Quote Originally Posted by nihil
OK HT~ I will take you up on this one............... My personal view is that you have not hijacked or damaged this thread. I saw that it was presented in Technical Humour, in a lighthearted manner, but, like yourself I also saw the serious aspect to it.

As for speeds, the average person speaks faster than they write, and writes faster than they type.
I can tell you that I for one, write faster than I type.... I'm going to do my speaking test though because I'm pretty sure I type faster than I speak (In conversation anyways.... Partially due to the fact that I don't have to wait for the person to absorb my comments when typing.. they can reread at their leisure)..

In support of this argument, I will mention "shorthand" which has been used by secretaries for years to take dictation.......... Pitman's is a classic example.
I agree there, but I'm still of the belief that typing is faster than writing (however this may be a generational gap... As my generation did far more typing than we ever did writing.. while with your generation the opposite would be true)

Secondly, might we examine the classic "QWERTY" keyboard? it was actually designed to make people type more slowly. Older members will remember the mechanical typewriter? it had a semi circular array of keys, and if you went too quickly, you would create a "birdsnest" or "logjam" with the type heads crashing into oneanother?
Terr has already addressed this... and I have to say I actually enjoy the QWERTY design... Also I could see it being a detriment if you already knew a keyboard (such as a QWERTY user today going to Dvorak). However in my case I haven't had to relearn a new keyboard.. it's always been this one. so I don't know that it slows me down.

OK IANAL () so I don't know how those Court Stenographers do it........... it obviously isn't a standard typewriter that they use.
I used to do Mock Trial in high school.. So I spent a lot of time in various court houses... In one of them they had a small "typewriter" that used paper that looked like a long roll of receipt paper... I believe this is what Terr is describing... However there were other court houses where saw the Court Stenographer using what I'll call a "reverse bullhorn"... Essentially she put the bigger opening over her mouth and there was no small opening and she just spoke into it while the trial was in progress.

Conversation is a whole different issue as I see things. It is an interactive process; and you don't know what you are going to say next, given that this will be dependent on other people's contributions.
Of course there's a difference between conversation, lecture, etc... However as I mentioned... the fact that you don't have to pause for response while typing speeds the process up.

I noticed your "challenge" and would suggest just taking your laptop to a lecture and trying to keep up............................ please remember that a lecturer is deliberately speaking rather slowly to allow the message to sink in?
Most of my profs spoke at what I'd consider an average pace, although they would stop to allow things to sink in after they had said them... That being said.. the majority of my class types notes... and usually we'd have word for word (or close enough to it) notes.. The classes where I struggled to keep up were the classes where our laptops weren't allowed.

I can understand that the current situation is mostly
due to the IM environment. I suppose the very limited text capacity of early cellphones has contributed as well? It takes me back to the era of the "telegram" when you paid by the letter/word............ they had a certain "style" and you used a thing called "stop" to punctuate your rather terse sentences
It's a number of things... IM, Cellphone and I suppose it could be equated to telegram times... but I still call it laziness for the most part.... IM is no excuse... cell phone was a fairly lousy excuse but telegram, way back when, was fairly valid.


AS for acronyms and abbreviations, I have no real problem, as we have used them in scientific contexts (usually measurements) for years...... mph, kph, mps, fps, and so on.
I'm fine with them too... When they make sense... IT is filled with them.. but they are technical terms.. much as they are in science... using them in every day language is still nothing more than laziness..

Happy New Year to you and "she who must be obeyed"
Same to you

Peace,
HT