Overview

A handwriting system that used the simplest possible strokes for letters would, of course, be faster to write
with than longhand, which uses several, sometimes as many as four, strokes for each letter. And if the system
were phonetic, words couldn't be misspelled!

The usual 26 letter alphabet just doesn't have enough letters to represent all the 32+ sounds used in English,
especially vowel sounds, so several letters are often used to represent a single sound. The word "ought," for
example, uses five letters to write only two sounds.

So a really slick form of handwriting would use one stroke for one sound. Simple, but too difficult? Not
necessarily. You just need to learn to hear the sounds that you use when speaking English so you can write
them, and then learn some simple symbols to represent those sounds. Since you have been taught to pay
attention to 26 letters and not the actual sounds of English, tuning in to speech sounds may take some time, but
can also be quite interesting and fun.

In the box below is a summary of everything you need to learn to start writing faster. As a bonus, hardly
anyone (probably no one you know) will be able to read your writing.

Handywrite System Summary

To better understand the above, study the following. Notice how, in the examples, each sound is often spelled
several different ways.
Consonants: (as in....)

nm knitmit , knifecalm (no l sound)

td twodo , stopped (one p, ends in t)fiddle

kg coatgoat , backghost
rl rakelake , wrongtell

pb pinbeen , happy (only one p sound)rabbit

fv fairyvery , laughof (v not f)

hw howwow , who (starts with h)wine

sh ch shinchin , oceanwatch
("ch" is the sound of t+sh, but gets a symbol of its own)

zh j azurejam , measurebridge
("j" is the sound of d+zh as in "edge")

ng nk singsink , longlank
("nk" is the sound of ng+k)
Th th thinthen (same vowel) , thighbreathe
("Thin" and "then" are the only two common words distinguished solely by the two forms of th, so if you get
them mixed up writing other words, no big deal. By the way, the "th" in "then" or "the" occurs about ten times
more often in writing than "Th" in "thin" or "think")

sz sinzen , scenthas
(s, z, and x may curve two ways, whichever seems best)

xy exampleyet , extraonion
("x" is the sound of k+s in fox, eh+k+s in extra, or eh+g+z in exactif you need to be excruciatingly exact
you could write extra as )

ll ny llamamanana
(These sounds are from foreign words such as "llama" when pronounced like "y" instead of "l." In Spain "ll" is
like the "lli" in "million." The "ny" sound is the "" in "maana" or "canyon")

Vowels: (as in...)

ae bat , plaid , half , laugh , can ,

glad

eh bet , many , said , says , bread ,

leopard

ih bit , mini , Sid , busy , women ,

hymn

a bot or bought , father , Don , far , caught ,

heart

uh but , done , alone , circus , pencil

ey bait , age , aid , say , they , vein

i beet , team , people , key , equal

ay bite , height , aisle , eye , lie , high

(may be written with a forward or backward slant, but generally down)
o boat , sew , open , toe , beau , yeoman

yu butte , new , few , feud , beauty , view

u boot , shoe , rule , blue , fruit , adieu

c book, put , full , wolf , good , should

au bout , house , bough , now , towel

oy boil , boy , toil , voice , oil

aw bawl , dawn , law , yawly'all ,

drawl
(This is a minor vowel very close to the "short o" in Don. In practice this vowel sound can be represented by
the symbol without confusion. So "all" or "awl" could be written or and so forth, but if you
need to distinguish between "dawn" and "Don" or "la" and "law," "tock" and "talk," then you canthese being
the among the few examples I have encountered that differ solely on the basis of these vowel sounds. Some
words, like "bought" (bawt) and "bot" (baht) may be pronounced the same by some people, and so may be
written the same. Note that when writing this symbol there is always at least one sharp angle between it and a
consonant to distinguish it from the vowels and which may also be tear shaped when they sometimes
blend in with two consonants in which case there is no angle.)

r bur , bird , first , word , honor , zephyr

(A little known or acknowledged fact: "r" is a vowel, not a consonant. Generations of English teachers have
mislead you. While I did list "r" with the consonants, I'm now giving you the straight dope. A vowel sound is
one you can make in a continuous manner using your vocal cords with mouth open until you run out of breath.
Try it. Consonants are the various ways vowels can be modified at the beginning or end of them. Say
"ahahahahahahahah," now say "rrrrrrrrrrrrr."Obviously "R" is a vowel. Some admit only that it's a semivowel,
but I prefer to say the emperor has no clothes and claim it's a vowel. Next time you're around an English
teacher or other language expert, argue this point ad nausium until they concede.)

