Simplifying a stroke for a brief -- particularly useful when you're constantly misstroking by losing a letter or adding a letter.
I know we have a brief form for perform; however, due to my own struggles on our lovely steno machine, I simplified it.
Maybe you'd like to explore this idea as well. Forewarning -- I have many!
A rather famous steno guru calls his skeletal briefs, but I call them simplified. :D
Here goes...
Think of perform like you’re stepping onto a stage 🎭 — you don’t have time to hit all those keys. You just hit your mark and go to the next word! So instead of writing all the sounds in per-form or trying to get all the keys for our theory brief, your brain (and fingers) take a shortcut:
👉 You write P-F — and that’s the whole performance.
Why does that work?
You’re not sounding it out anymore — you’re recognizing it as a complete idea. It’s like seeing a logo instead of reading every letter.
Now here’s where it gets even cooler:
Once you’ve got P-F = perform, you can build the whole “cast” of related words by just adding endings:
- P-F → perform
- P-FD → performed
- P-FG → performing
- P-FZ → performs
- P-FS → performance (ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, right?!)
- P-FSZ → performances
So instead of learning six separate outlines, you learn one core stroke and just dress it up depending on the role.
Think of P-F as your lead actor.
The endings — D, G, S, Z — are just costume changes.
Same actor, different performance.
This kind of simplification is what can help you build your skill while maintaining control of the steno keyboard (KAOEBD).
