this is where the shorthand learnerand writer should make their habitation,where they live and stay all the time. Ahabit is a tendency or disposition to act in aparticular way. It is an acquired behaviourpattern regularly followed until it hasbecome almost involuntary. It is arecurrent, often unconscious, pattern ofbehaviour that is acquired through frequentrepetition. It is a learned behaviouralresponse* that has become associated witha particular situation, especially onefrequently repeated. Here are some morewords that describe this most useful part ofour make-up, an established custom, a

usual practice, a manner, mode, routine,tendency, inclination, predisposition,proneness, propensity, frame of mind*,fixed* attitude and second nature.

* "response" Always insert the vowel afterthe P, as this is also the short form for

"responsibility". Conversely, "responsibility"would have to be written in full if it becamenecessary to ensure it was not read as

"response"

* Omission phrase "frame (of) mind"

"fixed, focused" Always insert the firstvowel, as they are similar in outline andmeaning



Habits

My favourite definition is rut, which led tothe invention of railway tracks, and it isdifficult to imagine a cartwheel* or trainwheel departing from the groove that hasbeen made for it. Having a one-track mindis necessary when writing shorthand andfor periods of study, as long as it does notdescend into a fixation, impulsion orobsession. All this allows us to send actionsdown to our endlessly* willing, well-trained,faithful and obedient servants in the HabitDepartment, leaving our higher mind freeto consider* other things and take ourplace as ruler of all we survey, which Ihope at the moment* is a desk, shorthandpad, pen or pencil and a book open at theexercise page, ready to be studied, copied,recorded and taken down in smoothlyflowing shorthand. If you can manage allthis at a fairly slow speed, it is only* a

matter of time before force of habit leads tobeing* able to write at ever higher speeds,with no loss of accuracy, neatness orlegibility. (1274 words)

* "wheel" is written thus to obtain a goodjoin

* "endlessly" Note that "needlessly" iswritten with N + D + lessly" to differentiate

* Omission phrases "to (con)sider" "at(the) moment"

* "it is only" On its own, "only" is writtenwith full N and L strokes

* "to being" Based on the phrase "to be"

Tides

I was watching a television programme theother day about the tides around the Britishcoastline. The beach scenes and shots ofsea and waves were interspersed withchats with those living and working there.As the presenter was talking to a fishermanon his boat out in the bay, the man saidthat phrase that everyone is familiar with,

"Time and tide wait for no man." Instantlymy mind turned, of course, to shorthand,and I think the same would occur toanyone with a different interest or hobby*that needs instant action or reaction. In mycase, the speakers who would never wait

were my shorthand teachers, as theyalways went faster than was comfortable,so that we did not get lax or lazy. Withsome skill in hand, these difficulties werenot so apparent at work, unless someonewas reading from their scribbled notes,which was not often. Like the sea, there isno holding back the torrent of words, andyou have to either be prepared or get out ifyou don't want to drown!

* "hobby" "habit" Always insert the vowel,as these are similar in outline and meaning



Tides

This reminded me of a holiday we had inCornwall many years ago. We took a daytrip to Newquay which has several beachesseparated by small cliff promontories.When the tide is out, it is one long strip ofsand, and we wandered round the littleheadland to the next beach. When we sawthat the tide was coming in, a little way off,we turned back to retrace our steps, notwanting to take the longer and lessinteresting route of continuing up thesecond beach and making our way backalong the cliff top road. It was only a fewyards to get round that corner, andalthough we started off walking on dampsand, within a minute we were splashingthrough the incoming ripples. Behind those

tiny advancing wavelets was a hugeexpanse of grey sea that had no intentionof letting us keep our sandals dry. The viewin front of us of yellow sand, deckchairsand distant shops and car park was muchmore attractive than the view behind us ofrows of waves of ever-increasing height asone looked farther* out. I did not enjoyhaving crossed the line from being by thesea to being in it, an ever moving boundary,one that has to be predicted and avoided.

