Yes. The whole steno language dealio. I remain undaunted in my sadism. YOU WILL BE INTERESTED, DAMMIT!! Hahahaha. I’m lame.
But sarahk left a great question in the comments here and I believe it to be SO IMPORTANT that I’m posting her question and my answer here. READ IT AND BE AMAAZED!! Something to talk about at the Christmas table, pippa, when the crickets start cricking.
So sarahk queried:
Maybe this is a dumb question, but it’s a serious one: why don’t stenographers just use typewriters?
sarahk — That’s not a dumb question; it’s an excellent question! I love that you asked it. I love it if anyone asks about it because I am a dork.
To answer you: Mainly because you just can’t go fast enough. I mean, how fast can a person type? 100 wpm, 120 wpm? Court reporters need to be able to write at speeds over 200 wpm, so they use the machine. Typewriters/computers work by striking one key at a time, as we all know. Steno machines work by striking multiple keys simultaneously — I always call them “chords†because I play the piano and I think it’s a pretty good analogy. I could write an entire word in one stroke. Sometimes I could write several words in one stroke if there’s an abbreviation for that particular phrase of words. So that’s why. Believe it or not, the way the machine is designed — letter placement based on most frequently occurring letters, etc. — facilitates speed.
Thank you for your question, sarahk; bless you for your interest.
I should give away a prize if someone actually mentions this at their Christmas dinner table:
~ Did you know, gammie, that court reporters strike chords of words and write over 200 wpm and that AOU is Long U in steno theory? Did you, gammie? Gammie? GAMMIE!! OH, MY GOD!! SOMEONE CALL 911!!
~ Way to go, dillwad! YOU JUST BORED GAMMIE TO DEATH!!!
UPDATE: Scroll added because I refer to it in my answer to Brian’s question in the comments.
Okay since questions are allowed I’ve got one too.
Where are all the missing letters? No I, no C, etc. Do you spell phonetically?
Brian — Another good question! Any missing letter can be formed by combinations of other letters. The letters most used at the beginning and end of words are the ones you see on the keyboard — on the two left rows of letters and the two right rows of letters. Left side is for beginning sounds of words, right side for ending sounds. Vowels in the row at the bottom. Any letter you don’t see can be formed another way.
I added that little scroll of actual machine steno for you to look at. (I uploaded it from a courthouse website a long time ago.) The “red” portion of the steno scroll coincides with the translation on the bottom. The letters print “spaced out” like that because their location on the paper coincides directly with their position on the keyboard. So a letter on the right side of the keyboard will print on the right side of the paper, etc. I hope that makes sense.
Another good question!!
Another thing. This scroll is a pretty good example of steno language — even though I have a couple of issues with it. There are different “theories” out there, “dialects” of steno language, if you will, so if I were to write the phrase they’re using here — “Welcome to the Hennepin County District Court website” — it would look a little different.
Uhm, I like languages, even weird ones, what can I say? Please excuse my obscure nitpicking. 😉
Actually, it looks a little like the matrix scrolling by.
“I know stenography.”
Show me.
Dudes, Neo and Morpheus are transcribing!
Oooh!
Finally, a SAFE topic that isn’t the weather!
(My mom’s mom was a court sten., and passed away several years ago– so all the kids are familiar, but don’t know much about it, while my mom will either know it or be able to fake it. I know she can do shorthand…..)
My court reporter is a mask writer. Our new judge has hired a “real time” reporter, which should be interesting.
Lisa — Quite honestly, I think that’s the way to go. The training period is much shorter, the learning curve much less steep, I think. They’re used here in CA for closed captioning uses only, not allowed in court.
A real time reporter? I wonder why your mask reporter can’t do real time. Or — haha — maybe he/she is smart and doesn’t WANT to!
She doesn’t want to. Real-time, in most judge’s opinions, is distracting. Jurors and attorneys are more inclined to read the words on the screen than pay attention to what the witness is saying.
I can’t believe mask reporting isn’t allowed in court. Is it because they don’t think it’s accurate, or because there’s a lot of reading back? Most, if not all, of the COURT reporters are mask reporters — machine writers are the ones who do depos and stuff.
Lisa — I wouldn’t want to, either! I don’t blame her. I think it is distracting. Watch the witness, people, not the words on the screen, some of which you won’t be able to read if there’s a misstroke or an untranslated word.
And yeah, mask writers aren’t used for legal purposes in CA, period. Not depos, not court. Although, maybe that will change. All the court reporting schools — machine training schools — in San Diego, most of which I’ve taught at at one time or another, have CLOSED. There are no court reporting schools in SD right now and there haven’t been for about the last two years. Someone needs to start a voice (mask) writing school here.
This is a neat topic! That’s a great visual you added, T. Machine writers for depos–O.K., now I’m getting it. My first “real job” was for a law firm, and I remember the when the court reporters would come in with their machines. That’s what I’m familiar with.
(Foxfier, I recognize you from your comments at DarwinCatholic. . . how’d you end up here?)
Sorry about the extra “the” in that second sentence. That’s what I get for staying up too late.
(Kate– via the Anchoress, actually– same way I got to the {defunct, I think} blog that lead me to DC! Isn’t the internet cool?)
((side-side note– this is why I use a blog-name; my given name is a dime a dozen!))
Just thought of something…this topic is *even better* for the Safe Holiday Topic list because my Elfie had a coworker/friend who would mutter to himself in Morse code, which will bring up the “in my day!” stories!
Tracey-
I thought for a second we had found a topic more boring than genealogy, but nope- genealogy still wins the Glazed Eyes Prize.
Seriously, Gammie could be dead for a couple of days before the Family Guy would notice.
Sorry.
I think this is a great topic!
Wait. You have to write a word for period?
I have another question, unrelated to the period question. After you’ve stenoed to your heart’s content in court, do you then go and type it up somewhere so that non-steno types can read it? Does your workday end when court is over, or do you have extra work?
sarahk — It’s not a word, but you still have to hit a stroke to designate punctuation — as best you can while words are whizzing by you. That’s why a solid English background is a necessity.
Oh, and when you’re done, sometimes your day is over; sometimes it’s not. A lot of times in court — at least here in CA — notes are not transcribed, but are stored for — oh, what is it? — 7 years or something. With depositions, you transcribe everything. That’s how you make the bulk of your money as a depo reporter, through lawyers ordering copies, etc.
On the OJ murder case, to give you an example, the court reporters in Lance Ito’s courtroom worked as a tag team. One did mornings, one did afternoons. When they weren’t writing, they were transcribing BECAUSE there was such a huge demand for those dailies. Since it’s not something courtroom reporters usually have to do, they’re paid extra for that so those women made a huge chunk of change over that 9-month trial. Something like 250,000 each, I remember hearing. Not bad. And not boring, I would imagine.
Sal – In the time it took for you to type that comment in regards to a topic that interests Tracey and yet bores you – you actually could have been out there doing something that interests YOU.
I cannot stand comments like yours. Like, why bother?
Sorry, Tracey, couldn’t help it.
well, that was a comment that obviously didn’t read the way it was intended.
my apologies, Tracey.
Sal — Thank you for saying that. I can’t hit it out of the park every time. In fact, I rarely do.