Change can be good

In Steno Wizard's journey to realtime perfection (is there such a thing?), it has become necessary to change some of the very basic steno briefs which were taught in theory class.

Here's some to ponder over.

WORD, the original steno theory brief, and the necessary modification
bottom,  PWOPL (bomb - duh!), PWOPLT

natural,  TPHARL, TPHAURL
(gnarl - actually had gnarly come up in depo, of course ended up with naturally)

jurisdiction, SKWRURD (conflict with injured), SKWRURGS

substance, STAPBS (stance), STAUPBS

today,  TOD (stacking error with "-ed to" CONSTANTLY) ,  TKAE

counsel,  KOUPB, KOUPBS
(when I wanted count, I'd get counsel due to weak pinkie - GRRR)

bases,  PWAEUSZ (same as basis),  PWAESZ

much,  -FP  (also the -ch ending),  PHUFP
(still use "very much" SR-EFP and "too much" TAOFP)

New York, TPHORBG (problem with no comma), TPHOERBG
New York City, TPHORBGS (same), TPHOERBGS

Maybe these ideas will spare you some of the headaches that Steno Wizard has experienced.

More favorite briefs

Here's some lovely briefs to share...

exposure SKPOER
composure KPOER
closure KHROER
foreclosure TPROER
disclosure STKHROER
guideline TKPWHRAOEUPB
shareholder SHAEURLD
portfolio POEUFL
credit union KROEUPB
proprietary PRAERT
entrepreneur TPHERP

Scent, sent, cent solutions

This set of conflicts is a troublesome triple when it comes to realtime writing. Steno Wizard's solution is through the use of spelling visualization for resolution.

Sent is easy enough. Just stroke it the way you normally would SEPBT. Scent is resolved by incorporating the initial side C - KR- into the stroke. Steno Wizard learned the word extent as SKEPBT and likes it too much to toss aside, so scent is written SKREPBT. Cent is then resolved by just using the C - KR- as the beginning of the word, KREPBT.

If you have your prefix De- resolved and defined (which Steno Wizard writes TKAOE -- long E ALWAYS), you will also have resolutions for decent and descent. What more can a realtime reporter ask for! Dissent -- not a problem if you've got that dis- suffix resolved (TKEUS) or just write dissent in one stroke STKEPBT or even STKEUPBT if you must.

Simple fix

Steno theory taught Steno Wizard to stroke the word "support" as SPORT, which it is obvious right away what the problem will be as a realtime reporter.

The asterisk key wasn't helping to differentiate because when testimony gets going fast, that's the first thing out the window!

So...the simple fix for this is "support" is now written SPOERT, carrying through to all of its various derivatives, and this theory problem is s-o-l-v-e-d.

Timesaver: compound adjectives with -to-

Steno Wizard hopes we all have ways to write to, too, and two conflict-free and would like to share another tip that is sure to save you editing time.

Define TO* as (delete space)-to-(delete space). This "to" comes in handy in many situations. Imagine the hyphens as arms. The asterisk is the two hands coming together to 'hug' the words together.

Start incorporating it and pretty soon it will become second nature.

Here's some examples of situations you may come across:

Honest-to-goodness savings
Back-to-basics situation
Easy-to-apply cream
head-to-toe exam
back-to-school sale
down-to-earth person
right-to-life organizer
soup-to-nuts inventory
up-to-date news
face-to-face meeting
person-to-person communication
top-to-bottom search

There's probably many more out there.

Update:  Just heard this one on television:  need-to-know basis.  Bada-bing!

Beyond a reasonable doubt and yard

Theory had us stroking KWRARD as beyond a reasonable doubt -- which is the same as yard. Then realtime seminars were suggesting the asterisk being inserted into the brief phrase.

While paging through a school's theory book, Steno Wizard spied an even better solution. Beyond a reasonable doubt can be written KWRORD. Conflict easily resolved!

Resolving balance, ball, bawl

Steno Wizard learned the brief for "balance" as PWAL - ball - back in court reporting school. Obviously, that brief automatically creates a conflict and so it goes that it must be resolved for realtime writing.

