ANCIENT TIMESThe ancient Egyptians devised symbols mainly used for monuments. Ancient Greeks were developing shorthand methods in the first century BC. An historian, Xenophon, wrote the memoirs of Socrates using his own system. Marcus Tullius Tiro, a freed slave of Cicero, used an abbreviated longhand to record speeches in the Roman Senate. His method was used until the middle ages when the symbols became associated with witchcraft and shorthand went into decline.From the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries numerous shorthand systems appeared, disappeared and reappeared. Recognized today as the most significant contributors to the development of the English shorthand systems are Isaac Pitman (1837) and John Robert Gregg (1888).PITMAN vs. GREGG SHORTHANDSir Isaac Pitman's shorthand system has been used all over the English-speaking world and adapted to many other languages. His is a phonetic system where the symbols do not represent letters but rather sounds and words. Pitman used line thickness and position to discriminate between two similar sounds. Vowel signs were indicated by dots and dashes, both light and heavy.At one time the Pitman method was the most commonly used shorthand system. It was taught in high schools and remained popular in the United States for many decades. Educational institutions throughout Europe and Great Britain presently teach Pitman shorthand.John Robert Gregg's shorthand system surpassed Pitman's in popularity and became the most common form of pen stenography in the United States. Also phonetic, it uses only thin strokes and discriminates between similar sounds by the length of the stroke. Gregg's system is primarily used in the United States and has been adapted to some other languages. Taught in high schools, Gregg shorthand became the system widely used by American court reporters, journalists and secretaries.Speed competitions ensued and both systems were matched for speed. Gregg became and remained the most popular shorthand system in the U.S., while the rest of the English-speaking world used Pitman's system.However, the real winner emerged in 1914 when a newfangled stenotype machine was developed.Follow our next blog: THE BIRTH OF THE STENOTYPE MACHINE.