Consonant Blends
Some consonant sounds often blend with others. For example "bl" or "fr." When possible, the symbols for
consonants that blend also blend. Here are some examples.

pr , pl , br , bl , fr , fl , gr , gl

kr , kl , wr , hw , kw , rk , sp , sl
Note that most words starting with "wh" are actually pronounced "hw" with a few exceptions like "who"
which is just "h" plus "oo" without a "w" sound.
Also, "nt" can be written or blended into . The vowels in the syllables "ten," "ton," and "tin" are
often indistinctly pronounced, especially at the ends of words (as in "cotton"), and may be heard as just "t+n"
which can be blended into as in "cott'n pick'n good."
Another handy blend is to use for "d" or "ed" at the end of a word by making the hook with a counter-

clockwise motion as in "and" or "bird" . This differs from the vowel usage of this symbol which is
always written clockwise as in "know" .

Alternative Vowel Symbols

If you find that distinguishing between clockwise and counter clockwise circles is too confusing, you could
eliminate the distinction at the cost of using two-stroke symbols to stand for single sounds. A large circle in
any direction would be "uh" in "but," and a small circle in any direction would be used for the "ih" in "bit."
This leaves the need to come up with symbols for the "ah" in "father" and "eh" in "bet" sounds. The
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses the following symbols for these sounds and similar symbols could
be used in Handywrite.

Try out the alternatives and see what feels best for you.
Typing the Handywrite Alphabet
It is useful to assign the sounds in the Handywrite phonetic alphabet to keyboard characters that are quick to
type. Since you already know most of the characters, learning a few more will allow you to type words
phonetically. Play around with the following and you may find it isn't that hard to print/type phonetically.
Here are typeable characters for each sound based on international usage:

The above usage will make sense if you are familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Since the
IPA is the only really good pronunciation guide, I would suggest studying it, and using the above simplified
typeable version to break down words into basic speech sounds.
Because our interest is to write using only the minimum number of distinctive vowel and consonant sounds
needed to tell one word from another, it would be correct to say that Handywrite uses a phonemic rather than
phonetic alphabet. One symbol may stand for two speech sounds provided they differ only slightly (as
allophones) and are not used to differenctiate between words. True homophones, of course, cannot be written
differently using a phonemic or phonetic alphabet, so "their" and "there" are written the same.

Since "c" is not used for a consonant sound, it is used to represent the vowel in "bull" or "book."

Sometimes a vowel is indistinct or non-existent. The word "nation" could be pronounced "neyshuhn,"
"neyshihn," "neyshehn," or with no vowel in "neyshn." In such cases, go with the simplest and write "shn"
for "-tion" or "-sion."
Phonetics is phun. As infants we have the ability to hear all possible speech sounds used in any language. With
maturity most of us lose the ability to hear speech sounds not in our native language. In some languages, for
example, there is no distinction made between "p" and "b" so if you say "pet" then "bet" native speakers will
hear both as the same word. With other sounds, English speakers have the same impairment.

