#homeybee

hello !!! thank you for asking !!!!!!!!!! and im so sorry this is so long lol

If you want my biased personal recommendation, I would suggest Pitman New Era. That's what I use, and I think its the best balance of efficiency vs difficulty to learn, and I like that the learning curve is such that, as you learn, you apply more rules that simplify the writing process more (meaning that earlier practice is still legible, if far less efficient). This compared to other forms (like Gregg) where, as you learn, youre just kind of generally suffering and trying to get your brain to memorise things and differentiate very similar looking strokes. I find Pitman also lends itself well to using in conjunction with other "standard" writing styles so you can take notes that are enough in "standard" writing to be skimmable while using enough shorthand to be much faster to write, basically maninmising writeing AND reading speed. [example below]

You can skip to the end for resources for Pitman and shorthand in general if this answer is sufficient :)

If you want a horrifically long, massively autistic answer that breaks down the three most popular/common styles, then thats what the rest of the post is !! It is so fucking long I am so sorry

Horrifically Long Answer:

I'm answering on the assumption that you would be learning for use with english. If you want to learn shorthand for another language there are a variety of options however I am less versed in them :( I'm also assuming you're asking out of personal interest rather than vocational, since certain jobs will recommend or require you learn certain styles of shorthand and it would be best to defer to that.

The most popular methods are Gregg, the various forms of Pitman (this is what I use), and Teeline. Gregg and Pitman are phonemic while Teeline is alphabetical. There are also a huge number of other, less popular forms of shorthand (as well as shorthand systems which are popular in/made for other languages). If you're interested in learning about these, check out the subreddit listed at the end of this post under "resources".

Teeline:

I know much less about Teeline, so I'll go into it less, but basically it is a "spelling-based" shorthand system -- that is, it is based off the standard spelling of words. It replaces latin letters which different forms that are faster to write and can be connected more efficiently, while removing extraneous letters from words. It is simpler to learn, in part because it is spelling-based, and also because it has fewer rules which further consolidate and shorten word forms. Due to this, it is ultimately much slower to write than the other two systems mentioned here (although you can still get up to good speeds !!). Like the other shorthand systems, you can learn to a more basic extent, or learn more advanced theory to maximise its capability and speed. Teeline is very standard for journalism and overall quite popular for professional use, however it is still in copyright and so there are far fewer resources available online. If you are interested in taking classes, however, I would assume those are available.

Teeline TL;DR: alphabetical, simplest to learn but less efficient, popular, still in copyright so fewer resources.

examples of Teeline:

[images sourced from wiki]

Pitman and Gregg: Phonemic Systems and Regional Accents:

As mentioned, Gregg and Pitman are phonemic. If you dont have any practice with phonemic writing systems, you might have luck starting out with shavian just to practice. also because shavian is fun :) (its one of the writing systems in my header !) Im saying this partly because I want more people to learn shavian and partly because I learned Shavian long before I learned Pitman and found that having that practice was helpful. In particular, if you have any accent other than RP, its helpful for figuring out either which vowel sounds and phonetic spellings are relevant to your accent and your pronunciation, or, should you choose to go a "standard" (RP) route, how certain words should be spelled despite how you may pronounce them. Using a "standard" RP approach can be helpful if you want people to more easily be able to read your writing or want to "match" the dictionary, but someone well versed in shorthand should be able to figure it out no matter what, and if its just for your personal use I'd suggest just going by your own regional pronunciations.

Pitman:

Pitman was an early shorthand system developed in the early to mid 1800s. It used to be the most popular shorthand system, however nowadays has been eclipsed in popularity by Teeline and/or Gregg, depending on the country and occupational context. However, it remains popular among enthusiasts and there are significant amount of resources available for learners and practitioners.

The main thing to know with Pitman is that words are built using different strokes for each consonant sound, and symbols attached to these consonants to mark vowels. These consonant sounds are differentiated by shape as well as line thickness. Voiced and unvoiced pairs of consonants (eg., T and D, C and G, S and Z, etc.) are designated using the same strokes, with the voiced consonant of the pair being thicker than the other. This line variation is something which is normally achieved with a pencil, though I mostly use fountain pens to write and so I use flex nibs to achieve the same effect.

