are people taking abbreviations too far?

[nihil]

Hmmm,

Thanks for the link on stenography. The fact that they use shorthand is further support to the suggestion that speech is much faster than typing.

The QWERTY keyboard was never designed with typing efficiency in mind. It is purely a legacy of the mechanical problem of manual typewriters, which was collisions between the hammers. The fact that it is not particularly efficient slows the typist down and further reduces the incidence of collisions.

Please remember that the QWERTY keyboard design pre-dates touch typing by at least 10 years. the envisaged typing style when it was invented was a two fingered "pick and poke"

You need to look at layouts such as Dvorak, for an ergonomic touch typing design. I believe that it still holds the World Record?

[D.J.]

If you think acronyms are annoying, try looking at the military. There is an acronym for almost everything.

[Godsrock37]

when i was first getting seriously involved in the world of computers, my uncle was explaining some concept to me and after about the third, "what does that stand for" he was like, if u havent noticed, we computer nerds like to use TLA's i looked at him for about 2 min. dumbfounded and then realized i had been had

[HTRegz]

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

[nihil]

Hmmm,

I am not sure that your speaking test is a fair comparison. I would have thought that conversation is more like IM, in that you wait for a response before typing your reply?

I do recall the days of audio typing though. That was when people dictated their text into a tape recorder (Dictaphone or whatever). The typist had foot controls to stop and start the tape (a bit like a sewing machine ) That suggested to me that the spoken word was faster than typing.

I agree that there is something of a generation effect involved. Firstly, in my days at High School and College, ordinary people only had mechanical, manual typewriters. Naturally, the electric golfball, daisywheel and word processing packages are much faster. It should also be borne in mind that typewriters are fundamentally noisy, so are not particularly well suited to use in a traditional educational environment.

I forgot to mention it, but there was absolutely none of this IM speak when the TELEX machine was commonplace. My comment on the telegram needs to be considered in the light of the cost of the communication, rather than any deliberate laziness

Another factor was that when I was in High School, your work HAD to be handwritten and with a fountain pen . At college, the emphasis was still on formal examinations where typewriters would be impractical. The only things that had to be typed were theses and dissertations.

Sure, we use a fair number of acronyms in IT and, like yourself, I find this acceptable. The way I was taught was that when you were preparing a business document you put the full phrase in brackets after the acronym the first time you used it. Also, one of the addenda to the document had to be a list of acronyms used and their meanings.

[brokencrow]

LOL (lots of luck).

[alakhiyar]

For common ones,

List of Internet slang phrases

For complete slangs reference,
Here you go,

NetLingo


cheers

[|3lack|ce]

Inside info from the realm of the infamous Mrs|ce:

"The court reporter's typerwriter isn't a standard qwerty keyboard. In fact, it can't even print letters. What it does print is vocal sounds used to form words phonetically."

- there's a much smaller range of phonetics than there are letters, ergo one can 'type' at the speed of speech, which is pretty much impossible with qwerty (least I've never seen anyone who can do it, and I hit 140wpm myself) - |ce

[gothic_type]

I do recall the days of audio typing though. That was when people dictated their text into a tape recorder (Dictaphone or whatever). The typist had foot controls to stop and start the tape (a bit like a sewing machine ) That suggested to me that the spoken word was faster than typing.

Another reason could be that sometimes with recordings what has been said is not clear the first time you hear it and you have to listen multiple times to make out some of the words.

Personally I type a lot faster than I can write. This is perhaps because I'm left handed, and my writing sucks; after 2hr exams my hand feels like it's about to fall off!

ac