Do any jobs still require shorthand?

[hrh_disney_queen]

Does anyone here even REMEMBER what shorthand is? I took it in HS about a thousand years ago and never used it. I was just looking at the website for jobs at USPS and one of the jobs mentioned shorthand. I didn't think anyone used it anymore.

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

My mom's the recording secretary for my school's band parent association.
Although its not a paying job, I think she uses shorthand to record the minutes.

 

[Becky2005]

Oh My!!! I took Shorthand in HS too & loved it. My Associate's degree is actually in Gregg Shorthand (I didn't like it so much in college since it was taught by video & NOT by a real person, so it was so much harder to figure out but I did manage to finish the degree!) but I don't think I could actually do shorthand again to save my life (well...maybe a teeny bit & if I saw it, maybe it would come back to me?). I would recognize it, but not remember what it was saying I don't think since I can picture some of it in my head right now.

I never heard it being used much even when I got my degree. I never used it in my job. I thought that went the way of carbon copies & mimograph (sp?) machines.

 

[korzmom]

its called txt message now.

 

[Imzadi]

its called txt message now.

 

[RadioNate]

I don't think any require it ... Is it something still being taught? I actually should look into that. My great aunt kept journals, her entire life, in short hand. We need a translator.

 

[Cindy B]

My mom was taught shorthand back in the high school (late 60's). I took a course in the 80's called speedwriting-- which was technically supposed to be the "new" shorthand. IIRC, speedwriting was very similar to texting for example btn was between. The weirdest thing about speedwriting was not crossing the t's!

 

[NMAmy]

About 10 years ago, I worked for the president of a college who still dictated his letters. The executive secretary took shorthand but I hadn't used it since I graduated from high school (in 1981!) so when she was gone, we had to work around that.

A lot of times for a short letter, he'd just give me the gist of what to say and I'd write a letter from that. For longer letters, I'd take my laptop in his office and just type as he dictated.

I still take minutes at meetings but take my laptop with me and type notes as I go.

 

[cybrkitn]

Is it something still being taught? I actually should look into that.

Believe it or not, yes. I went to a local business school and had to take speedwriting. I enjoyed it and got to 90 wpm. Most jobs do not require it and because of that, I've pretty much lost my speed. However, there are some jobs out there that still do require it, but not many.

 

[cybrkitn]

My mom was taught shorthand back in the high school (late 60's). I took a course in the 80's called speedwriting-- which was technically supposed to be the "new" shorthand. IIRC, speedwriting was very similar to texting for example btn was between. The weirdest thing about speedwriting was not crossing the t's!

I still have problems with the "k" in speedwriting (com, etc). I think the only thing I could get with that was computer (kptr). With the rest of the words that started with "k" my brain just couldn't get b/c I wanted to do that arc for the "m" so bad.

 

[snapppyd]

Wow, I forgot about shorthand! I actually did use mine when I started working (back in the dark ages of 1974). I really did have to sit at my bosses desk, while he *gasp* smoked a cigarette, and take dictation. Then I typed it up on a *typewriter* with carbon copies!!!

The worst was when you made a mistake and had to erase three copies (or use whiteout when that was invented) and then try to put the paper back in the typewriter and line it up correctly.

 

[Robmom]

Wow, that brings back memories. I was pretty good at it in the 80's. I think I did 80 wpm. I also did Speedwriting, which I was much better at. I wouldn't be able to do it now, or read it for that matter. I really didn't think people did that anymore.

 

[HM]

Too cool to read about others that took shorthand in high school. I took it in 1978. I mostly used it for writing notes with a friend that also took the class, though I did have a "job" taking dictation for a man with Cerebral Palsy a few times. Taking dictation was the easy part...typing up the notes was the worst.

I wished that we had learned more words in our class so that I could use it in college. Not being a business major, I never really needed all those business words we learned. I found that I really couldn't use it for college note taking....and thus completely forgot how to do it. I wish I still could....it was a fun and unusual thing to know.

Thanks for the look back.....

 

[antmaril]

I retired last year after working 36 years as a legal secretary. I took shorthand in high school and community college. My bosses dictated to me until about the last eight years of my career. Every once in a while, my boss (I worked for him for 23 years) would call me in to dictate a letter. I would laugh and tell him not to go too fast because he hadn't dictated to me in about a year

It is a good skill to know and if you wanted me to take down something in shorthand right this minute, I could do it!

 

[Robinrs]

WOW!! I hadn't heard that in EONS!! I remember learning speedwriting to take notes in class in college. I STILL use some of the symbols!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Yes, some court reporters still utilize shorthand. They generally type on machines (as opposed to writing longhand), but they are shorthand machines.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

The closest thing I ever used to short hand was a dictaphone and that was when I was in high school. I remember my boss (an attorney) at the time watching me type from the dictaphone machine and he realized that I could type by far faster than he was talking on that thing (fast forward or that faster speed never worked well either) so he started talking faster and the full-time secretary got upset because she had to slow down the tapes all the time

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Wow, I forgot about shorthand! I actually did use mine when I started working (back in the dark ages of 1974). I really did have to sit at my bosses desk, while he *gasp* smoked a cigarette, and take dictation. Then I typed it up on a *typewriter* with carbon copies!!!

The worst was when you made a mistake and had to erase three copies (or use whiteout when that was invented) and then try to put the paper back in the typewriter and line it up correctly.

STOP! You are going to give me nightmares! I wasn't great at SH, but I was even worse at typing. We learned typing on MANUAL typewriters in Junior High, and in HS we had electric. I was awful at it, and carbons made me a nervous wreck. Even worse was typing up a "Ditto"..(aka mimeograph!) You had to put the original in the typewriter upside down so you could scratch off the mistakes by opening it at the top. I was a student assistant, and I could not type one of those to save my life.


But...remember how good they smelled when you passed out the copies in class? The first kid in the row would take the stack, inhale them deeply, then take one and pass the stack back to the next kid. and so on...OK, everyone who is over the age of 45, all at once....INHALE!!!

 

[ckay87]

STOP! You are going to give me nightmares! I wasn't great at SH, but I was even worse at typing. We learned typing on MANUAL typewriters in Junior High, and in HS we had electric. I was awful at it, and carbons made me a nervous wreck. Even worse was typing up a "Ditto"..(aka mimeograph!) You had to put the original in the typewriter upside down so you could scratch off the mistakes by opening it at the top. I was a student assistant, and I could not type one of those to save my life.


But...remember how good they smelled when you passed out the copies in class? The first kid in the row would take the stack, inhale them deeply, then take one and pass the stack back to the next kid. and so on...OK, everyone who is over the age of 45, all at once....INHALE!!!

OMG!!! The smell of ditto copies, I almost forgot. Aaaaaah I think I just got an idea for a new Yankee Candle scent!

My typing experience doesn't go back that far, but I was typing my college papers on typewriters. It would take ALL night (especially for procrastinators like me). If you didn't catch your screw ups while the paper was still in the machine, you were in trouble.