Vowels are marked with certain dots or dashes placed along corresponding consonant markings, For increased writing speed, most vowel markings can also be left off in Pitman, and instead where on the line the first stroke begins serves to signal the first vowel.

Pitman uses short forms (also called "logograms" or "grammalogues," depending on the version and book you use) which are abbreviated forms of commonly used words (see picture below for a few examples). Different versions of Pitman have different numbers of grammalogues.

With Pitman, efficiency is increased through a combination of memorising various short forms and implementing rules which simplify strokes. (Examples of these can be seen in the picture below. probably need to click to be able to actually see anything rip) This allows you to have certain "levels" of complexity, where as you learn more complex rules you increase in efficiency, but you can also eschew some of those rules if they are too complex for you without sacrificing legibility to you or proficient practitioners. Probably someone somewhere on reddit has something to say about that but tbh who gives a fuck. You can do whatever you want forever. Its known to be very common for people to come up with their own personal shortcuts and variations in whatever shorthand system they use, and imo sometimes that just means looking at a rule and going "well thats stupid👍" and ignoring it. Pitman can seem really intimidating, however just remember that you can ignore rules for as long as you want until they are less intimidating to learn and apply.

There are 3 "main" versions of Pitman: the original system, Pitman New Era, and Pitman 2000. New Era has the most complex system of rules and abbreviations, while 2000 simplified many of these and got rid of most of the abbreviations. I personally use New Era, in part because I was able to access more resources for this, but largely because I found the increased number of rules and abbreviations to be better in the long run. If you are willing to invest more time and effort into learning a more complicated system, with the tradeoff that it will be faster and easier once you are proficient, you should learn New Era. The main benefit of 2000 is that the rules are simplified. I would say, however, that the downsizing of the list of abbreviations is not a benefit. While it in theory requires you to memorise more individual symbols, in practice these abbreviations are commonly used enough that they can become automatic with very little practice. If you decide to learn 2000, I would suggest taking he time to go through the list of abbreviations from New Era and, if not learning all of them, picking out the ones you think you are likely to use with semi-regularity. If you compile them into a cheat sheet and hand it next to your desk, they should be easy to practice using and become memorised really quickly. I myself dont have every abbreviation memorised, but instead focused on ones i use regularly, and often go through the list again to pick out new ones to learn and add to my lexicon as I think they may be used.

Pitman TL;DR: phonemic, differentiates strokes through line thickness, rules can be applied or discarded as best suits your practice without sacrificing readability. Increased speed and efficiency is achieved through extra short forms for commonly used words, and rules which simplify strokes.

examples of Pitman:

[first image mine, other two images sourced from Long Live Pitman's (website, linked below), and wiki]

Gregg:

Gregg is a very popular form of shorthand which utilises round, smooth strokes with the intent of increasing writing efficiency and legibility.

Where Pitman uses variation in line thickness to differentiate between strokes, Gregg uses line length. Both consonants and vowels are marked with designated strokes (compared to Teeline, which has vowel strokes but tends to omit them where possible, and Pitman, which adds vowel marking to consonant strokes or signals vowels through figure placement), and vowels are largely kept in-line. With Gregg, efficiency is achieved through the use of short forms, prefixes, and suffixes; "phrasing", (wherein certain phrases, such as "I may be," "one of the most," "by the," etc. are combined into a single stroke); as well as through the more efficient way in which strokes are joined together into words.

Left-handed people sometimes write Gregg from right to left.

Like Pitman, there are a number of different versions of Gregg, however Gregg seems to have significantly more versions and significantly less consensus around which version is best or why. I am not the best person to give advice on which one is best or information on the different types, so if you decide to go with Gregg I'd suggest checking out the subreddit or some of the other resources linked below for information on that.

examples of Gregg:

[Images sourced from wiki and gregg-shorthand.com]

Comparisons:

I would say that one of the main things to consider if choosing between Gregg and Pitman is which you think is more intuitive to read and write for you. Which sounds obvious lol but like. as an example. I struggle with spatial awareness and stuff like estimating lengths so for me Gregg is not a good option since it differentiates certain consonants through their length and I would have a hard time writing those consistently or easily reading them. Pitman is easier for me in that regard, as well as since it is more "choppy" (for lack of better word) which makes it much easier for me to recognise certain words without having to break them down, as well as making it easier for me to break them down to read them should I need to. On the other hand, some people find Gregg to be easier since its much "smoother" and flowier to write, which can be much faster and more intuitive for some.

