Many senior citizens are quite familiar with the shorthand book shown above. I found it hidden somewhere in my bookselves. I remember shorthand courses were very popular in the 1960/1970s, especially with young girls who aspired to be a stenographer (steno). The pay was better than an ordinary typist. Furthermore a steno could be the Company's secretary or personal assistant to a Manager, Director or CEO. She had to serve hot drinks to her boss every morning although it was not part of the job description. A steno had to take dictations by using shorthand, that is using symbols or abbreviations for words and phrases. In that way it was faster than writing word by word. There were 2 forms of shorthand. One was known as Pitman shorthand and the other Gregg shorhand. Both were equally popular. It was widely used before the invention of voice recording machine.