The vowel "e," as in Spanish "el bebe," is not normally found in English other than in the diphthong "ey" as in
"bait" or Spanish "ley," which is the "e" sound with the slight addition of the "i" in "beet." The "e" vowel is a
tensed form of "eh" in "bet," but sounds more like "ey" to English speakers. So English speakers tend to hear
"el" to rhyme with "bell (behl)" and "bebe" to rhyme with the first vowel in "baby (beybi), while Spanish
speakers hear "ey," they tend not to hear any difference between "eh" and "e." In Handywrite both "eh (bet)"
and "e (bebe)" are represented by the same counter-clockwise small loop, even though these sound like two
distinct vowel sounds to English speakers. For practical purposes, "eh" or "e" is also the first vowel in "hair,"
"care," or "air" when followed by "r." In Handywrite, then, "hair" would be .
Here's an example from Spanish:

El mes de julio es un mes de fiestas por todo el mundo hispano.

el mes de hulio es un mes de fiestas por todo el mundo ispano.

Not too many differences, since Spanish is quite phonetic to begin with. An English speaker learning Spanish
might phonetically write the above as:
ehl meys dey hulio ehs un meys dey fiehstuhs por todo ehl mundo hispano.
Ah, so that's why I speak Spanish with such a thick accent! Using the international based characters with
English would look like this:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogs, and that made me laugh.

thuh kwihk braun fax juhmps ovr thi leyzi dagz, nd tht meyd mi lf.
Not nearly as close to normal spelling as with Spanish, but English orthography is only marginally phonetic
about 40%. Note that the vowel in "cat" can be typed as "ae" or as a single character "" if you have an
international keyboard.

The above international typeable version should be used along with a dictionary that uses the IPA system to
help you make sense of phonetics. While the IPA may seem confusing, the other pronunciation guides used by
many dictionaries are confusing.
 Handywrite Lessons 1-7

Part One: The Basics

There must be a direct and intimate correspondence between the two acts of speaking and writing. For this
reason the basis of the writing must be phonetic, so that we may, as it were, talk with our fingers. --McDermut
Lesson 1
1. The sound of long A (ey), as in "pace," is represented by a double circle symbol as it is actually a
diphthong, a vowel sound made up of two other vowels. Say it slowly and hear the change in vowel sounds.
Make the larger circle first, then the smaller one.
2. F and V, P and B, and S and Z are represented by downward elliptical strokes of different length. With S and
Z the in-out direction of the curve is not significant, so use whichever is most facile. Note that many words
ending in S actually have a Z sound ("base" ends in S while "bays" end-z in Z).

F and V , P and B , S and Z

face vase

pace base

say bays

3. T and D are represented by straight lines written forward and up.

T and D

bait paid fade fate

4. N and M are represented by forward straight lines.

N and M
gain game name Maine

5. K and G are represented as forward convex curves.

K and G

bake peg cave gave


Lesson 2

1. The sound of long E (i) as in "beet" is represented by a small figure eight symbol. This sound is often
spelled using "ee," which helps in remembering this symbol.

beet need feed geese keys

2. The sound of A (ae) in "cat" is represented by a circle with a tick mark inside. The pen moves to the middle
of the circle before continuing.

cat gnat bad bat can

3. The NG sound, as in "sing," and NG+K sound, as in "sink," are represented by forward sloping lines.

NG and NK

bang bank tang tank

4. The sound of SH and CH are represented by down and backward lines. The CH sound is actually the sound
of T+SH.

SH and CH

shave cheek shake cash catch shack

Lesson 3

1. The short E sound (eh) as in "said," and the short I (ih) sound as in "sit," are both represented by a small
circle. When made counter-clockwise the symbol represents the EH sound, and the IH sound is indicated when
it is made clockwise. The pen may come to a stop as when writing some works such as "beg."

big beg bit bet sit set pick peck

miss mess
2. The A sound (ah) in "father" and short O as in "hot," as well as the UH sound as in "cut" and "above" are
represented by a large circle. When made counter-clockwise the symbol represents the UH sound, and short A/
short O is represented by a clockwise circle.

done Don nut not but bot or bought

 upon above

3. Forward and downward curves of opposite direction and median length represent the sounds of H as in
"hate" and W as in "wait". In words like "when," "what," and "where" the "wh" is actually an H-W sound
when the H pronounced at all. If you don't pronounce the H and leave it off, no confusion is likely to occur.
H and W

