Current Shorthand
Encyclopedia
Current Shorthand was developed beginning in 1884 and published in 1892 by Dr. Henry Sweet. It shares some similarities with the Gregg
system, with which Current is contemporary. It uses more ink than classical systems, and whether or not it is fit like them for sustained verbatim reporting has never been established.
system which could replace longhand in most situations.
For this reason Sweet proceeded to develop a shorthand which is a pure script which is easily written with any slant comfortable yet does not sacrifice legibility; spelling becomes a non-issue because the orthography, like Gregg shorthand, is based on the sounds of the language; unlike Gregg shorthand, the script may be adapted to any language ; vowels are attached to the consonants and can, therefore, be omitted; the script is linear, like longhand, and can be easily adapted for use in printing.
wrote that the system's fatal flaw was Sweet's indifference to business and the well established infrastructure of Pitman shorthand.
Gregg Shorthand
Gregg shorthand is a form of stenography that was invented by John Robert Gregg in 1888. Like cursive longhand, it is completely based on elliptical figures and lines that bisect them. Gregg shorthand is the most popular form of pen stenography in the United States and its Spanish adaptation is...
system, with which Current is contemporary. It uses more ink than classical systems, and whether or not it is fit like them for sustained verbatim reporting has never been established.
History and Attributes
Sweet wished to produce a shorthandShorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
system which could replace longhand in most situations.
For this reason Sweet proceeded to develop a shorthand which is a pure script which is easily written with any slant comfortable yet does not sacrifice legibility; spelling becomes a non-issue because the orthography, like Gregg shorthand, is based on the sounds of the language; unlike Gregg shorthand, the script may be adapted to any language ; vowels are attached to the consonants and can, therefore, be omitted; the script is linear, like longhand, and can be easily adapted for use in printing.
Reception
There is little evidence that Current Shorthand was publicly successful. George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
wrote that the system's fatal flaw was Sweet's indifference to business and the well established infrastructure of Pitman shorthand.