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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
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<div class="text" style="color: #FFFFFF"> A Web Site dedicated to the
perpetuation of Gregg’s Light-Line Phonography</div></td>
<td width="182" bgcolor="#CC3333"><div align="center" style="color: #FFFFFF">
- Anniversary Manual -</div></td>
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<td width="79%" colspan="2" class="text"><h3 align="center">CHAPTER
FOUR</h3>
<p align="center"><strong>THE EVILS OF “SHADING”</strong></p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify"> It has finally become the experience
of the most expert shorthand writers that outlines which depend
upon shading for their legibility are in general unsafe outlines
to adopt.<br />
<div style="text-align: right">—George H. Thornton</div>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> It does not seem
necessary to argue that it takes longer to write a heavy stroke
than a light one. The fact is so obvious that I was inclined to
depart from the plan of giving quotations from authors and prominent
advocates of other systems in support of any statement I made. My
files contain a folder for each shorthand principle, and the one
devoted to shading is simply overflowing with articles and quotations
about the evils of shading. Many of the articles give numerous instances
of humorous—and sometimes serious—errors in transcription
which have been caused by the use of shading.<br />
<strong>An Obstacle to Speed.</strong> —
To be consistent with the plan of the series of articles, I am going
to incorporate a few quotations. The first one is from a book published
by Isaac Pitman & Sons, called “Phonography in the Office.”
The author, Mr. Kingston, deplores a “too heavy style of shorthand,”
as “the increased friction from the resistance of the paper
makes it a serious obstacle to the acquisition of speed, to say
nothing of the difficulty of distinguishing thin and thick strokes.”
He then gives an exercise “so framed as to consist almost
exclusively of light curves,” stating that the “selection
of words and phrases which favor a continuous, flowing style of
writing will enable the writer to take it down easily.” After
giving the selection consisting “ almost exclusively of light
curves,” he utters this significant warning:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> The rate of speed required in the writing
of such a passage will be much greater than upon an ordinary passage,
and it must not be used as a test of speed, or the result will
be very misleading.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> Some years ago
a well-known Chicago law reporter, Mr. W. E. McDermut, in writing
on the subject of shading, said:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> Forty years ago Mr. Graham tabulated the
results of experiments made to test the relative brevity of certain
characters and combinations. His tables showed that light characters
are at least ten per cent more rapid than heavy ones. I have demonstrated
with shorthand classes that this is the minimum difference, and
some writers claim that the advantage of light strokes amounts
to thirty per cent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> In his “Handbook
of Standard Phonography” (Edition of 1858, Part V., p. 12),
Mr. Graham said:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> The difference between <em>t</em> and <em>d</em>
shows that it is a disadvantage to write with a heavy hand—that
the heavy lines should be barely distinguished from the light
lines, which should be made very light.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> Mr. Isaac S. Dement,
the winner of the first reporters’ speed contest in the United
States, said after the contest (<em>Phonographic World</em>, September,
1887):</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> I wish also to say here that I think this
light-line system is the true one, and will be thoroughly demonstrated
to be the true one in time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify">In the preface to the” Modern
Stenographer,” Mr. George H. Thornton, former president of
the New York State Stenographers’ Association and official
reporter of the Supreme Court, New York, said:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> It has finally become the experience of the
most expert stenographers that outlines which depend upon shading
for their legibility are in general unsafe outlines to adopt.
. . . If, as experience has taught, this shading of the outlines
can be done away with, it is useless to tell a practical stenographer
of the immense advantage in point of speed to be gained thereby.
. . . The essence of this principle is recognized by Mr. Munson
in his “Complete Phonographer,” for he there says
that increase of speed is attended with decrease of force, and
therefore that all stems would be written as light as consistent
with legibility. If this is true, the converse of the proposition
most naturally follows, that the increase of force necessarily
required in the shading of the outlines must be attended with
decrease of speed. It is so apparent that a plain system can be
written with a greatly increased rapidity that it is hardly worth
while to demonstrate it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> <strong>Correct
Shading Essential.</strong> — The <em>Phonographic Magazine</em>,
Cincinnati, Ohio (the organ of the Benn Pitman system) for May,
1889, has this frank admission:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> Undoubtedly, there are many outlines which
are recognizable from their general form without reference to
shading—with the shading omitted, or even with the shaded
and light strokes reversed. But such outlines are relatively few,
and are only the forms of long words or of highly characteristic
phrases. Thousands of words and phrases of only one and two strokes
depend upon correct shading not only for ready legibility, but
for a degree of legibility which enables the writer to read them
at all.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> In answer to a
question from a correspondent who experienced difficulty in shading
horizontal strokes—and he is not alone in that!—the
<em>Phonographic Magazine</em> (October, 1904) gave the following
elaborate suggestions:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> The ordinary normal position of the hand
in phonographic writing is such that both nibs of the pen may
rest upon the paper with equal pressure. In shading horizontal
strokes this position may be temporarily modified by very slightly
rotating the penholder with the downward pressure of the thumb,
so that the left nib shall press a little more heavily than the
right nib. As soon as the stroke is executed, however, a contrary
rotation of the penholder should bring the pen back to the normal
position. Your only danger in carrying this hint into practice
is that you may make the rotation of the holder and the consequent
pressure on the left nib greater than necessary. The modification
of the normal position should be very slight, indeed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> These quotations
are from authors or expert writers of Pitmanic systems. In these
systems shading is used chiefly as a means of distinction between
the phonetic pairs, although as Mr. Hugh limes has pointed out,
“Pitman shades not only to distinguish similar consonants,
but to add <em>p</em> to <em>m</em>, <em>r</em> to <em>l</em>, <em>ch</em>
to <em>r</em>, and to give <em>n</em> a nasal intonation.”<br />
<strong>Shading Used for Many Purposes. </strong>—
Shading has been used for many purposes in various systems. It has
been used to express double letters; to add consonants, such as
h, r, s, t; to add vowels; and to distinguish shades of vowel sounds.