H-W

half hymn hit wit women what wheat

4. The Q or QU sound is actually a K-W sound and so is represented as a K-W blend.
KW

quit quick quake

Lesson 4

1. The sound of AW as in "dawn" is very closely related to the sound of AH in "father," "hot," or "Don." Few
words are distinguished one from the other on the basis of this sound alone. It is represented by a teardrop
symbol made either clockwise or counter-clockwise. It is like the more open circle used in "Don" but the pen
always comes to a stop when making it. Since the distinction is rarely required, using the clockwise circle for
words like "tall," "bought" or "broad" creates no confusion just as pronouncing them with an AW or AH sound
would be heard as the same word by almost everyone. If you say bawt for "bought" and want to avoid
confusion with baht, as in "a bot is the larva of a botfly," then you can be meticulous and write "bought" using
the teardrop symbol.

Don dawn odd awed tock talk

2. A forward or upward hook represents the sound of long O as in "hope".

hope vote moan photo doe show

3. The sound of R and L are represented by convex forward curves.
R and L

rake lake ruff/rough luck

 riddle less

4. The sound of OO as in "boot" or "Luke" is represented by a U shape symbol, while the vowel sound in
"pull" is represented by a sideways hook.

pool pull Luke look fool

full who

Lesson 5

1. Sometimes called a semi-vowel, the R sound is best regarded simply as a vowel in its own right.
Pronunciation guides often insert an imaginary UH sound in front of R in such words as bird, burp, earn,
purple, dirt, her, and heard when the only vowel is actually R.

burp bird earn runner paper her sugar

2. Vowel sounds before R may blend with R or not. The OR sound would always be blended.
lore lower more mower

3. The AR sound is the sound of AH in "father" combined with R.

art lark bar farm

farmer (one M sound)

4. The EH sound in "bet" before R may sound close to long A as it does in bear, care, terror, but it is not as
distinct as it is in "player," which has the EY/long A sound. In most cases, write EHR instead of EYR.

lair layer prayer player bear care

5. The IH sound in "bit" before R sounds close to long E as it does in beer, dear, sere (dried up), but is not as
distinct as it is in "seer" (a person who sees). The IH sound is also the Y at the end of many words although
long E for Y also works.

beer sere seer many marry

Lesson 6

1. The ZH sound, the second vowel in "measure" and the J sound as in "major," which is actually a D+ZH
sound, are represented by vertical down strokes.

ZH and J

measure vision garage division

major adjust jest gist

2. The long I (AY) sound is represented by a short downward stroke, but it need not be straight down.

bite tight fly kite price prize

3. There are two TH sounds although the distinction is rarely important. You can hear the difference in "thin"
and "then," and between "thy" and "thigh." The symbols are upward curves of medium length in the shape of
quarter circles.

Th and th

Th as in thigh ether thin that

th as in thy either then they

4. The AH+OO sound, as in "bout," may be represented by writing each vowel, or by using a short upward/
backward line.

town noun loud fowl outer

Lesson 7

1. The Y sound as in "yet" is represented by a long steep downward curve.

yet yellow yank onion yeomen

yawl

2. The long U (YU) sound as in "butte" is the IH sound plus OO. You could also use Y+OO if you prefer.

butte few you/ewe unit

3. The sound of X is actually a KS sound and is represented by a short upward curve, which also stands for EH
+KS at the beginning of words. Writing K+S would also work.

wax box locks expert extra or

4. The sound of OY as in "boy" and "oil" is an O+IH sound represented by combining these vowels.

boy oil toil coin

Handywrite Lessons 8-10

Part Two: The Refinements

Shorthand is the science of abbreviation. --Pitman
Lesson 8

1. Punctuation is the same as in longhand although you may want to use different symbols for the dash
and hyphen if you want to reserve N and M for abbreviations. Since capitals are not spoken, they are not used
in phonetic writing. However, you could use proofreader convention and triple underline the first sound.
hyphen dash
Luke
2. An upward hook can (but need not) be used for the ending D or ED sounds when preceded by R, L,
N, M, NG, NK, or T, D. Two hooks make DIHD and an S or Z can be added.

