Another Language
I’m always amazed when I see someone with typing skills that are above what I think is humanly possible. I’ve become a functionally quasi 45 WPM typist because of all the writing I do. I do look at the keyboard when I type. However, I am in awe when I see a master at work. I’m talking about those 100+ WPM people. I’d love to be able to type as fast as I think.
Another thing I never see any more is people doing shorthand or stenography. These are skills that were being taught when I was in high school. Now people use tape recorders to record and then they transpose when they get to their keyboards.
Shorthand is like another language. Most people these days don’t even have an idea of what shorthand or stenography looks like. Here is a photo of Court stenography.
I wonder how long it will be before these become lost languages.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
6 Comments:
I loved my shorthand class! I did well in it, too. At one point the teacher had me come to her desk and read what I'd written aloud, because she couldn't make it out. I'm an extremely sloppy writer, whether I'm writing longhand or shorthand. I had no problem reading what I'd written and she gave me an "E" on that day's assignment. I don't look at the keyboard unless I'm doing numbers. I had a great typing teacher who insisted we look away from the keyboard when we were learning to type. I type somewhere above 80 WPM, but my accuracy isn't so great.
So that's what stenography looks like. I'd wondered about that, but never went to look. How very strange. I'll bet if you made up a steno typer with shorthand symbols you could send unbreakable code. Like the Native American radio talkers in WWII.
I know people at work who can barely write at all and type not at all. It's always amusing to see some captain frowning at the keyboard typing with one finger and cursing alot. And I know a few people who can touch type with both hands and hold on a completely unrelated conversation at the same time. That always boggles my mind. I fall somewhere in between those two.
When I was on the Warrenton commission 10 years ago, Barb B. took her notes in shorthand. It was the last time I have seen anyone use it. I remember typing class in high school very well. It was a required class that us guys weren't too excited about. With egging on from our teacher, 3 of us decided to make it a competition and we consistently blew the others away with our speed and accuracy. I think we were in the 100wpm range. It is one of the few classes that I took that the skills I learned are useful today.
Donna, are you still able to do shorthand? I know most of the things I learned in my youth I can no longer do. Like I used to be able to read and speak French and I used to be able to read music.
Darev,your prisoners could use it in kites and you guy would never figure it out.
Jeff, funny because other that reading and math very little of what I ever learned in school or even college has been useful to me.
I remember very little of it.
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