A suggestion is to change the way to brief the word "balance" to PWALS. Pretty easy to implement. Balances is written PWALSZ, and balanced as PWALSD (if you're familiar with the Philadelphia shift) or two strokes PWALS/-D. Balanced is entered both ways in Steno Wizard's main dictionary (or steno database as a wiser realtimer once suggested calling a steno dictionary).

Changing the brief for balance enables us to now use PWAL exclusively as ball, and now bawl can be stroked as PWAUL. Multiple conflicts fixed!

Needing some direction?

Steno Wizard has easy-to-write solutions for all those pesky directional words to share. Try these!


S*B - southbound
TPH*B – northbound
E*B – eastbound
W*B – westbound
North – TPHORGT
Northeast - TPHAOEFT
Northwest - TPHERS
Northern - TPHOERPB
Northeastern - TPHAOERPB
Northwestern - TPHERPB
South – SOUGT
Southeast – SAOEFT
Southwest - SWEFT or SWES
Southern - SOERPB
Southeastern - SAOERPB
Southwestern – SWERPB
East - AOEFT
Eastern - AOERPB
West - WES
Western - WERPB

Sharing a way to get those middle initials!

An easy way to define and write the middle initials in people's names is by using the flag alphabet -FPLT and dragging the final side -R key under the -F key in. Steno Wizard likes to think of the "R" in the word peRiod as being fairly prominent, and so it's easy to remember and incorporate in everyday writing.

All 26 letters, of course, should be defined with the period and the space that follows. You may want to also include the command to capitalize the next word in the definition. What a potential timesaver!

So it's A-FRPLT as A.
PW-FRPLT as B.
KR-FRPLT as C.
etc.

Enjoy.

Here's an easy one...January

Just a quick suggestion to pass along today. How many of us learned to write January SKWRAPB -- in other words, the same as the name Jan?


An attorney once commented to Steno Wizard that he was receiving rough drafts from all over the country and could figure out that every time the name Jan came up (his client's first name), reporters were writing January -- except for Steno Wizard's rough. Why is that? No need to go into that explanation because we reporters already understand the issue.


Anyway, Steno Wizard is prepared to share how that little problem is fixed with one simple move. January is now written as SKWRARPB.

The eyes/ize have it!

One of the first changes suggested in a Realtime 101 seminar that the Steno Wizard attended way back is changing the keystroke for the word "eyes" to differentiate it from the suffix "ize." Steno Wizard recommends you to do the same.

How else can one write "eyes"? By incorporating the Y as the predominant leader in the keystroke. Steno Wizard now writes "eyes" as KWRAOEUZ. That then frees up AOEUZ for the -ize ending.

For consistency, you'll want to also write the singular "eye" as KWRAOEU. In your dictionary, make sure you define your new ways to write eyeball, eyeballs, eyeballed, eyed, eyewitness, eyewitnesses, blackeye, black-eyed, and blackeyes, so that you'll have perfect translation in the future!

Compound Words

There are some words that can be used by themselves or as a prefix or as a suffix. What's a realtime reporter to do?


These words create word boundary issues for many, for example, overtime or over time, and then you have turnover and turn over.


Steno Wizard's first foray into realtime writing involved trying to conquer this issue by using the J-/Y- solution, and, boy, what a wonderful way to begin!

Steno Wizard adds the initial J- to the prefix words (because J is at the beginning of the alphabet). Then the initial Y- is used for the suffix words. Why? Because Y- is at the end of the alphabet. Whew, that's easy!

So all one must do is write JOEFR for the prefix over- and YOEFR for the suffix -over.

There's a ton of possibilities here.

Here's some words to begin.

After~ JAFR
~after YAFR
ever~ JEFR
~ever YEFR
out~ JOUT
~out YOUT
up~ YUP
~up JUP
under~ JUND
~under YUND


Steno Wizard does not use this methodology for the words "on" and "off" due to a phrasing fanaticism, so Steno Wizard uses the asterisk key for those two particular words for the prefix and adds the H- key for the suffix. Make sure you go ahead and have the proper name Hoffman defined in your dictionary and you're good to go. Enjoy!