Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Deciphering Shorthand
November 24, 2024 | me

Posted on 11/24/2024 5:58:45 AM PST by texanyankee

Both of my parents graduated from 'Business College' in the late 1930s and were working as clerk/typists in civil service & the freight lines.

They met & began dating before the outbreak of WW2.

My Dad ended up joining the Coast Guard & served in the Pacific theatre. While his ship was undergoing repairs from the campaign at Amchitka, he eventually made it back to Texas & my folks got married in July of 1943 before returning to his refitted attack transport and resuming the campaign in the Pacific.

During his tour of duty between 1942 and 1944 they exchange hundreds of letters. I was fortunate to have rescued & scanned 650 of their letters to share with my siblings & my nieces & nephews.

In many instances both my parents would include in their letters paragraphs that were written in shorthand. In one instance an entire page was in shorthand. I have no idea how to decipher what they wrote. I wondered how the shorthand script managed to slip thru the censors but then I realized that shorthand was well known & used at that time.

Any suggestions on translating shorthand would be appreciated!


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Education; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: shorthand
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

1 posted on 11/24/2024 5:58:45 AM PST by texanyankee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

Maybe they were underground codes, like “John has a long mustache.” :-)


2 posted on 11/24/2024 6:05:05 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

Find yourself a copy Of GregG Shorthand Manual Simplified. You probably have to go to the library to find it As it is it is a rather old book.


3 posted on 11/24/2024 6:06:01 AM PST by xvq2er
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

See if you can find the Gregg Shorthand book at a thrift store. Also, homeschoolers might still teach it, maybe check where they sell school books. Good luck!


4 posted on 11/24/2024 6:10:53 AM PST by madison10
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xvq2er

I distinctly recall as a kid that we had an edition of “Gregg Shorthand” in our bookshelf at home. Must have been my Dad or Mom’s.

It has long since disappeared.

Which gives me the idea that maybe I could find an edition on eBay. I know it would be a long & tedious process for me but winter is coming on and it might be fun.

thanks.


5 posted on 11/24/2024 6:11:46 AM PST by texanyankee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: madison10

yeah, I think I’ll begin checking out eBay.

thanks.


6 posted on 11/24/2024 6:12:43 AM PST by texanyankee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

Used bookstore or Amazon, eBay, for old Gregg SH book. Find older 70-90 yo woman who used it I’m old, took dictation from a fast talking company officer, used my SH to take notes all through college and probably could still read most of Gregg Shorthand.


7 posted on 11/24/2024 6:13:47 AM PST by Hattie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

Amazon carries books featuring the Gregg Shorthand method (most popular in the US), as well as the Pitman method (mostly used in the UK). There are many books on each. You can teach yourself shorthand or use the books as resources for deciphering.


8 posted on 11/24/2024 6:14:40 AM PST by nanetteclaret (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

If you want to learn it yourself, there are lots of old textbooks on it. I learned shorthand in the late sixties but it was a later version (Diamond Jubilee instead of most likely Gregg taught in the 30’s). It really is pretty simple, based on abbreviations and phonetics. Otherwise you can search for someone who learned it in school.

Good luck in your endeavors. After my mom passed away I found a shoebox full of love letters from my dad. I transcribed them and had it bound in a book, copies which I gave to my siblings and the grandkids. They loved it.


9 posted on 11/24/2024 6:14:51 AM PST by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: caseinpoint

“After my mom passed away I found a shoebox full of love letters from my dad. I transcribed them and had it bound in a book, copies which I gave to my siblings and the grandkids. They loved it.”

That’s my dream - to somehow compile them all in some sort of physical format.

I started back in July to gather & group the letters and then scan them. Currently I have all 650 letters arranged by date & numbered sequentially on my computer. I have already downloaded them onto flash drives & shared them with
my siblings, but my idea is to somehow find a way to get them published.


10 posted on 11/24/2024 6:28:17 AM PST by texanyankee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

My parents both learned shorthand in college. It was almost universally taught in the 1940s and 1950s. After my mother died, we found a stack of letters that my father wrote to her when they were dating, which were mostly written in Gregg shorthand.

Most kids in my grandchildren’s generation view cursive writing as an indecipherable secret code.

I wonder if there are any translation programs for Greg shorthand, like handwriting recognition programs?


11 posted on 11/24/2024 6:31:50 AM PST by Bubba_Leroy ( Dementia Joe is Not My President and neither is Kackling Kamabla.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

If it’s a standard shorthand, that will be helpful. But you need to understand how shorthand works in order to translate it — it’s a phonetic system.

Also, there are a lot of common shortcuts and abbreviations, and they may have had their own personal ones.

I’ve used a stenotype machine before, which has similarities, but I never learned written shorthand.

It’s possible to do, and I hope you can get it done. It sounds like a really neat project!


12 posted on 11/24/2024 6:34:47 AM PST by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." — M. O'Neal, USMC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

My sister and her husband used to play Pictionary with another couple back in the ‘80s. The girls both knew shorthand, so they’d draw the most ridiculous squiggles including the word in shorthand. It threw a monkey wrench into the game, and was pretty funny. The girls were able to “guess” the word on the first try.


13 posted on 11/24/2024 6:37:11 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (🎶 They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. 🎶)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

Staples did a good job for me. Hardbound, about half an inch thick, cover embossed with a photo of my parents as newly weds with Dad’s customary greeting Dear Norma in his handwriting at the top left hand corner of the photo and his customary close Love, JC at the bottom right hand corner of the photo. Don’t recall the cost but it wasn’t exhoritant.


14 posted on 11/24/2024 6:38:24 AM PST by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: xvq2er; texanyankee

My mother was a whiz a shorthand and typing. She is gone now.

https://www.amazon.com/GREGG-Shorthand-Manual-Simplified/dp/0070245487


15 posted on 11/24/2024 6:44:19 AM PST by mad_as_he$$
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

I wonder if you paste it into an ai app if it would translate it to engrish?


16 posted on 11/24/2024 6:44:30 AM PST by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bubba_Leroy

Cursive is the new shorthand is definitely the case with most youth in America today.


17 posted on 11/24/2024 6:44:41 AM PST by texanyankee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

https://www.alibris.com/booksearch?title=gregg+shorthand+manual&mtype=B

No library is going to have the manual. Leftists have been taking older books out of libraries for years ad they attempt to engage our history and make us ignorant.


18 posted on 11/24/2024 6:45:35 AM PST by Chickensoup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: texanyankee

Free pdf file at http://greggshorthand.github.io/Annivman.pdf

images at http://duckduckgo.com/?q=gregg+shorthand&t=vivaldi&iax=images&ia=images

Are you sure you want to invade their privacy?


19 posted on 11/24/2024 6:52:17 AM PST by skr (Righteousness exalteth a nation: sin is a reproach to any people. - Proverbs 14:34)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: skr

Both my parents were quite reserved in their writings when it comes to personal/private affairs - especially since they knew their letters were reviewed by Navy censors. They often quoted Bible verses and went to church services regularly.

I’m fairly confident their exchanges in shorthand were similar in nature.

But, then again who knows!


20 posted on 11/24/2024 6:56:49 AM PST by texanyankee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson