A favorite set

Once Steno Wizard learned one, this family of briefs began to grow...

Calculate KLAEUT
Calculates KLAEUTS
Calculation KLAEUGS

Speculate SPLAEUT
Speculates SPLAEUTS
Speculation SPLAEUGS

Contemplate KPLAEUT
Contemplates KPLAEUTS
Contemplation KPLAEUGS
Contempt KEPLT

Extrapolate SKPLAEUT
Extrapolates SKPLAEUTS
Extrapolation SKPLAEUGS

Visual Memory Tricks - IMAGINATION!

Steno Wizard loves to use visual memory cues to resolve conflicts.  Here's one for sewn/sown.

Here's another:

And yet another:

Less can be more

Sometimes it's good to be a little lazy at the steno machine.  Why write something in two or more strokes when one and done is always better.  Here are some of the shortcuts Steno Wizard has been embracing with success.  Remember, speed is an essential component to successful realtime.

Dropping the -D when possible can be a timesaver on the -ing endings.  Look at these.

Depending DPENG
Sending SENG
Handing HANG  (Hang is HAEUNG)
Demanding DMANG
Commanding KMANG
Rounding ROUNG
Standing STANG
Pending PENG
Binding BAOEUNG
Compounding KPOUNG
Defending DWENG
Spending SPENG
Responding SPONG
Expanding SKPANG

Dropping the -BG when possible also is an excellent timesaver on -ing endings.  Check these out.

Walking WAUG
Talking TAUG
Stalking STAUG
Taking TAEUG
Making MAEUG
Checking KHEG
Looking LAOG
Working WORG
Parking PARG
Smoking SMOEG
Thinking THEUG
Striking STRAOEUG
Speaking SPAOEG

Here's another.  Dropping the -T and going straight for the -G.

Meeting MAOEG
Writing WRAOEUG

We're going places!

Here's some briefs Steno Wizard has been using for common places around the country and the world. 
 

Afghanistan AFG

Alabama PWAPL

Alaska LAFK

Albuquerque PWHRURBG or PWHRERBG

Annapolis AEPS

Ashland ARBLD

Atlanta THRAPBT

Atlantic THRAPBGT

Austin AUFPB

Baton Rouge BRAOUPBLG

Beaumont BOEMT

Bellefontaine PWEFLT

Birmingham PWHAPL

Bluefield BLAOUFLD

Boston BOFN

Brazil PWRAEUFL

Brussels BRUFLZ

Buffalo BUFL

Cambridge KPWREUPBLG

Charlotte SHARLT

Chicago SHEUG or KHEUG

China KHAOEUPB

Cincinnati STPHAET

Cleveland KLAOEFD

Colombia KLO*EUB

Columbia KLOEUB

Columbus KOELS

Dallas DALS

Dayton DAENT or DAEUNT

Des Moines TKPHOEUPB

Detroit TKROEUT

Duluth TKHRAOUGT

England TKPWHREPBD

Finland FEUPBLD

Florida TPHRA

Freemont FRAOEMT

Gallipolis GAEPS

Garland GARLD

Germany JAERM

Grand Rapids GRAPDZ

Great Britain TKPWRAEUB

Great Lakes TKPWRAEUBGZ

Greece TKPWRAO*ES

Greenwich TKPWREFP

Greenwich Village TKPWREFP/VEULG

Gulf of Mexico TKPWUFPL

High Point HAO*EUPT

Houston HAOUFPB

Huntington HUNGT

Indianapolis NAEPS

Ireland AOEURLD

Jacksonville JAFPL

Joliet JO*ELT

Kansas KANSZ

Korea KRAE

Las Vegas HRAFGS

Los Angeles HRAPBGS

Louisville LAOUFL

Miami PHA*EPL

Milwaukee MAUK

Minneapolis MAEPS

Mobile PHO*EBL

Montgomery MOIG

New Hampshire NAFRP

New Jersey TPHAOUPBLG

New Mexico TPHAOUPL

New Orleans TPHORLS

New York City TPHOERBGS

New York TPHOERBG

Oklahoma City OEUBGS

Oklahoma OEUBG

Pacific PAFBG

Paris PAEURS

Philadelphia TPEUFL

Phoenix TPAOEFPL

Pittsburgh PEURG

Poland PO*ELD

Portland PORLD

Providence PROFDZ

Richmond REUFPLD or REU*FPD

Riverside REUFRDZ

St. Louis ST-LS

St. Paul STPAUL or SPAUL

St. Pete STPAOET or SPAOET

St. Petersburg SP*URG

Salem SLAEM

Salt Lake SHRAEUBG

Salt Lake City SHRAEUBGS

Seattle SAELT or SAELGTS

Seoul SO*UL

Somalia SMAOL

South Carolina SO*UK

South Dakota SO*UD

Springfield SP-FLD

Tallahassee TA*LS

Tampa TAFRP

Texas TEFPLS

Thailand THAOEULD

Toledo TLAOED

Topeka TP*AOEBG

Tucson TAOUFPB

United States KWRAOUTS

Vermont SRERPLT

Vietnam VAO*EMT

Washington WA*UG

Washington, D.C. WA*UGDZ

Wyoming WAOEUPLG

Some fave medical briefs

Sharing some favorite medical briefs today.  Hopefully, you'll be able to use some of these.

anatomy NAEM
anatomic NAEK
blood vessel  BLAOFL
blood pressure BLAOP
temperature T-P
cardio  KAO
vascular VAFK
cardiovascular KAOFK
cardiac KAORK
clinical KLEUPBL
vomit SROPLT
diabetes TKAOEUBTS
shoulder SHOELRD
pulmonary PLAER
headache HAEUBG
female FAEL
male MAEL
failure TPAURL
femur TPAOERM
juvenile SKWRAOUFL
laryngitis LAEURPBGTS
manipulate MEUP
manipulation MEUPGS
tissue TEURB
phlebitis TPHREBTS
paralysis PAEURLSZ
artery AERT
aorta AORT
arteriosclerosis AORSZ
medication MAEUGS
pharmaceutical TPARL
pharmacy TPAERMS
sodium SOEMD
muscle MUFL
p.r.n. PR*N
b.i.d. B*EUD
degenerative disc disease  D*DZ
weakened WAEKD
Children's Hospital KHOPT
OB-GYN OB/TKPWAOEUPB
pregnant PREGT
abdomen A*BD
abdominal A*BL
AIDS A*EUDZ
HIV H*EUF
meningitis MENGTS
infection TPH-FBGS
poison POEUFPB
allergy HR-RG
semen SPHAOEPB
cancer KAERPBS
antibiotic AEB
anti-inflammatory AEFL
fracture FRAKT
reaction RAEBGS
trauma TRAUM
traumatic TRAUMT
esophagus SOFGS
palsy PAELS

Steno Wizard read this today...some food for thought

Charles Dickens, perhaps the most famous court reporter of all time, said learning the ''noble art and mystery of stenography'' plunged him ''into a sea of perplexity.'' More than 150 years after Dickens wrote those words about shorthand in ''David Copperfield,'' the noble and perplexing art remains a lucrative and fulfilling profession…for those who can master the craft.

 

 

Couple of new Jury Charge Briefs

Steno Wizard has been incorporating a couple of new briefs for Jury Charge. 

Remember evidence is EFDZ. 

Expanding upon that, preponderance of the evidence is PREFDZ.

Tampering with evidence is TWEFDZ.

Direct evidence is DREFDZ.

Circumstantial evidence is SEFDZ.

Admission is DMEUGS.

Admitted is DMEUTD.

Admissible is DMEUFBL.

Admonish is DMORB.

Admonition is DMONGS.

Ordered is ORTD.

Credibility is KREBLT.

Believability is BLEFBLT.

Disbelieve is STKBLEFB or STKBLAOEFB.

According is KAORGD.

Jurisdiction is JURGS.

Factors is FARKTS.

Failure is FAURL.

Negligence is NEJS.

Negligent is NEJT.

Members of the jury is MEJ.

Court and jury is KORJ.

Picture, mixture, fixture

A friend of the Steno Wizard mentioned this nifty solution to use for this set of words. 

Picture is PEURBGT
Mixture is PHEURBGT
Fixture is TPEURBGT

This simple method creates a one-stroke fix to what used to be two-strokers.  Lovely!

Troublesome word solution

Steno Wizard has had a couple decades' long hate relationship with the word "reimburse."  It's probably in my steno dictionary (database) 10 different ways.  Finally, the solution came through the middleman elimination principle.  Steno Wizard now writes the word reimburse R-BS.  So simple and easy to write!  Maybe you'll like it too.  Enjoy!

All in the family

Steno Wizard has modified the original steno school theory for all those family relationships due to conflicts.  A family without conflict, is that even possible? 


Originally, Steno Wizard was taught to write father TPAER, mother PHOER, brother PWROER, and court reporting life was going just fine by making the choice 1 or 2 in the CAT software and moving to the next conflict until -- BAM! -- realtime and the conflicts that were out there for everyone to see on the computer screen.


Initially, Steno Wizard liked to write the word borrower the same as the word brother in steno.  Problematic, indeed. 
Then came the realization that the word mower and mother are written the same in steno so, yikes, we have yet ANOTHER problem. 


Next problem -- when trying to resolve fair and fare, what's a realtime reporter to do?  Fair is a word that comes up a multitude of times in the real world.  Fare, not so much, but it's still there.  Trying to resolve the fair/fare debacle also brought to glaring light the issue with the word father if resolving fare by TPAER.  Not going to work. 


Another reporter (happily incorporates lots of ideas from others) mentioned that she writes sister STAUR and brother PWRAUR, and a solution was born.  Steno Wizard includes those and also writes mother PHAUR, father TPAUR.  Bonus:  Daughter is TKAUR.   A consistent theory solution that is working.


Fare is now TPAER and fair is the same ol' way TPAEUR.  Mower is PHOER -- why write it in two strokes when one will do!
Borrower is now and forever more PWROER -- again, why two when one and done is better!


Then add the in-laws and the family (TPAEPL) is complete!


mother-in-law PHAURPBL
father-in-law TPAURPBL
brother-in-law PWRAURPBL
daughter-in-law TKAURPBL
sister-in-law STAURPBL
son-in-law SOPBL


One nice happy family...

Resolving the Stationery/Stationary Conflict

Steno Wizard within the last month has learned a one-stroke way to write stationery/stationary and a method for distinguishing which is which in steno.  Woo-hoo!

Steno Wizard pictures the word stationary more like "stationAry means stAnding still."  See the A?  The word stationery reminds Steno Wizard of "lettErs are written on stationEry."   See the E?   Never had a problem making that distinction, but how to get it right in realtime in steno is the bigger issue.  Initially, Steno Wizard would write them out in three strokes; however, that is killer when you're dealing with salespeople who sell stationery and speak no less than 260 wpm.

Anyway, here's a method to deal with the madness.  Stationary is stroked STAERGS.  Remember the Harry, Mary, carry, party, etc. inversion of the E key to get the ARY sound in a word?  Voila!  This makes perfect sense to Steno Wizard.

Now to resolve stationery, Steno Wizard is writing it on the steno machine as STA*ERGS.  Steno Wizard pictures the asterisk as the wax seal on the envelope that contains the letter.  Problem solved!

Where to begin...

Steno Wizard realizes that many of us reporters who didn't initially learn a realtime theory face realtime with trepidation and an overwhelming weight on their shoulders. Where does one begin on this realtime journey? What’s the right first step?

Steno Wizard’s first suggestion is to analyze your steno dictionary. How many conflicts do you have in your writing? Start by printing out the list and really look them over.

How many of those conflicts contain three or more choices to solve the riddle? That’s where a reporter needs to start first. As an example, Steno Wizard originally had a bang/bank/banning AND a sing/sink/sinning conflict.

Steno Wizard then had to look at all the two choice conflicts. For example, sting/stink, rang/rank, ring/rink,  sang/sank. Does anyone remember the RPR test with ring and rink in it back in the late ‘80s? What a disaster and waste of $50!

Steno Wizard’s first problem had to do with all those ng/nk endings. Good grief, the misery those caused! First attempt to resolve the ng/nk ending was the just-put-in-the-asterisk method in the least common word. What a dumb move that was. Then a wiser reporter said to apply a theory principle to the whole set, i.e., an asterisk in the nk words. Good till it got fast and fingers got twisted. Ugh! Not going to work when pushed.

Next attempt to resolve the ng/nk ending was to apply the theory principle of making the nk ending the final side –FRPBG keys. That works pretty well, but Steno Wizard also learned –FRPBG as the –nge ending in words like range and singe. Range could still be written the same old way. Singe, not so much. So to resolve this issue, singe is now a two-stroke word as much as the Steno Wizard hates to admit it. SEUPB/-PBLG. Guess the asterisk could go there if necessary.

Then the three-part conflicts like sinning/sink/sing and banning/bank/bang involved resolving the -ing word in the group.  Ing words that create conflict are now two strokers.  That's a new theory principle the Steno Wizard has incorporated also.

Good luck on your journey! 

November's CRR

November's CRR exam's topic was on Alzheimer's.  The words given were Roger Roman and cognitive.  What a test!  Speed not too shabby.  Definitely a test on soundalikes or potential stenonyms.  From memory, hopefully...

For example:

Plane  PHRAEPB v. Plain PHRAEUPB
pace   PAEUS v. paste PAEFT
escorts SKORTS v. skorts (that's my theory anyway) v. comports if one uses KP- for the initial X.

Steno Wizard has many one-word steno strokes for multisyllabic words that were on the test.  Check these out: 

Family TPAEPL
Pilot PAOEULT
Stumbles STUFRBLZ
Memory PHERPL
Symptoms STOPLZ
Progression PROGS
Cognitive KOFGT

As Mentioned in Yesterday's Post, Here's Some Awesome Examples of the Advantages of the Imaginary Shift Key

The Steno Keyboard Shift Key

Steno Wizard uses this idea to distinguish proper names from their soundalikes and stenonyms.

Examples such as Bill/bill, Tammy/team, Mark/mark, Todd/-ed to/today, Phil/fill.  More examples to come.

Resolving barb, garb, carb stenonyms

Steno Wizard has to use a memory trick to resolve these stenonyms.  Bash and barb from theory days were stroked the same -- PWARB -- as well as gash and garb --TKPWARB.  By creating a mental picture of the resolution, inserting a U in the word with the RB that means RB and not SH, Steno Wizard has been able to stroke these consistently for realtime.

Steno Wizard visualized barb as soldiers crawling Under barbed wire, so it was easy to remember to insert the U in the stroke.  Now, Barb, the shortened nickname for Barbara, gets the asterisk because Steno Wizard has made it a theory principle to insert asterisks for proper names that need resolution.

Steno Wizard visualized garb as Undies, and so the U is inserted into the stroke for garb TKPWAURB.

For the cash/cache/carb problem, cash is still stroked KARB.  Cache is stroked as it's spelled KAERB (kind of).  Carb gets the U based on the theory that barb and garb get U's inserted into them too.  Of course, we could think of the word carburetor and the U that's in the middle of that word if it helps.

Picture it: Rain, Rein, and Reign

Resolving the rain/rein/reign conflict has been particularly bothersome for Steno Wizard.  It took some doing to get this trio worked out, and Steno Wizard is ready to share the method behind the madness. 

Rain is stroked on the steno keyboard as RAEUPB -- like it's spelled.  Simple enough. 

Next, rein as in control or reining in a horse is stroked RAEPB.  Steno Wizard decided to associate the "E" in the stroke for rein RAEPB with the "E" in the word horse.  Sounds crazy, but it's working for the Steno Wizard.

The word reign as in a king who reigns a kingdom is stroked RA*EUPB.  Steno Wizard imagines that the asterisk is the sparkle that is glistening off of the king's crown. 

Try it.  These may actually work for you too.

Picture it: Maid and Made

Steno Wizard has been working on ways to help instantly recall those steno conflict resolutions.

For example, made PHAEUD is obviously common.   A good way to write it might be by the spelling, but it has been so ingrained into the Steno Wizard's writing since theory days that Steno Wizard has a really hard time trying to convince the brain and the fingers to go with PHAED.  So...as a result, Steno Wizard inserts the asterisk key for maid and strokes it PHA*EUD.  Steno Wizard tries to imagine that a maid is working to make things sparkly clean and -- ta-da! -- an asterisk is the answer.   Sure, the word maid doesn't come up much, but we want to have a sure-fire way to KNOW that it's ready when needed, and the ol' brain knows immediately what to instruct the fingers to do.

More phrasing possibilities

Phrasing helps us keep up with fast testimony. 

Here's a few more phrases that are not necessarily Philly but are kind of an offshoot...

Remember the KWRO for I don't on the left-hand side of the keyboard.

KWROD I don't do
KWROEPB I don't even
KWROGT I don't get
KWROFG I don't figure
KWROPBLG I don't imagine
KWROPBLGS I don't imagine so
KWROPL I don't mean
KWROPLTS I don't mean to say
KWROPLD I don't mind

Then the KWRA for I can't phrases...

KWRAT I can't tell
KWRANS I can't answer
KWRAB I can't be

Right-hand side -BL for believe

EU BLS I believe so
UBLS you believe so
SOUBL so you believe

Right-hand side -GT for get

TKUGT did you get
WHUGT when you get
HRUGT will you get

Some Q&A phrases...

RUFPL are you familiar
WRUFPL are you familiar with
WOUPLD would you mind
TKOUPLD do you mind
TKUZ did you see
TKUS did you say

and some other phrases....

TPHURP in your opinion
TPHURPLD in your mind
TPHURPBDZ in your own words
TPHOERDS in other words
OERPBD on the other hand
TOEUPBLG to my knowledge
TAOURPBLG to your knowledge
TOURBGS to your recollection

Enjoy!

A little imagination

Steno Wizard would like to share a favorite brief along with a favorite visualization technique to keep it all straight.

Fiancé TPAE (male)
Fiancée TPA*E (female)

The way to remember which is which is that the girl (fiancee) gets the sparkly diamond ring. Sparkly diamond looks like the asterisk and voila!