Shorthand is another country to me!!

[mcg]

We have a postcard which has what we believe is Pitmans shorthand  and we are also sure that the content is personally important our research. We would be very grateful if anyone can decipher this for us.

Hopefully we wont be too shocked by the content! 

[Forguette]

Hello,
There is a shorthand forum where people seem to be requesting translations at the following link...

http://www.shorthand-untangled.co.uk/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=26&func=showcat&catid=5




Hope this helps.
Regards
Forguette

[mcg]

Thanks for that Forguette, I'll give that a try, however just in case, if anyone does know what our card says then we would still be very glad to hear. I'll withdraw it if I get a positive response from "Shorthand Untangled"

Thanks again

Michael

[snaptoo]

Hi!

Asked my 91yr old mother to have a go, but she could only translate the odd word here and there, as there is no way of knowing whether the outlines are above, on or through the line!

If you are unable to get it translated by other means, may I send it to my shorthand tutor of 43 years ago? I recently met him again for the first time since I was at college all those years ago! He is now nearly 92 yrs young, and loves to read shorthand, so I am sure that he would be more than willing to help out if he can!

snaptoo

[mcg]

Thank you that would be fantastic, please do send it on. The person who wrote it no longer alive so we have no other way to find out what it means.

If one can read shorthand it must be wonderful, but for those of us who don't, well it's just another language entirely.

Look forward to hearing back from you when you get an answer.

Kind regards

Michael

[snaptoo]

I will see what I can do for you!

I hasten to add that I did not attempt the translation for you, as I have not done shorthand since I left college!

snaptoo

[snaptoo]

Hi again!

I sent it to him earlier on. Not sure how long he might take to reply, as he is a very busy man!!!!!

Just in case you are interested, here is the link to a thread about him!

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,425544.0.html

snaptoo

[HeatherLynne]

Well it's 30 years since I learnt Pitman shorthand and 20 years since I used it regularly and even then my version didn't follow the rules closely but I can read one line clearly - it's the one that's just above the row of dots in the middle of the card and it says ...

"I really don't know how I shall last 3 weeks"

That's not much help I know but as I look at it more and more hopefully more will decipher itself!  Incidentally in addition to the 14 lines of writing running from left to right, there are also two lines that run up the left hand side from bottom to top.  I'll keep looking at it and let you know if I unravel any more.

Heather

[HeatherLynne]

Please bear in mind that none of the words are definite and unless you have an idea of the general context it's pretty difficult but here's my first attempt.  The ~ sign shows where there's an outline I can't decipher.  There's one word that may be a name that crops up in three places I've marked with a $ sign.  I guess it really doesn't help much and don't set too much store by my interpretation of an outline as "wanton", it might not be anything half as exciting as that!

1.  I ~ ~  am quite ssfly today ~ after having the time of my
2.  life ~ strtfly.  I [smudge] that I was ~ ~ I started ~
3.  $ and ~ of ~ marriage/married.  Which ~ wonder
4.  $ .  [indecipherable words crossed out]
5.  [ ~ next to those ~ ~.]  In only ~ it will be a
6.  ?wanton act? was ~ would ~ that they $.
7.  I really don't know how I [indecipherable] shall last 3 weeks
     .....................................................................................
8.  ?without? ~  [smudge] ~ ~ ~ a long time but will
9.  ~ which ~ had long gone his head.
10.  I am longing for it but ~ ~.  ~ ~ 9
11.  wonder ~ ~ that I am with you ~ in 5
12.  [indecipherable line]
13.  ~.  I am ~ ?tearful? ~ softest which ~ been most good
14.  frp, a ?surpressed? and desire would I discover I had got wrong one ?up? and ~ ~

It's past my bedtime and the two lines of shorthand running up the left hand side of the page are just a jumble now, I'll take a look at the whole thing again in the morning but hopefully someone else will have been able to help in the meantime.

Now I know why I don't do shorthand any more!!!