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gregg-notehand.md

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+---
+id:
+aliases: []
+title: _Gregg Notehand_
+tags:
+  - authorship/original
+  - destiny/permanent
+  - status/incomplete
+  - topic/shorthand
+  - type/media-commentary
+---
+# _Gregg Notehand_
+
+Gregg Notehand is a simplified form of Gregg Shorthand.
+It is described in the namesake [[Leslie_1968_Gregg-Notehand]]
+
+This note is a description and critique
+of both the book and the shorthand,
+since the latter is fully described nowhere else.
+
+## Critiques
+
+The lessons use sounds-like-(letter)-in-(word) type phoneme definitions,
+and generally suffer from a facile understanding of phonology.
+Totally unacceptable for a proposed alternative alphabet,
+but then the text does not understand that's what it's proposing.
+
+> [[Leslie_1968_Gregg-Notehand#2-8. Notehand principles]]
+> **Silent letters omitted.**
+> In the English language many words contain letters that are not pronounced.
+> In Notehand these silent letters are omitted,
+> and only those sounds in a word are written that are actually pronounced.
+> For example,
+> in the word say, the y would not be written because it is not pronounced;
+> say would be written s-a.
+> The word face would be written f-a-s;
+> the final e would be omitted because it is not pronounced,
+> and the c would be represented by the s stroke because it is pronounced s.
+>
+> What letters in the following words would not be written in Notehand
+> because they are not pronounced?
+>
+> * day
+> * eat
+> * main
+> * mean
+> * save
+> * steam
+
+***
+
+> [[Leslie_1968_Gregg-Notehand#2-8. Notehand principles]]
+> Gregg Notehand is easy to learn---easier, actually, than longhand. Why?
+> In longhand, there are many different ways of writing a given letter;
+> in Gregg Notehand, there is only one way.
+
+This is a baffling first paragraph.
+Without further clarification,
+the text seems to be implying that students learning longhand
+are expected to learn to read and write
+many forms of the same letter,
+where reality is the opposite.
+
+In fact, it is plain to see from the lessons in the text
+that Gregg Notehand had far more individual character variation
+than is accepted of the English alphabet.
+
+The text does not specify winding direction for circular forms
+(e.g. "a" and "e"),
+nor is the illustrator consistent between words.
+For many words, neither option is more intuitive,
+and the choice _radically_ changes its form.
+
+More damningly, in Lesson 26 we learn
+the "s" stroke _is allowed to be written backwards._
+
+It's a very strange choice,
+claiming that a shorthand is less ambiguous
+than the writing system it replaces.
+I'm sure its possible,
+but English doesn't have enough frills to cut off.
+Shorthand trades certainty for speed,
+that's the whole point.
+
+***
+
+Some words, especially those more than one syllable,
+I believe are illustrated incorrectly
+based on preceding text and examples.
+"Navy" is particularly egregious.