bird held hand hanged baited padded handed hands

3. Words ending in the TUHN, TIHN, or TEHN sounds can be written as a T-N blend. The NT sound
can be written as an T-N blend.
T-N and NT

cotton hint tense paint extend spent Washington

 4. International sounds can be written. The E in "el bebe" is the EH small circle. The trilled double R
is just written RR. The KH sound in "Bach" is a K-H blend. The LL sound is represented by Y, and the
sound is NY.

el bebe perro Bach llama bao

5. Long or compound words need not be written as one continuous line, and parts can overlap as in
Chinese ideographs for a more compact form.

cannot understand

development

convenient

6. Just for fun:


Ode to Handy Hand



The lesson one must learn is clear,

Listen! And write only what you hear.

Graphemes number many hundred,

Phonemes are but few when numbered.



So let us take our pens in hand,

And learn to write in Handy Hand.

Then will we never misspell a word,

'Cause they're written just like they're heard.

And there's no T's to cross, no I's to dot,

As for apostrophes, they're not used a lot.

But just five vowels we cannot permit,

There are more than that we must admit.

And if we're to write the speedy way,


Then we must practice everyday.

Thus will we come to understand,

The advantages of learning Handy Hand.


Lesson 9

1. General abbreviating principle: Write out as much of a word as is required to suggest its meaning
(to you), and put a dot.

abbreviation
2. If you must pause for even a fraction of a second in composing an abbreviation, the abbreviation
becomes a speed handicap rather than a help, so abbreviate only words you often use.
3. The word ending -tion and -sion, can be written as SHN.

nation
4. Certain other blends are possible. The sounds DEHM, DIHM, DUHM can be written as a D-M
blend, like T-N but longer.

dimple wisdom
The sounds of TEHM and TIHM can be written as a T-M blend, like T-N but with an extended straight
line.

tempo

Lesson 10

Here's a short sample of writing using only a few short cuts and no shorthand abbreviations.


Read a poem or two in English/Handywrite:


Nothing Gold Can Stay

Fire and Ice

The Tyger

Jabberwocky

Handywrite letter


Since Handywrite is an "open source" project, those learning the system are encouraged to create and
submit additional learning material. Creating the material, such as by transcribing famous quotes or poems
into Handywrite will help one and all. Hint: Write in pencil to allow corrections, scan at 100 dpi in 256 grey
scale, save as .gif file and email it to: Eric Lee
Be sure to checkout user Hints, tips, and suggestions.
Where to now?
To learn more than the basic handwriting system, checkout Handywrite Shorthand.

To find out how Handywrite came to be, checkout Handywrite: The method and madness of invention.

For a general guide to various handwriting systems, checkout Alternative Handwriting and Shorthand
Systems.
For an encylopedia entry on Shorthand with links, checkout Wikipedia.
For advice on how to learn any new writing system, among other things, checkout Shorthand Systems.

Handywrite Shorthand

Shorthand is any system of abbreviated writing.

Assuming your are already familiar with Handywrite handwriting, which offers a short and sweet (but not
abbreviated) writing system, you can write even faster by systematically abbreviating common words and
phrases. Of course you could learn one of the many alphabetic shorthand systems and write in abbreviated
longhand, but why start with an inherently slow form of handwriting and then try to write fast? Better to start
with something that is already fast and go from there.

What to abbreviate? The most common words, prefixes, suffixes, and phrases.

About 40 words make up about 40% of all the words you write and the 100 most frequent words make up
about 50%, so learning a few abbreviations for the most common words would give you a big bang for the
effort. If you have to stop writing to think of an abbreviation, then you're better off just writing out the word.