* "farther" Refers only to distance.Compare further" which is doubled, andrefers distance, subsequent/another,additional/more



Tides

Later on in the seaside televisionprogramme they were looking at an oldmechanical tide prediction machine thatcould be fed information and produce tidetables for any place in the world*. Thepresenter talked to a lady who had workedthere for many years before it wasdiscontinued in the 1960's. He commentedon the neatness of the index cards thatcontained the data*. She said that neathandwriting was essential, as accuracy wasparamount, and that mistakes were nottolerated. This last phrase fairly jumped outat me, as one of my shorthand tenets,learned at college, although with much lessserious consequences than issuing aninaccurate tide table. The necessity foraccuracy was not an added extra becausethe lady and her colleagues were especially

keen at their jobs, but an indispensable andimmovable part of their work, never to bedisregarded or neglected*. I am sure that ifthey had the slightest doubt about anything,it would be checked and verified until it wasperfect. In shorthand this attitude is theonly one that will bring constantimprovement as well as the approval by anemployer of your error-free work. Wrongoutlines have to be tolerated for the sakeof* getting something down and it is easierto allow them during note-taking if youknow you will be sorting them out later, sothat they do not trip you up again.

* Omission phrases "in (the) world" "for(the) sake (of)"

* "data" Insert both vowels, so it is notmisread as "date"



Tides

On another seaside holiday on the southcoast of Britain, we visited Burgh Islandnear Plymouth, which can be reached ondry sand at low tide. When the tide was in,a sea tractor conveyed visitors across tothe island. We walked back in good time,but stood a while looking at the waterscreeping very slowly round both sides ofthe island, waiting for the moment whenthey would meet. With holiday-makers andeager children watching intently, the twoleading edges approached each other andwere a minute away from meeting. At thatmoment two children decided to interveneand rushed in, and with their hands startedquickly scraping two small channelsbetween them*. The waters were

desperate to join up and knew exactly whatto do, rushing along the shallow groove andmeeting with a bit more force and splashthan they would otherwise have done. I amsure they spent that night making plans tocome back the next day and repeat theperformance, probably with a few moreminutes in hand, in order to* dig a biggertrench. I took a photo and called it "Helpingthe tide come in". The sea had not beenstopped but it had been controlled in asmall way, the vast ocean altered in itscourse using nothing but hands. (851words)

* Omission phrases "betwee(n) them" "inord(er to)"

Short Letters 2

Each paragraph is 150 words, so writingone in 90 seconds will be 100wpm:

Dear Sir, Thank you for your enquiryregarding taking out a maintenancecontract with us for your office andwarehouse premises. I have enclosed ourestimate sheet which gives an approximateidea of the annual costs for various levelsof maintenance and size of buildings andarea covered. Our estimator would behappy to visit you to survey the premises inorder to* submit a tender for the contract.

We can offer a discount if you decide tocommit to a longer-term contract and wehope that you will be able to takeadvantage of this. We have operated thisbusiness very successfully for the past 25years and are confident that we can supplyyou with a first rate* service at areasonable cost, as confirmed by theexcellent feedback we have received*which you can read on our website. I lookforward to hearing from you. Yoursfaithfully (150 words)



Short Letters 2

Dear Mrs Murray, I am writing to thank youfor your recent letter and the encloseddonation towards our work withdisadvantaged* children and young peoplein our city centre. We are very grateful toall our supporters who help us carry on thisvaluable work. I attach our latestnewsletter which describes the progress ofour projects, and we are delighted to reportthat the new club building is now complete,where we will be able to help train youngpeople and improve their prospects ofgaining employment. There will also be anarea where younger children and theirparents can come, so we can help themapply for government grants for their*education and housing needs. We are also

excited about our new project to provideshort holiday breaks for the families, whichthey could not otherwise afford. Thank youonce again* for your kind generosity. Yourssincerely* (150 words)

* "disadvantaged" Full outline for the pasttense, the outline for "disadvantage" usesthe short form

* "for their" is written with full outlines, "ifthere" is doubled

* Omission phrase "wu(n)s again" "Yours(sin)cerely"

