Hello, and thanks for the welcome words!  It's good to be back.  To answer David's question, I write Anniversary and dabble in the 1916 Manual.  Lately I have been reading Gregg's "Basic Principles" to try to get inside the mind of the man who developed the system.  I also found Anderson's "History of Shorthand" which I hope to find time to peruse.

I have an idea to do some vocab comparison between the 1916 and 1930 dictionaries, just to study the abbreviating principle a bit more.  It seems that it is this principle especially that keeps the intellect actively engaged when reading and writing shorthand, as an abbreviated form 'points you in the right direction' but the intellect and memory must select the right word by relying on the context.  After all, the word "intellect" is from the Latin, "intellegere" which can mean, at its root, to choose from among several different things. (inter+legere).

After Gregg's death and the demand for shorthand became so widespread, it seems that there was pressure on the publishers to move towards more explicitly spelled forms and away from a vigorous use of the abbreviating principle, as the later systems scaled back (but did not eliminate) the use of this.  It's hard to say if it was the growth of machine stenography that caused this, or the growth of shorthand use in the everyday business environment and less in the courtroom.  Maybe it was caused a little by all these changes.

Either way, abbreviation is at the heart of every shorthand system, especially our beloved Gregg, and it's in the art of abbreviation that the creativity of J.R. Gregg really shone.  So, in a way, I'm hoping to get back to basics and study more about the principles that the system needs to employ to the degree that it is used for greater speed in writing.