Compared to Pitman, Gregg has significantly fewer rules to learn, making it in theory simpler, however, due to the way it is written, it requires significantly more practice to be able to consistently properly write and tell apart certain letters, words, and phrases. Once you are proficient in this, it is by far more efficient, however Gregg is very difficult to use while you are still figuring it out. Pitman, on the other hand, has significantly more rules, however you can continue to easily use it as you learn these rules and add them into your practice. The downside of this is that once you are fully proficient, it is less efficient than full proficiency Gregg. Essentially, the main difficulty with learning Gregg is telling apart different strokes and writing them so that they can be differentiated, while the main difficulty with Pitman is in learning the rules.

I havent talked much about Teeline because honestly I know far less about it, because it is so much harder to find resources on, and honestly because I'm a bit of an old man and personally prefer the older styles lol. Its popular for a reason, though !

I know it probably sounds like I'm shilling a lot for Pitman, however thats just because its what I use and know the most about, as well as because it is what works best for my unique considerations. Most people would probably be more likely to recommend Gregg (for a number of very good reasons !), however when I was first deciding which shorthand system to learn I saw very few people making the points that were most relevant to me (eg, that pitman can be used AS you learn, whereas Gregg is more of a "its useless until you actually have it down" situation, that Gregg is really difficult if you struggle with differentiating lengths, etc) so I feel the need to mention them

TL;DR: Everything:

Ultimately you should use whatever you think is best for you :) I'd say Teeline is your best bet if you are in journalism, or want something easier. Gregg is best if you want something popular, smoother to write, and extremely fast, and are willing and able to put in significant amounts of consistent work and practice to master it. Pitman is best if you want something you can use as you learn, and that's somewhere in between Teeline and Gregg in terms of difficulty and efficiency. If you wanted, you could probably learn Teeline as well as either Pitman or Gregg, but learning both Pitman and Gregg would be much more difficult.

Other:

I take all my notes by hand, generally using a mix of palmer method cursive and pitman shorthand to do so, however, I also have to write a lot of papers, and when I do, I get frustrated at having to type out whole words I normally write in shorthand. This is kind of the curse of shorthand, you get really annoyed having to type out "because". To deal with this, while typing in a word processor, I use an alphabetic shorthand I've come up with over time. I basically input a bunch of auto-replacements into my spellcheck, so that I can have shortcuts for commonly used words set up. so basically i can write: "here, . cnstrctn ` ntnl idntty served to lgtmse the ntn stte" and it will autocorrect to "here, the construction of national identity served to legitimise the nation state". Highly recommend this if you do a lot of writing, especially if a lot of the same topics and words come up a lot. Use whatever shortened versions feel intuitive for you, instead of something you've consciously + intentionally constructed, otherwise youre more likely to forget them or have them get mixed up.

Resources:

stenophile.com has a huge number of shorthand resources linked, particularly for Gregg and Pitman. If you end up choosing either of these I'd suggest starting here to find instruction books.

this website can transliterate into Pitman and Gregg, DEK and Stolze-Schrey (two German shorthand systems), and Sütterlinschrift (a historical German script)(also in my header !)

r/fastwriting is run by a very nice very dedicated man who posts a huge amount of content and resources on various shorthand methods, including lesser known ones. If you decide you want to learn/learn about a different shorthand system, he's the guy to talk to. This subreddit differs from r/shorthand or system-specific subreddits like r/greggshorthand, as those are more discussion-based for learners and practitioners, while r/fastwriting is better for research and being autistic. R/shorthand does have a number of resources listed for more popular shorthand systems, and is a good place to go for advice while learning.

Teeline:

blog with a few free resources

Pitman:

Pitman New Era Instructor and Dictionary. These are what I largely used to learn.

