Simplified vs. Diamond Jubilee?

I’ve been learning Simplified for a few weeks now, and’ve just come across its various suffixes/prefixes. I had a hard enough time before learning to distinguish words like fate/fat, nuke/nook, even in context (since I enjoy reading/writing experimental works), but I got the hang of it. Now I’m experiencing that same frustration with knowing when the -esh ending is actually -esh or -ation or -ition. It also comes across to me as a further removal of precision for the sake of speed, when I’m a hobbyist and not a court reporter. If I see something like a-m-b-e-sh (instead of a-m-b-e-sh-n), I see “ambush” and will sooner get confused by such a random word than see its context and understand. And the detached -ed to make words like “shipped” into “sh d” totally blows my mind =P

Anyway, I remember reading that Diamond Jubilee expanded some brief forms, removed the disconnected past tense -ed, and started writing out more of the abbreviated prefixes/suffixes, creating a much lower memory load while still maintaining efficiency. What are some more of the key differences between these two styles? Google produces disappointingly few relevant results, and shorthand resources online seem sparse in general.

Would Diamond Jubilee be more suited for casual journaling and note-taking where later legibility is more important than having a break-neck speed?

Thanks 🙂

(by erik for everyone)


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13 comments Add yours
  1. As far as I have worked with both systems, I find that Simplified is far better than Diamond Jubilee. Any difficulty that you have determining brief forms and word endings should dissipate with simple practice. Like I wrote in the Wikipedia article, "please" is written "pl" in Simplified, while it is written "plez" in DJ. The -tion ending is present in Diamond Jubilee as well as "sh". Just learn and practice. It will become clearer over time. 🙂

  2. Thanks so much for the information guys 🙂 Since I'm remarkably broke, I'll have to see what information the library has on the other systems of shorthand. That E problem was one of the main things, and the solution psetus recommended does help a lot.

    Are there any online resources for DJ (I know of werelight, but that seems to be Simplified)?

    Thanks again 🙂

  3. Ha ha, man, Paul.  I didn't know you were so … affectionate toward old books.  I am surprised to hear that original Gregg had extra markings to distinguish vowel sounds.  I was under the impression that extras were added as versions progressed, not taken away.   MEASBGTY

  4. Thank you, psetus for a very thorough explanation on my shorthand class!  Teehee!   I am teaching a correspondence course for the Diamond Jubilee Series but this particular course offers each student comparison charts on all 6 versions of gregg shorthand.  The students, WHILE learning the DJS, decide at that time which shortcuts they choose to use with their DJS writing.    And, anytime they correspond with someone who hasn't been exposed to all 6 versions, it would be a simple task to copy the comparison charts for their friends.    This way, the students MASTER DJS, but use the most sensible shortcuts from all of the shortcut versions, thereby increasing their speed to the highest expectations.  The comparison charts are given for "brief forms", "abbreviations", "word endings", "word beginnings" and special phrasing and "short vocabulary words".      Some of the "Pilot Team" students from my course are active on this MSN shorthand website often and I encourage you to speak with any of them.  Most everyone is just learning shorthand.   We all have the same goal for this class…  Once the course is tested and revised as a correspondence course, it will be an online classroom.  How exciting it will be!  I appreciate your personal comments and am glad I'm not the only long winded person on this website.  Teehee!    I also hope you will agree to enroll in this "special" shorthand class once it is ready for online participation.   Again, psetus, thank you.  Please write me if you will.  I, too, am listed on the penpal screen.  Bye.  Ms. Letha  🙂  

  5. Here are some differences between Simplified Gregg and DJ. In DJ:

    1. the following brief forms are gone: more, ship, desire, market, end, let, belief, believe, keep, usual, weak, consider, consideration, presence, nevertheless, agent, enable, unable, then, long, automobile, bound, body, instant, number, deliver, bill, among, necessary, current, confidence, confident, desire, list, cover, all, house, go, letter, might, any, allow, enough, he, like, future, direct, always, likewise, office, inspect, doctor, please, return, week, want, request, did, date, wonder, property, stand, reference, refer, side, remember, remain, remainder, write, remit, remittance, more, most, been, body, circle, conclude, conclusion, correct, deliver, else, et cetera, got, individual, instance, instant, otherwise, purchase, return, right.
    2. the following brief forms were modified: work, otherwise, publish, publication, gentlemen, suggest, government, short, circular, object, experience, advertise, experience, object, regard, request, satisfactory (satisfy).
    3. the following brief forms were added: every, gentlemen, manufacture, responsible.
    4. the following word beginnings are spelled out: pro-, after- (as aft-), ship-, short- (as sht-), incl-, supr-.
    5. the following word endings are spelled out: -less, -pose, -position, -ify, -field, -port, -cate, -gate, -use.
    6. the joining between the o hook and -r and -l is such as to retain the vertical position of the o.
    7. the pnt/jnt blend is gone.
    8. the -t in words such as “act”, or the -est in words such as “largest” is spelled out.
    9. the past tenses are always joined.
    10. the -ou sound in words such as “round” and “down” is spelled out.
    11. the is (was) not phrases are written separately, as the blended phrase is reserved for isn’t/wasn’t.
    12. phrases with “understand” are written in full.
    13. “I had”, “to him”, “to our” are written separately.
    14. “as soon as” retains the first a.
    15. “April”, “June”, and “July” are written in full, while the o-hook was added to “November” to match the longhand abbreviation.
    16. tive/tif blend is gone.
    17. the final -d is always written.
    18. the ending -er/-or is always joined.
    19. the ses blend in “itself” and “oneself” was replaced by a single s.
    20. the prefix post- is now placed above the line.

