The Gregg Group was founded 22 May 2004, prompted by the lack of online shorthand resources. As the primary use for shorthand — business and legal recording — has waned in recent decades, we generally acclaim the skill as a hobby or personal tool. The purpose of the group is to promote the use of Gregg systems of shorthand by providing advice to beginners, support for students, and an association of users of this efficient, attractive, and enjoyable method of writing.
So Im still not sure on which system I should learn myself and since Im a lefty, I thought I might ask around before getting started, so which system is best for lefties?
(by ichnusa6 for everyone)
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I would say that all the systems of Gregg can be written with the left hand equally well. If you're deciding between Gregg and Pitman, maybe the varying pen pressure would make Pitman a little more cumbersome, since you are pushing the pen, rather than pulling it.
I have to agree with John, with respect to Pitman vs Gregg. If a leftie can write longhand fast, he can certainly write Gregg shorthand fast as well. Achieving shorthand speed is mostly a mental exercise — if the outline is not in your brain, there is no way you will be able to write it fast. There is an article in the Gregg Writer (The Left and Right of It, by Charles Lee Swem, October 1945) which debunks the myth that you cannot achieve high speeds if you are left handed. Not only that, from the specimens that were presented, you cannot tell which reporter is left or right handed. The placement of the steno pad may be different: In the article, Charles Lee Swem describes a leftie's writing position this way: "He places his book on the table before him in the same position as does a right-hander, curls his arm around in a sort of a loop, until his hand touches the paper, and then proceeds down the page, wrist up and fingers relaxed, with the same ease and speed as you or I." Take a look at the samples below from the three different reporters. Can you tell which one is the leftie?
Attachment: sample-1.jpg
thanks for the replies, well I have to be honest I cant tell which one is left.
Hmmm…thought the first reply would've linked this: http://www.werelight.com/shorthand/ This is a site of a lefty Gregg writer. He took a Gregg manual, scanned in tons of pages, and then flipped all the shorthand around. So he writes in Gregg backwards from right to left à la Da Vinci's famous mirrored journals. If you dislike the common left handed way of writing, you might try this and like it. (You could go off the samples on his site, or scan your own book in and do whatever version you wanted) But if not, it seems from the other posts that you shouldn't have any issues. Just my thoughts. If I'd have to guess, Chuck, I'd say the third is the left handed. The actual flow and curves don't look different to me (maybe a weee bit sloppier, but that's probably the stenographer, not the left handedness). I'm just going off where the blotches are on the outlines. ./[tyler]
wtf are those large loopy words in the third?
It's the reporter's mark for "Applause" (a-p and a loop around). They were taking a speech.
You are correct.
Applause, cool.
"There is an article in the Gregg Writer (The Left and Right of It, by Charles Lee Swem, October 1945) which debunks the myth that you cannot achieve high speeds if you are left handed."
Is this article available online to read? If someone has a link, could you post it?
Thanks.
Mcbud, if it works out, it'd be nice to read the article.
My scanner is acting up, but I will try to scan the article for posting.