I am not a fan of shorthand conversation; I often wonder how much time people save when they use it? Better yet, what they do with all that saved time in any event? To each their own, I suppose. There are many practical uses for shorthand; some are quite apt for the occasion, such as jotting minutes in a meeting or even notes in a lecture. Then, there is the other sort, informal perhaps, but annoying all the same, which somewhat is the subject of my article, but not the entire scope of it.
When you have a conversation with someone, the aim is to be able to communicate your thoughts and convey certain ideas to the other party. Some of the shorthand I have had the pleasure, displeasure rather, of reading really left me scratching my head trying to decipher what exactly was being said. I mean, if the idea is to convey a thought that warrants a response, surely the recipient ought to be able to read it, understand it and respond. This leads me to my actual point, when you compress your words, you condense your thoughts.
How do I mean? Well, think about it this way, the purpose of shorthand is to use the least number of characters to capture the same meaning, but in so doing, you end up diminishing the sense or the meaning. I mean, how often have you reread something you wrote in short and failed to actually grasp the meaning? How much more so the other party? When we shorten words or phrases, we can even lose the tone of the thought, and while the wording may be correct, it may not stress the same sense or evoke the same feelings in the reader.
The best way to allow your ideas to be heard is through properly written out phrases or sentences. I can’t suppose that it is possible not to make use of shorthand at all times; however, try and use up those extra seconds and write something in a manner that captures the entirety of the message you intend to communicate, the sense it’s supposed to carry and the tone it is meant to invoke...be careful not to compress your words too much and condense your thoughts as a result.
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