Long Live Pitman's: a website dedicated to Pitman, full of good information for beginning learners.

if you learn Pitman, as mentioned the line variation can be accomplished with a pencil, however if you want to get a bit fancy with it while staying on a budget, Fountain Pen Revolution carries a number of cheap yet reliable fountain pens with flex nibs, such as the FPR Indus or Himalaya. I'd suggest the steel flex rather than the ultra-flex for shorthand unless you have a lighter hand or have practiced with a flex pen before. I've also heard good things about the Noodler's Ahab pen but honestly find its very temperamental, needs tweaking (not ideal if youre a fp beginner) and just not as good. Both FPR and Noodler's pens are made of bioresin and must be kept away from solvents like isopropyl alcohol !!!

Gregg:

Gregg Phrasebook. Short guide to phraseology for Gregg

Gregg-shorthand.com: seems like a good place to start for learning Gregg. Answers some beginner's questions, and provides learning aids and reading material (transliterated into Gregg)

r/greggshorthand

greggshorthand.gibhub.io: a more in depth website with a number of book pdfs and lessons for various forms of Gregg.

oh i've been WAITING for this one. TURN IT UP

look, i am going to frame this as What I Would Do If I Was Actually Writing For The BBC. which is to say: we all know that if i had my damn way it would be a three hour special of just. the most insane fluff you've ever seen in your life.

but. supposing i was actually going to pitch this to the bbc, who will not budget my three hour long queer epic, here is what i would do. (this episode is, however, at LEAST an hour and a half. it's the least they could do.)

we open on merlin in a shitty flat in London. his room is a mess. he's still sleeping on a twin bed. there's a white cat curled around his feet, and he's scruffy because he hasn't shaved in a few days. he's eating Chinese take out. he opens a fortune cookie, and the message says something along the lines of you will be visited by someone important very soon. he crumples it and throws it away. he reaches for another bottle of cider-- would you look at that, it's empty-- and rubs his bleary eyes. a text message comes in from someone named simon-- remember to drink water and you won't be as hungover-- and he stumbles to the bathroom. we see from his window it's raining outside. he goes to brush his teeth.

while scrubbing his face with a towel, lightning strikes outside and thunder claps. he jolts, startled. his eyes turn gold in the mirror. a vase shatters. he whips his head around, eyes wide, in disbelief. merlin, a voice comes. it's distorted and unrecognizable. he shakes his head-- he's hearing things. when he picks up the biggest piece of glass, it cuts his palm. he runs it under the tap, trembling. when he looks up, his eyes are blue again.

cut to: the next day, a cozy office. "you've been missing our sessions," a warm, middle aged lady says over a cup of tea. "and i am fairly certain you're not taking your medication. yet here we are."

merlin smiles bashfully. the first time we hear him speak, he says, "i was never good at listening to direction." the therapist laughs.

"what brings you here, merlin?"

merlin's hands are twitching against his tea cup. there's a bandage around his palm. "i... i don't know. i got drunk last night. thought i..." there's no way to explain this to her in mundane terms. he flounders. "thought i... felt something. that i haven't in a very long time."

she nods, and we get a feeling she might understand, though merlin obviously doesn't share that feeling. "you mean since your friend died."

his laugh is shaky. "sure. yeah."

we cut to: merlin back at his flat. it hasn't stopped raining. he shrugs off his coat and his wellies. the power flickers, once, twice, off. he sighs. tries to get a flashlight. battery's dead. in frustration, he tugs at his hair. "it's not going to work," he mutters out loud to no one except his cat, who meows loudly. with a curse, he outstretches his hand. he says a small incantation in a way that lets us know he hasn't tried this in a long time, and he believes it to be a stupid idea.

nothing happens.

"see? i told you," he tells the cat.

merlin, the voice comes. it's a bit less distorted, still unrecognizable. merlin, can you hear me?

he scrubs his face again, "shut up." we see him scrambling in a medicine cabinet for some pills. he takes one. stares at his reflection. incants again. nothing, merlin, soft. incants again, nothing, merlin, louder, clearer. hangs his head and shakes it. one more time, with feeling. incants again, and this time when the voice comes, it's booming and loud and

it's arthur.

the mirror breaks as the power turns back on.

here's where the details get a bit muddied for yours truly, but the pitch goes like so: merlin, in his haste, scrambles back to avalon (which is in wales). it maybe takes him an embarrassingly long time. trains are delayed and it's raining. we see him grow more and more frantic, wild eyed, and he's trying to reach arthur with his mind. i'm on my way, he keeps saying.