Here are 100 abbreviations selected from the 300 most common words listed in their order of frequency. Only
use an abbreviation is if you feel learning and remembering it is easier than writing it out in full.

the of and a, an
in is you that
he for was are
as with they at

be this from have

one had not but

what all when we

can your you're

which

said will about how

out she many some

would into time could

first been now

people

over did down only

find long
use very

after words where

just

good new our

before

think around another

used

come become because things

different again number great

small found between

every

should Mr. under along

next while below something

hadn't
often house form
come become because things

different again number great

small found between

every

should Mr. under along

next while below something

hadn't
often house form

sometimes
without
being however

thing example answer

using

Note that a short upward line can be used for the "au" sound in "out." Also place dots, dashes, and commas
used as punctuation close to the preceding word and further away when used to represent words (the, of, in,
some).

Prefixes
Prefixes may be written separately from the root word that should then be written below or through the prefix.

pre- de- inter- in- com-

re- over- be- out- fore-

trans- counter- after- an-

sub-

Suffixes
Suffixes may be written separately from the root word also, and should be written under or through it.

-ment -ly -ness -er -ed or

-est -ing -ological -tion, -sion
-able

-ant -ten, -tin, - -ship -al

-ful
ton
-ent

Common Phrases
Some phrases occur frequently enough that you might want to use abbreviations for them.

are not, aren't

are you as many

as soon as be able cannot

could have, could've

could not
could be

did not, didn't

do not had not
are not, aren't
are you as many

as soon as be able cannot

could have, could've

could not
could be

did not, didn't

do not had not

have not, haven't

have had
have been

I am, I'm
have you I have, I've

is not, isn't it is, it's

in which

of course of which one of

should be should have should not

some of that are that have

that is, that's that will they are
they could they will this is
this will we are, we're we could

we should we will
we have, we've

will be will have with which

you will, you'll

would have you have, you've

Suggestions
Don't try to convert from longhand to Handywrite in one go. Just start to write a few of the most common
words in Handywrite, and add more as you feel the need for speed. This will make learning Handywrite
relatively painless and provide an immediate payoff.
You will have to practice if you do not want to write words the long way.

User Hints, Tips, and Suggestions

Suggestion 01
This might help someone learn the four circular shapes used for the 4 vowel sounds IH AH EH and UH.

Using your index finger of your writing hand, trace in the air small circles (clockwise) and large circles (also
clockwise). When making a small circle say out loud "in" (IHN) once each loop. When making a large circle
say out loud "on" (AHN).

Similarly for the counterclockwise motions: Trace a small circle counterclockwise and say "CEN-ter" (SEHN-
TR). Trace a large circle (counter-clockwise), say outloud "SUN" (SUHN).

Gradually change saying "In" to IH and "On" to AH. Likewise, change saying "Center" to EH and Sun to UH

-- Doug Edmunds

Suggestion 2

Writing Handywrite on Graph Paper

With Handywrite, the hardest skill to learn is reading it quickly. One tool you can use to help you learn
faster is to write on graph paper.
When trying to read your own writing, you might find yourself wondering things like Is that an R or an
L? because so many of the consonants are the same symbol, just different lengths. One solution is to
exaggerate the lengths, but that can waste space and still might not be clear enough. An easier way to fix
this is by using a grid.
When writing a long symbol (such as M) you make it two squares long and/or tall (depending on the
letter, of course). When writing a short symbol (such as N) you only make it one square long/tall. Your
letters dont need to match up exactly to the lines of the grid, because even if the letter starts and ends in
the middle of squares, you can still easily tell how many squares it is.
By using this system you give yourself a constant size reference, which means all your letters will be
proportional to one another, even if theyre on totally different sheets of paper. This way youll rarely (if
ever) find yourself wondering Is that letter long or short? Heres a sample of some writing:
This makes it easier to recognize your letters, and thusly you will spend much less time trying to distinguish
between similar symbols. The less time you spend on that, the more time you have to study Handywrite, and
the time you put into the studying will be more rewarding. So youll learn faster and become less frustrated.
Who wouldnt want that?

Handywrite
 The method and madness of invention

I decided early on in life to not limit myself to doing only those things other people were willing to pay me to
do. This resolve had one predictable consequence: Poverty.

