I'm a slow hand-writer - I much prefer typing. However, oftentimes it's impractical or impossible to type. For example, in the classroom. I don't feel like lugging a laptop to class every day just to take notes. If I try to write out everything a teacher says longhand, I usually don't catch it all. Thus, I utilize lots of shorthand notation to keep up with the quick pace of speech.
My shorthand notation comes in many forms. Sometimes it's just a standard abbreviation (std. abbrev.). Oftentimes I utilize mathematical notation. Sometimes I use my own wacky notation. Sometimes I utilize other languages (mainly Spanish). Regardless, I understand my own notation, and that's all that matters when I'm writing things for my own use.
The downfall of too much notation is that others have a difficult time deciphering my notes. Thus, my shorthand notation is not something I use when communicating with others, apart from very standard abbreviations.
I actively utilize my shorthand notation when taking notes, doing outlines (say, for an in-class essay), and jotting down random ideas (or perhaps hw. assignmts.). Actively forcing myself you use all my notations is one way that I keep myself amused and my mind active during class :-).
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| the | t-- | "the answer" becomes "t-- answer" | Very frequently used word. It's much easier to draw a vertical line and then draw a long horizontal line - combining the horizontal part of the t with the dash - than writing out 'the.' Many of my shorthands involve using a dash in place of letters. I got this idea from my freshman geometry class, in which Mr. Seipp wrote "Given" as "G--" in his proofs. |
| tion/sion/sian/tian | -- (should be a dash, no break in the line) | "the persian definition of a Martian explosion" becomes "t-- per-- def. of a Mar-- explo--" | The "shun" sound is a common ending, and I got tired of writing it out so much. |
| -ing | -- | "running jumping, clapping, crapping, lolling" become "run--, jump--, clap--, lol--" | Another common end-- I didn't want to write out. For some words like "clapping" and "crapping," adding the -ing ending doubles the last letter of the root word. When applying the "--" shorthand, I leave out the doubled letter because I know how to spell :-). |
| know, eye, write/right, sight, corps | no, i, rite, site, core | "I know my right eye is capable of sight" becomes "I no my rite i is cap. of site." | In the case of homonyms, I use the shorter/st word. I know how to spell, so I'm not concerned that I'll eventually forget how to spell some words properly. |
| not | ~ | "That's not it. I didn't know." becomes "That's ~ it. I did~ no." | This notation derives from logic notation "if p then q, if not q then not p," which is often expressed as "p-->q, ~q-->~p." |
| today, peace | hoy, paz | "Today we shall have peace." becomes "Hoy we shall've paz." | Hey, sometimes words and phrases are shorter in other languages. |
| change |  (Greek delta)
| "Stop making so many changes!" becomes "Stop mak-- so many s!"
| From science. |
| differentiate/integrate |  , 
| "Instead of differentiating all the styles, try integrating all of them together." becomes "Instead of -- all t-- styles, try -- all of them 2gether."
| From calculus. |
| you, two/too/to, be, one, someone, something, anything/one | u, 2, b, 1, sum1, sumth--, neth--/1 | "Say, you, too, can be someone or something, actually anything or anyone you desire!" becomes "Say, u, 2, can b sum1 or sumth--, actually neth-- or ne1 u desire!" | I'm big on phonetics. |
| gold, silver, water | Au, Ag, H2O | "I see gold and silver in the water." becomes "I c Au + Ag in t-- H2O." | Yay chemistry. |
| equal, equation, equality | =, =--, =ity | "An equal equation expresses equality." becomes "An = =-- expr. =ity." | Gotta love math. |
| proportional (to) |  (Greek alpha)
| "The different elements must be proportional." becomes "T-- dif. elemts. must b ."
| I love the Greek alphabet. It's something to memorize, too, both kappers and lowies. |
From the list above, you should have a pretty good idea of some of the shorthand notations I use. There are probably others, which I'll add as I recall them. I'm also constantly (Cly) developing new ones.
Last Updated: February 5, 2008.
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