Short Letters 2

Dear Mrs Clark, Thank you for writing tome about the delays you have experiencedwith the building work to your side houseextension carried out* by our operativeslast week. I have spoken to them and toour site manager, who has informed methat this problem with the foundations wasentirely unforeseen at the time that oursurvey and estimate were prepared. It isnot always possible to know what will befound when excavations start, but wealways endeavour to inform our customersof variations required in the work andprovide immediate information on the extra

costs or delays that may result. Weestimate that the work of moving thesepipes will take an extra half day's labour,and I attach a revised quotation thatincludes these costs. If you have anyfurther concerns or require anyamendments, please do not hesitate tocontact me. Yours sincerely* (150 words)

* "carried out" Halving for the T of "out"

* Omission phrase "las(t w)eek" "Yours(sin)cerely"



Short Letters 2

Dear John and Joan, I am writing to inviteyou both to the opening of our newrestaurant in Green Road. We are lookingforward to meeting up with all our long-standing customers and friends who havesupported us at our previous premises inWhite Lane. The event will take place in ourspacious new dining and conference room,with drinks and nibbles buffet provided.There will be a speech by the manager andsome of the staff, followed by a celebrationmeal which we hope all our friends willenjoy. The invitation is to yourselves andtwo children if you wish to bring them, soplease let us know* how many of you wish

to come. In parting, we are giving out abook of discount vouchers for future mealswith us, with sweets and a balloon for eachchild. Looking forward* to hearing from yousoon. Best wishes* (150 words) (Continued)

* "please let us know" Downward L in orderto join the phrase

* Omission phrase "looking fo(r)ward"

* "Best wishes" Upward Ish in order to jointhe phrase

Short Letters 2

Dear Sir, I am writing to congratulate youon the excellent service I received at yourstore last week*. I had bought a set ofclothes to wear to a wedding, but when Igot home and inspected them, I foundsome faults with the sewing and had toreturn them straight away. As the weddingis coming up very soon, I was concerned* Iwould not be able to find replacements intime, but your staff member Jackie wasextremely helpful and offered to find anidentical* set as soon as possible*. Shecontacted the other store straight away andmade arrangements for the dress and

jacket to be sent over immediately. I spentan hour shopping elsewhere and when Ireturned, the items had arrived. Nothingwas too much trouble, and Jackie reallysaved the day for me. Please pass on mygrateful thanks to her. Yours faithfully (150words)

* Omission phrases "last (w)eek" "I was(con)cerned" "as soon as poss(ible)"

* "ide(n)tical" Contraction



Short Letters 2

Dear Mr Brown, Last week* our membershad a meeting to discuss the new financialarrangements that are now in operation forGrays Lane Sports Club. We are delightedthat this will mean we can now get on withthe new building work and the summer'sevents. Mr Black has volunteered tooversee the changeover and we trust thatunder his direction this will* all go verysmoothly. I have attached a report of themeeting, which was very well* attended,and fortunately everyone was in agreementover our future plans. We were also able todraw up a schedule of events for thecoming year and we hope that these will*result in increasing our membership andproviding a better service for those who*

wish to enjoy sports in our area. Please letme know* if you have any suggestions orcomments that will improve our service.Yours sincerely* (150 words) (Total 900words)

* Omission phrases "last (w)eek" "very(w)ell" "Yours (sin)cerely"

* "this will" "these will" "please let meknow" Downward L in order to join thephrase

* "for those who" Always insert the vowelin "those" and "these" when they are out ofposition in a phrase



Conversations

Recently I was travelling across London on thetrain. My seat faced backwards and after awhile my eyes needed a rest from the rapidlyreceding buildings and trees. Then threetalkative lads* boarded the train and sat afew seats behind me. The lively conversationwas mainly on the merits, failures and careerprospects of various footballers. I thought Iwould follow my own advice and visualisesome of it in shorthand. I am usuallysuccessful at this when it is a television orinternet broadcast. However, these lads wereso intent on voicing their opinions to eachother that the sentences came out in shortand very fast bursts, no doubt to get theirpoint over before one of the others butted inwith a counterclaim*. A slow talker would nothave* stood any chance of finishing hissentence! Their speech was terse, clipped andabrupt, mostly phrases and exclamationsmore than complete sentences. The rapid-firedelivery and the difficulty of making out every

word precisely made me give up on theshorthand exercise. The arrival of a fewexpletives was my cue to "tune it out" but Idid muse on what might happen if ashorthand writer* did get it all down anddecided to read it back to them, swear wordsand all.

