Steno comics from the early 20th century.

I never liked history when I was a kid. But, I was lucky enough to have one of those teachers in high school who knew how to light the fire of interest in one subject or another. For me, that teacher was Mr. Wise. My love for history can be traced directly to his American History class.

So it will come as no surprise that I enjoy browsing websites such as the Library of Congress: Chronicling America - Historic American Newspapers. Yeah, I'm a history geek.

I was searching for old articles about stenography and came upon these comics. Unlike the comics we see today, these aren't funny. They're dated, they're sexist; and, frankly, they are kinda weird.

We've come a long way, baby! (Click comic to enlarge)

Eddie's Friends published in the El Paso Herald, May 29, 1920.


Sally Snooks from the Los Angeles Sunday Herald, Sept 8, 1907.

Sally Snooks from the Los Angeles Herald, Sept 15, 1907.

The metronome and speedbuilding

Tonight's speed test was a total disaster. The instructor started dictating; and, on about the fourth word, I started plunking down mistake after mistake after mistake. I tried to get back on track. Nothing worked. I'm sure that I stopped breathing. I paused briefly and tried to gain my composure. I finally resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to pass this speed test. OK, that's nothing new. This happens more often than I'd like to admit.

So, here I sit with about four minutes of dictation left in the test. What shall I do? I'm relaxed because I am no longer stressed and have no expectation of passing. I can pretty much do what I want. So I started stroking out the outlines as if a metronome was beating in my head. After about ten seconds of rhythmically pressing the keys, I was keeping up with the speaker ~and I was typing the correct outlines!

I had a true "ah-ha" moment. I have practiced to a metronome before, but I haven't done it in a long time. Perhaps this is my key to speedbuilding. I know it gave me a confidence boost tonight. I was rather proud that I was able to easily keep up with the speaker.

Yeah, I didn't pass tonight's test, but that's OK. I learned a little something about building confidence by using a metronome. I'm going to practice this technique; and, hopefully, my speed will increase along with my confidence.

Speedbuilding tip - Know your shorthand system.

It's been a while since I've posted a tip from the book 61+ Ways to Write Faster. This tip is about how important it is to know your shorthand theory.

Your shorthand system is very important. It is to shorthand writing what a foundation is to a building. Shorter shorthand systems (less strokes and more
abbreviations) tend to be faster systems. While this principle is disputed by
some, so was the principle that the world was round. Both postulates have proven
themselves with time and advanced knowledge.

Whatever your system, don't even think about changing it during a test. While there are some "pros" who have great facility at this skill, for most it will result in hesitation, mental confusion and more errors. "Briefs" on the run usually result in "drops", "mangled outlines" and "chaos" during transcription.

Boy, do I know that feeling! It seems like I'm always "briefing" words during a test. And I don't think there's ever been a time when I've been able to decipher those briefs when I'm transcribing my tape.

Book: How To Become An Expert Court Reporter

I find the Bing commercial where people are blurting out a bunch of random words to illustrate how other search engines perform amusing. In a sense, it’s true. On the other hand, you can discover little gems of information by doing a search and clicking on links that you think might prove interesting.

Here is a little gem that I found through a random search. It's a book titled, How To Become An Expert Court Reporter by Robert F. Rose published in 1917.

Of course, I haven’t had time to read the entire book, but I plan to work my way through it eventually. I find these old books fascinating.

How To Become An Expert Court Reporter

Occupational outlook for court reporters

I found an article from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that is very enlightening for those of us planning to become court reporters.

According to the article, the need for court reporters should increase by 18%, which is above average for all other occupations between the years 2008-2018. This projection is due to the continued need for accurate transcriptions of court proceedings and the increased need for closed-captioning for live television and other real-time broadcast captioning and translation services for the deaf and hard of hearing.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the article, you will find a paragraph relating to wages.

I think our prospects look good!

Read the full article here:

Occupational Outlook for Court Reporters

Steno practice aids added to blog!

Time to get organized. I've gathered together some of my favorite steno study aids and posted them in an easy to find box in the right-hand column of my blog.

My favorites are the flashcards. I had every intention of making my own flashcards, but by the time I had a chance to sit down and do them, Nev over at The Court Reporter's Oatmeal and Tailypo who posts on the Depoman.com forum beat me to it. Bless their fuzzy little hearts! They did a wonderful job and saved me a bunch of time!

I've also added John Decaro's podcasts and the Magic Drills from Court Reporting Help.com.

More will be added so stay tuned

10 things court reporters hate to hear

I found this amusing item in this month's JCR magazine where court reporters send in their hilarious transcripts and the funny things that they hear.

10 THINGS COURT REPORTERS HATE TO HEAR:

10. "Let me know if that bothers you."

9. "My reporter gives me that for free."

8. "You knew this was going to be an overnight expedite, right?"

7. "How soon can I have this without being charged for an expedite?"

6. "Doctor, what schools did you attend in Pakistan?"

5. "Didn't our office call to cancel?"

4. "You don't mind working through lunch, do you?"

3. "We can put the exhibit labels on later."

2. "We're going to try to do this without an interpreter."

And, finally, number 1. "I HAVE JUST ONE MORE QUESTION"!

Yes, I knew you would enjoy those tidbits.

Your theory is your friend

I have been extensively reviewing my theory over the past few weeks. I am currently working through Chapter 27 of my StenEd Theory book. This particular chapter is about words beginning with IN-, INT- and ENT-.

In my haste to build my speed, I had forgotten about the wonderful stroke "SPWER" for words beginning with inter- and enter- and "SPW" for words beginning with int- and ent-.

Unfortunately, I've acquired the habit of using three strokes for words such as entertain, intersection, interview and intoxicate.

For giggles, let's compare the number of strokes I can save by using my theory correctly on a sentence using the words above.

"The intoxicated entertainer was standing at the intersection being interviewed by a reporter." (A great practice sentence, BTW)

Before my theory review ~ 26 strokes

T IN/TOX/KAIT/D EN/TER/TAIN/ER WUZ STAND/G AT T IN/TER/SE*BGS PW-G IN/TER/SRAOU/D PWEU A RORT/ER

After my theory review ~ 22 strokes

T SPWOX/KAIT/D SPWER/TAIN/ER WUZ STAND/G AT T SPWER/SE*BGS PW-G SPWER/SRAOU/D PWEU A RORT/ER

No wonder I'm having trouble keeping up with the speaker. Those extra strokes are slowing me down and causing me to get farther and farther behind the speaker.

Trust me, it pays to learn your theory and use it to your full advantage!