In the German systems it is generally used “to distinguish
symbolically-indicated vowels, and also certain written vowels.”<br />
As far back as 1856 Soper thickened letters
to add <em>r</em>, calling it “the simultaneous <em>r</em>.”
He was followed in this by J. G. Cross (1878), who called it “the
coalescent <em>r</em>,” by Sloan (1882), Simson (1884), Barter
and others. In Guest’s “Compendious Shorthand”
thickening is used to add <em>t</em> or <em>d</em>, and lengthening
is used to add <em>s</em>. It is usually claimed on behalf of systems
in which shading is used for the purpose of adding a letter that
this is an advantage, because they have less shading than in the
Pitman system.<br />
The most prominent of the systems applying shading
for the addition of a letter is the Sloan-Duployan. There was no
shading in the original French system, but as the outlines were
very cumbrous, Mr. Shan, following the lead of Soper and Cross,
introduced shading to express the letter <em>r</em>.<br />
<strong>Shading Denounced by Those Who Use It.</strong>
— A pamphlet on behalf of Sloan-Duployan Shorthand, entitled
“Revolution in Shorthand” (written and copyrighted by
Mr. Thomas S. Malone, then the Glasgow agent for SloanDuployan and
who later became identified with “Script Phonography”)
claims that one of “the leading principles of structure from
which the system derives its chief excellence” is “the
absence of shading, or the use of light and heavy signs, which is
only introduced by Mr. Sloan into his adaptation to meet a peculiarity
of the English language with regard to one particular letter of
constant recurrence.”<br />
Then follows this succinct statement of the
evils of shading:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> The extensive
use of the process of shading outlines, although very general
in the old systems, is a most objectionable principle in shorthand,
being an obstruction of speed if used, and a source of illegibility
if neglected.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> In the same paragraph
the “monstrous ‘position’ principle in other systems,
which gives to an outline a variety of meanings according to its
position on the paper” is denounced. But, in the words of
Kipling, that is another story.<br />
Even more effective is the argument against
shading contained in the “Reply to T. A. Reed’s Criticism
of SloanDuployan Shorthand,” written by Mr. Malone, and published
by the Sloan-Duployan Shorthand Association. The “Reply “
says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> After describing
the alphabet he [Mr. Reed] remarks: “Nor do I find
fault with the distinction between the two letters in each pair
by length, although a good deal is lost in brevity by the absence
of any distinction in thickness.” However high may be Mr.
Reed’s reputation as a shorthand writer, we unhesitatingly
assert that here he utters a palpable fallacy obvious to the merest
tyro in the art.<br />
That the absence of any distinction in <em>thickness
of stroke acclerates</em> instead of <em>retarding</em> speed
is a plain matter of fact, which it will require something more
than the weight of Mr. Reed’s authority to controvert. Let
the reader try the simple experiment of tracing the following
two pairs of lines—the one distinguished by length and the
other by thickness—and then judge of the soundness of the
theory Mr. Reed gravely propounds. The former pair, it will be
seen, in striking contrast to the eye are equally expeditious
to the hand, while the latter necessitates the shading—a
process most obstructive to rapid writing. Great indeed must be
the blinding power of self-interest if so able a man as Mr. Reed
can persuade himself that the absence of shading in a shorthand
system is a defect.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> And on the same
page Mr. Malone, in speaking of some of the Duployan outlines, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> As they are free
from shading and scarcely involve the principle of position, the
facility with which they can be applied is self-evident.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> In his first lecture
on “Script Phonography,” Mr. Malone. said:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p> Our next source of speed is the light, hair-stroke
character of the writing, there being no shading, no thickening
of the strokes, except with regard to one letter, and that the
most common letter in the language, the letter s and, of course,
its cognate <em>z</em> (or soft <em>s</em>).</p>
</blockquote>
<p> There is a characteristic confusion of ideas
in this statement. Mr. Malone begins by claiming as a great merit
of “Script Phonography” that there is little shading,
and then goes on to say that shading is used for the “<em>most
common letter in the language!</em>”<br />
After the appearance of “Light-Line Phonography
“— a system in which there was absolutely no shading
— Mr. Malone made a” strategical retreat,” in