* "lads" "ladies" Insert the vowel to preventmisreading

* "counterclaim" Note that "counter" on itsown in doubled, but written as here whenconvenient in a compound word

* "would not have" Write the "have"separately, to prevent it looking like "wouldnever", or, if it has already been written,insert the vowel in "not" to clarify

* Omission phrase "short(hand) writer”



Conversations

Having changed trains, the nextconversation that filled my end of thecarriage was between three childrenplaying a game of "I Spy": I spy with mylittle eye something beginning with T. Well,it had to be train or tracks or tunnel. Ifollowed the game, unable to not listen, asit was all going on right behind me. After awhile the rules changed slightly as theystarted giving the first sound of the wordrather than the letter of the alphabet. Theywere young enough to probably not bequite sure of every spelling, or at least* anolder child would do this so that a youngerone could take part. The other problem wasthat the train was moving, but this made itmore of an interesting challenge thatspiced up the game. If one of them spiedsomething while the train was stationary*,then the others had to guess it quickly

before the scene slipped away. Sureenough, several of the responses were,

"Too late" followed by the answer. As longas all three had their opportunity to be thequizmaster, they were all happy. Later onthe game mutated into spying thingsconsisting of two words, such as tallbuilding, factory door etc. The game hadrun its course as these longer versionswere all but unguessable, especially as theobjects themselves were whizzing past outof sight.)

* "at least" "at last" Always insert thevowel

* "stationary" Mnemonic for these spellings= station-ARY is a pARked cAR, stationERYis papER



Conversations

The easiest way to practise when theoverheard conversations are too fast is topick on random words or phrases, either allthe simple well-known ones or perhaps justthe ones that you think you would hesitateover if writing for real. The train or bus isthe ideal place for practising shorthand inthis way. If there are no conversationsgoing on, then shop and road signs can allbe translated* into shorthand as they comeinto view. This particular variation shouldimprove each day, as you pass the sameshops and signs over and again. Manybusiness names make an effort at writingby sound, in order to* arrest your attentionwith the strange spelling, but you now havethe satisfaction of writing the true version,and can thank them for helping you think

only of the sound and not the waywardEnglish spelling. In your warm andcomfortable train or bus seat, you will beable to give yourself lots* of brownie pointsfor getting ahead with the shorthand,making good use of the spare minutes andmaybe even shortening the apparent lengthof the journey, as well as shortening thetime taken to achieve shorthand fluencyand skill. (802 words)

* "tra(n)slated" Omits the N

* Omission phrase "in ord(er to)"

* "lots" and "masses" Insert the vowel asthese are similar in outline and meaning

Conversations

My third attempt at amusing* myself withthe surrounding words was to write inmental shorthand the constantly repeatedannouncement giving a list of destinations.This was not as easy as it first seemed,being almost entirely place names whichneeded more thinking about than normalsentences. I could either follow theannouncer's voice or look at theinformation board with the scrolling list ofstations. The board was not easy to followas it was further down the carriage and thewords formed by lighted dots moving fromright to left* were hard to read rapidly. The

voice was much easier but I think I wouldhave done better if I had actually beenwriting them on paper, not being distractedby dotty words or surroundings, and I amsure I would have written most of them intwo or three pieces, one mark for eachsyllable.

* "amazing" and "amusing" Always insertthe vowel

* Omission phrase "right (to) left" Thesimilar phrase "right and left" would bestbe written in full

Documents

Blogs - 2015 - February 2 Habits · 2020. 1. 24. · expressions told it all without the need for words. * "favourite" Compare "favoured" which has the left hand Vr * Omission phrase