    I hope this helps.

  6. Wow! First of all…I just don't see how life could ever be the same if I didn't have the brief forms then, long, all, go, he, work, and write…actually I don't know if life would be worth living…actually…lol…no…I'm only serious.   I never had a second of all…I just thought it'd be cute to say…am I cute?! Well?!?!?!? AM I?!?!? ./[tyler]   Nice list by the way…vawwwwwwie infauwmative!

  7. Thanks forthe list, Chuck. Imust admit that when Iwas first learning Simplified, Iwas angry that some ofthose listed "shortcuts" seemed counterintuitive. Iguess the big wigs hadthe same feeling and updated Simplified into DJS. Nowthat I've learned the shortcuts, Iagree with Paul. Theyare near and dear tome (although, maybe not QUITE as dear astheyaretohim).

  8. Funny, because that is the same way I feel about the lack of some brief forms from Anniversary in Simplified Gregg!  LOL.  Once you memorize an outline, it sticks with you.  I even complain about the lack of some of the prefixing shortcuts from Pre-Anniversary!!  For example, the prefixes patr-, petr-, austr- (ostr-), are gone in Anniversary: it used to be that to write the word "patriot", you would write "pa" over the line and "ot" under it.  In Anniversary, you write "ptrot".  "Australia" was written "os" over the line and "lia" under it.  Now, it is spelled out.  The word "literal" used to be "li" over the line and an "l" underneath.  All of those are gone in Anniversary.  So each version evolves, sometimes for the better, sometimes not.  That's when you rely on learning other shortcuts.

  9. Interesting.  Maybe this shortcutphilia is the result of the fact that, after we are so proud of ourselves for memorizing it, a brief form's discard makes us feel asthough the effort made to learn it was in vain;  rather than it actually being so great a contribution to speed.  I must admit to the group that I am dangerously attached to the Simplified brief form for write.  I do not know why…I cannot control it.  I pine for it in the waking hours.  Just kidding!   (…but I really do)

  10. I'll try to ignore John's heady fascination with brief forms, though their pull is admittedly quite overpowering, like a fine musk.    Erik: I can commiserate with you, especially since I'm essentially at the same point in my Simplified study as are you. Just remember that the forms, as you keep reading and writing the practices passages, become second-nature. My initial inability, as you pointed out, to differentiate between a simple 'sh' and 'tion' or 'sion' was overcome with practice. Hang in there. As for the comment about reading back passages one wrote using heavily abbreviated Gregg, it seems as though anyone who's truly mastered the script rarely, if ever, has trouble transcribing their Gregg notes. I just made a breakthrough yesterday with writing when I saw even my quicker strokes beginning to resemble the marks in the book, and the facility with which I'm being able to read back my own writing is surprising.   P.S. You'll really freak when you see the stroke for '-did', '-'ded' and 'men' 'nem' etc.  : )

  11. LOLOLOL!! Oh my gosh John! I'm absolutly cracking up! That resonates so strongly with me…I don't know what it is, but Simplified's "write" is just so…just one of those things! lol.   About your "above the line"s Chuck…you always hear it mentioned that one of the great things about Gregg is that it doesn't need lined paper…but you mention preAnn strokes written above the line and below…do you just mean written on top of each other? Like Austrilia as " 'os' over the line and 'lia' under it" would be written:         _|         / (_____(o)   Maybe not beautiful, but it's the best ascii art I could throw together. Tell me if I'm wrong. By the way…it seems as though there's only been cutting and slicing from version to version…but has there been any additions to any version that previous versions lacked? I think Chuck mentioned the RD and LD in Simplified as new additions at the time…but I'm not certain. ./[psetus]

  12. Yes, that is exactly the way it looks. (When I get my new tablet, I'll be able to post the actual strokes, :-)). There have been some additions to the system, but they seemed to have stopped after Simplified. After Simplified, what you have is more words being spelled out. I can think of some things that were added:
     
    1. the -rd blend in simplified (the -ld has been there from the beginning).
    2. the -x stroke.  In the original version, the -x was represented by the s comma.  Later on, it change to the slanted s comma (all done way before Anniversary though).
    3. in the 1916 version, the dot over k to indicate the fricative -ch sound (such as Loch).
    4. the use of a small ligature to join vowel sounds that are difficult to join. For example, the word "yahoo" is written "ya"-"hoo", with a small curvy character (resembling a small flat u) joining both strokes under it.
    5. the joinings between vowels and consonants were standardized starting in the 1902 edition, and so did the penmanship aspects. If you see the original Gregg writing (in the 1890's edition), it didn't look smooth at all — it was too wiggly. The joinings of the "s" were odd, let alone the hooks! The alphabet itself has remained the same — I think Dr. G thought about that well since the start.

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