When I went to college in the early 70's I lived on the streets in a plywood box I built myself that sat on the
back of a '54 red and blue spray-painted Ford pickup. Over the summers I abandoned the truck, and, with my
trusty Army blanket, I hit the road as a migrant farmworker. I liked the per diem work and random encounters,
and made enough in about six weeks to pay my expenses the rest of the year.

After only a few years at a community college I wised up and realized I could learn more, faster, for less
money, and without all the annoying busy work by feeding directly from the trough of knowledge.
Accordingly I moved to the student ghetto of Isla Vista near Santa Barbara and spent the better part of my days
and nights wandering the stacks at the UCSB library where I pursued.... whatever interested me at the time
(e.g. string figures). Summers were still spent attending URL (University of Real Life) as a fruit tramp.

During this time I took an interest in English orthography and the various attempts at reform thereof. I had
been a rather poor student of English, received exceptionally low grades, but suspected that my inability to
grasp, among other mysteries, the rules that would allow me to correctly spell all words was not entirely due to
defects residing solely within me, as many English teachers had lead me to believe. I suspected that my
Mother Tongue fell short of perfection, that things were worse than They wanted us to know (and they are).

Spelling reform seemed as hopeless as it was sensible, so I ventured into a study of phonetics for several
months. An interest in phonemes lead to an interest in graphemes and various writing systems--shorthand
(many), Bell's Visible Speech, Blissymbolics, even Japanese. I realized that English was perfectly phonetic
after all, that it was just the way we wrote it that sucked. There's just something irritating about a writing
system that is only about 40% phonetic and 60% whatever.

However, once the 50K or so most commonly used words become familiar (are automatically recognized at a
glance), printed English is quite readable, quite well adapted to the eye. It may not be well adapted to the
brains trying to spell it, but it works for the purpose of being read. As for all the kids, functionally illiterate
adults, and ESL students who haven't gotten over the hump: Too bad, I guess.

Writing TO (traditional orthography) is another matter. Printing by hand is readable, but ill adapted to the
hand. It is painfully slow unless you're a monk/scribe who cares little about time or effort in which case it is
just slow. Longhand takes some of the rough edges off, but is only marginally faster to write. I thought about
learning shorthand to take notes faster and render any journal keeping unreadable by virtually all.

I liked the look of Gregg Shorthand; the symbols used, and undertook a study of it. While supposedly
phonetic, I soon discovered it to be a confused mix of phonetic and TO usage. There wasn't enough symbols
even to write all the consonant sounds, and vowels could only be hinted at. Only outlines of words could be
written that merely suggested what the word might be (unless you memorized them as ideographs)--it was
worse even than TO. The system was well suited for the purpose of taking business dictation, serving as a sort
of mnemonic outline of someone's utterances until they could be transcribed, but it was too abbreviated for
personal use. I looked into Pitman, and any others I could find, but none suited me.

I came across a copy of Godfrey Dewey's "The Relative Frequency of English Speech Sounds" which is a
treasure trove of information, not just about the frequency of phonemes, but of syllables and words as well. I
thought that with such information one could design a really slick phonetic handwriting system. It wouldn't be
too hard--just make a good match of symbol to sound.

For symbols, why not use simple ones--single lines and curves in various directions and of different lengths?
Curves could be either circular (as in Pitman Shorthand) or elliptical (as in Gregg), and I picked elliptical as
being the more cursive. I then created a large matrix with all possible symbols written across the top and again
down the side. I then filled in the boxes with all possible combinations to see how they went together. Some
combined awkwardly, while other combinations were more felicitous just as some consonants blend well
together (like "br" and "fl"), and others not at all. My object was to find the best match between sound and
symbol, factoring in frequency, so the best symbols could be assigned to the most frequent sounds. In so far as
possible, symbols that blend well together should represent sounds that blend well together.

