The HIstory of Shorthand

With all the texting, recording, and abbreviations, who uses shorthand? BBC essay on why this is still used e.g. by reporters.

Shorthand was invented by Cicero....

The first fully formulated shorthand system, it's widely agreed, started in 63BC when the philosopher and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero wanted a reliable way to cover debates in Rome's Senate. Marcus Tullius Tiro, a learned freeman living in Cicero's house, obliged, inventing what became known as Tironian Notes.

I learned to type in high school, since back then, women didn't have many jobs open to them, but you could always get a job if you could type. But I didn't learn shorthand, which was harder. And our school taught Gregg, not the Pittman version discused in the article.

I did learn to use my own form of speedwriting, or I would take good notes, by summarizing what I heard. The problem, of course, is that in journalism sometimes you get things wrong.

For my office, I had a dictaphone which allowed you to slow down or stop as you typed.

The BBC article pushes the new version of shorthand called Teeline.

and this webpage has lots of Pittman shorthand links.