he turns up at avalon. sitting on the shore, staring blankly at the rippling waves, is arthur.

he looks up. they lock eyes.

merlin has thousands of things he wants to say, and they all play out on his face. instead, he says, "it's raining. you're going to catch your death."

arthur snorts, stands up, and sheaths excalibur. "wouldn't be the first time."

they hug. the rain stops.

okay again, details are muddied but: we figure out that Magic Itself is about to die. we learn that merlin has been unable to use magic for centuries, and thought it lost. nope! arthurs back and this time he's going to save it! how, you ask? shut up this is just a pitch.

epic quests are had. in the mean time, though:

your run of the mill "arthur pendragon hasn't been in the world since 5 AD" Jokes, including the moment he first eats Chinese takeout. he becomes obsessed.

we get merlin and arthur mourning their friends, but arthur says, "i saw them, you know. behind the veil. they wanted me here, too."

"who else wanted you here?" merlin sniffs.

"you," and then, quieter, "and me, too."

it all culminates in a scene where arthur and merlin go to a museum exhibition on arthuriana. arthur complains about how messed up the story got-- "why are you so old"-- and stops, suddenly, in front of a large oil painting that looks just like him.

merlin shrugs. "i... had it commissioned."

arthur stares in awe. merlin pulls out his phone and takes a photo-- a king staring back at a king.

somewhere somehow they save magic. again i don't know. don't question me. i do know that probably merlin saves arthur's life, for old time's sake, except this time there is an implication (a very strong one) that arthur is immortal, too, or at the very least unable to be removed from merlin by death.

THE FINAL SCENE.

arthur and merlin sitting next to avalon, having gone back to reminisce. there's a container of Chinese takeout besides them.

"this is called a fortune cookie," merlin says. "you crack it open and it gives you a fortune."

"are they real?"

"they're made up by people in factories, so. no. they're just for fun."

arthur nods. he's quiet for a moment. "so we're... connected. a bond that cannot be broken, not even by death."

merlin shrugs. "it's always been my destiny. our destiny."

arthur nods, looking him over. "so what happens now, then? that our destiny has run its course?"

merlin looks into the lake, back at arthur. "i don't know. i guess we find out."

they both crack open their fortune cookies. "what does yours say?" arthur asks after a quiet moment.

merlin holds his up. it will never end, it says. "weird," he murmurs.

Summary: Lan Wangji hadn’t expected this. Wei Wuxian suggesting handfasting as a way of preventing the Chord Assasination attacks, when either of them could have blocked them with their swords— it had caught him by surprise. The idea of being married to Wei Wuxian rose within him, a possessive warmth swirling through his chest. Before he could convince himself otherwise, he took Wei Wuxian’s left hand, and bound their wrists together with a sure and gentle precision. This, he knew, meant something.

Aw, hey! Thank you! I made a list of fic recs awhile ago but I’ll re-up it because i still stand behind all of them. I should note that my taste leans towards angsty and smutty. I also love AUs.

One I want to explicitly mention again is Pray for Us, Icarus by Atalan/@seaskystone which at the time was a work in progress, and is now complete. When I made the post the other day about there being fics I hold in as high esteem as the original series, this is basically the one I was referring to. It’s an exceptional work. It creates a parrallel world to the series with a heartbreaking twist. I cried when it was done. I’ve re-read the whole thing since and it still lands punches with the same force. Essential reading.

I’m also low-key (*whispers* high-key) obsessed with Slow Show by @mia-ugly, which is a showmance AU that first knocked me off my feet as a post that passed my dash. It’s a WIP and I drop whatever I’m doing to read every update. The writing is flawless, characterization spot-on, and the pining, the frigging pining, can bring a person to their knees. I have lost sleep for this story. I will lose more sleep for this story. I love it.

I’m loving The Sanford Flower Show by @omgmussimm, who writes the ancient history of our ineffable pair, and their future too with humour and kindness and a really compelling plot. I’ve been lucky enough to beta for some of this and it’s incredible storytelling and fits into the existing GO universe perfectly.

I read anything @julietk writes on AO3 all will continue to do so until they decide to stop writing.