When I finished this project, I realized that I had succeed only in duplicating the work of John Robert Gregg
who must have done something very much the same as I had. His choice of symbols to represent consonant
sounds was about as good a match between sounds and symbols as one could make. Since I cared only about
finding the best match and felt no need to be original, I adopted Gregg's consonant symbols in so far as
possible (about 65% the same)--changing some and adding other symbols so all consonant sounds could be
written.

The next project was to find a way to represent all necessary vowels. Pitman had used diacritical marks added
to the consonant outline, but I wanted to avoid that. How to do so was a real puzzler, but persistent tinkering
lead eventually to a successful solution.

I was aware that one reason Dewey had compiled data on the relative frequency of English speech sounds was
to design his own phonetic handwriting system, but I could find out nothing about it. I was very curious to
learn what his solution had been to the same problem I was working on.

Until I found out, my research was incomplete, so I hitchhiked to Berkley to see what I could find in the UCB
library. I found a shorthand bibliography with some 5,000 references. I also found out that the library with the
most complete collection of shorthand material was the New York City Public Library.

So, it seemed, I needed to go to Manhattan.

During the following summer I heard from a friend, Pedro, whom I had worked with a few summers earlier in
a farm labor camp near Modesto. He had just been laid off, and wanted to know if I wanted to go to
Bakersfield to look for work. Pedro had moved up in the world, having acquired an apartment in LA, a wife,
and a car. Such things tend to require money to maintain, so with a friend of his from Columbia, we drove off
to the Big Valley, the land of farm labor.

We found work picking grapes for raisins. This involves filling a large pan, laying down a sheet of paper called
a "tray," and spreading the grapes on it to dry. Not too complicated, but the catch was that to get paid you had
to finish the row you were working on. This was troubling, as the rows were so long we could not see the end
of them. It took us three days to pick one row each. I got 11 cents for each tray, which came to $34 after
deductions.

With that much money I could go to NYC, so I did.

I had hopped freight trains between Bakersfield and northern Washington, following the crops with the other
tramps, but had never ventured east. Some of the old tramps had told me how to ride the trains to New York
(which lines to take to which cities), and so guided only by secondhand information, I bid my friends goodbye,
and set out to Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, and Denver. From Denver to Chicago I stayed on
the train for 35 hours without getting off. I wandered the Chicago yards for many hours, but my fund of
outdated knowledge failed me and no local knowledge could be found. Finally some rather nice railroad
security guys explained why riding the trains further east might be too problematical, given that the
government was now running them, and suggested hitchhiking might prove more successful. I agreed and they
were good enough to give me a ride to the nearest highway.

I entered Manhattan in a semi-rig, which was odd since truckers hardly ever pick up hitchhikers, contrary to
what Hollywood seems to think. I made my way to that Great Trough of Knowledge, the NYC Main Library,
and reverently sat in the Great Reading Room. I found that what I was looking for was in the annex building
some blocks away, so for the next week for so I read everything I wanted to know about numerous shorthand
systems, including the one Dewey came up with.

Satiated, in spite of selling blood to help pay for my studies, I left the Big Apple, though not without having
taken time for a good deal of urban hiking by day and night. When I left I still had seven dollars in my pocket.
It took me seven days to hitchhike back to California, and I still had a dollar and some change remaining when
I got there. Yes, those were the days.

Although the trip was successful in that I completed my research, I learned nothing that added to or aided my
work. I continued to make some refinements, but feeling that I had finished the handwriting project, I moved
on to other interests.

I had enjoyed the problem and the challenge of solving it, and that was enough. At least I was not crazy
enough to think that the world was going to beat a path to my door (even if I had had one). Fortunately, the act
of creation is its own reward. It was all fun, even if in a crazy sort of way, and I went on to have even more fun
working hard on other quixotic, unprofitable endeavors.

Now that the Internet allows any fool to self-publish for the price of a little typing, I'm thinking that the six or
so people out there who would be keenly interested in my handwriting system (folks who are probably, even
now as I type, working hard on their own systems) can just click a few times on their mouse and find out all
about Handywrite without even having to hop a freight train or hitchhike across a continent. Now that's
progress for you.

Best Regards,
Eric Lee