these words:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify">
<p>To the thoughtless and indolent, the total absence of any distinction
between thick and thin lines in a system of shorthand may seem
an attraction by the license afforded for dispensing with all
discipline of hand movement and concentration of thought. To write
in a slipshod, mechanical manner, without having to think appeals
to some as a thing to be desired.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify"> My only comment
on this is to repeat Mr. Malone’s reference to Mr. Reed—“Great
indeed must be the blinding power of self-interest.”<br />
<strong>Shading Always Detrimental.</strong>
— Shading is objectionable in whatever form it is used. It
is more objectionable as an expedient for adding a letter (as in
Sloan-Duployan, Script, Cross, etc.) than when it is used to distinguish
between the phonetic pairs, as in the Pitman system. When it is
used to distinguish the phonetic pairs, if the shading is not clear
there is sometimes a slight clue to the word on account of the similarity
of sounds. It is true, as stated in the quotation from the <em>Phonographic
Magazine</em> already given, that “such outlines are relatively
few, and are only the forms of long words or of highly characteristic
phrases.” But it does happen occasionally. In the case of
systems where shading is used to add an important letter, if the
shading is not clearly indicated, there is absolutely no indication
that a letter is omitted.<br />
The difficulty in some of these systems is intensified
by the fact that the shading is applied to <em>upstrokes</em>, and
even to <em>small circles and hooks</em>! Where an attempt is made
to apply shading to minute characters, such as circles and hooks,
the onward impulse of the pen is <em>checked abruptly</em> while
the pressure is being applied to the minute character. After an
abrupt pause of that kind it is difficult to regain momentum, just
as it would be impossible for a runner to stop every hundred yards
to pick up something and keep going at his maximum speed. The difficulty
of applying shading to a small circle or hook, even when writing
at a moderate speed, will be apparent to everyone; but when the
writing is <em>rapid</em> it is almost impossible to apply shading
to minute characters.<br />
There are many systems in which <em>both</em>
position-writing and shading are used to add consonants. When either
of these hazardous expedients is not applied with precision, the
reading of the notes depends upon the guessing ability of the reader;
but when <em>both</em> expedients are applied to the <em>same character</em>,
and neither applied with precision, the reader of the notes needs
to be a super-guesser, so to speak.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">- <a href="basicp07.html">Chapter Five</a>
-<br />
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<a href="anprface.html">Preface</a><br />
<a href="anaboutg.html">About Gregg Shorthand</a><br />
<a href="aneditor.html">Editor's Note</a><br />
<a href="antwtbgr.html">A Talk with the Beginner</a><br />
<a href="analphbt.html"> The Alphabet</a><br />
Chapter I<br />
<a href="anunit01.html">Unit 1</a><br />
<a href="anunit02.html">Unit 2</a><br />
<a href="anunit03.html">Unit 3</a><br />
Chapter II<br />
<a href="anunit04.html">Unit 4</a><br />
<a href="anunit05.html">Unit 5</a><br />
<a href="anunit06.html">Unit 6</a><br />
Chapter III<br />
<a href="anunit07.html">Unit 7</a><br />
<a href="anunit08.html">Unit 8</a><br />
<a href="anunit09.html">Unit 9</a><br />
Chapter IV<br />
<a href="anunit10.html">Unit 10</a><br />
<a href="anunit11.html">Unit 11</a><br />
<a href="anunit12.html">Unit 12</a><br />
Chapter V<br />
<a href="anunit13.html">Unit 13</a><br />
<a href="anunit14.html">Unit 14</a><br />
<a href="anunit15.html">Unit 15</a><br />
Chapter VI<br />
<a href="anunit16.html">Unit 16</a><br />
<a href="anunit17.html">Unit 17</a><br />
<a href="anunit18.html">Unit 18</a><br />
Chapter VII<br /> <a href="anunit19.html">Unit 19</a><br /> <a href="anunit20.html">Unit 20</a><br /> <a href="anunit21.html">Unit 21</a><br /> Chapter VIII<br />
<a href="anunit22.html">Unit 22</a><br />
<a href="anunit23.html">Unit 23</a><br />
<a href="anunit24.html">Unit 24</a><br />
Chapter IX<br />
<a href="anunit25.html">Unit 25</a><br />
<a href="anunit26.html">Unit 26</a><br />
<a href="anunit27.html">Unit 27</a><br />
Chapter X<br />
<a href="anunit28.html">Unit 28</a><br />
<a href="anunit29.html">Unit 29</a><br />
<a href="anunit30.html">Unit 30</a><br />
Chapter XI<br />
<a href="anunit31.html">Unit 31</a><br />
<a href="anunit32.html">Unit 32</a><br />
<a href="anunit33.html">Unit 33</a><br />
Chapter XII<br />
<a href="anunit34.html">Unit 34</a><br />
<a href="anunit35.html">Unit 35</a><br />
<a href="anunit36.html">Unit 36 </a>
<p><a href="anindex.html">Index</a></p>
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