Lately, I've been learning Teeline shorthand. This is not a lost art, but it's not mainstream anymore, so I thought I would explain a little of what I've learned about Teeline, shorthand in general, and why I'm practicing shorthand in 2025.
Shorthand refers to any number of systems of handwriting that allow a proficient writer to record speech verbatim at greater speed than when writing longhand. Before electronics were the primary mode of transcription, shorthand was a necessity for secretarial work. Secretaries were often expected to be able to handwrite at over 100 words per minute.
The system I have chosen to learn is called Teeline. Teeline was developed in the 1960s and is largely an alphabetic system with some phonetic elements. That means that each letter corresponds to a character in the Teeline alphabet, but sometimes we take shortcuts in writing words based on the sounds within them. For example, 'my' is technically written with the characters for 'M' and 'I', not 'M' and 'Y'. All unnecessary letters are removed from a word, stripping it down to only the letters needed to identify what the word is in context.
Another interesting thing about Teeline is that each word is formed with a single character that is a composite of characters representing regular letters. This means you can fit more words on a line and therefore on the page.
Of course, I do not yet write Teeline at 100 words a minute. That takes intense practice for a longer period of time than I've been learning Teeline. So if I can't write fast, why use Teeline at all? Well, it's good for privacy. Sometimes I need to record sensitive information in my notebooks, and using shorthand lowers the likelihood that a prying eye could even read my personal notes. Furthermore, it's fun. It feels like writing in a special secret code.
I do want to eventually be able to top 100 words per minute, but that will take a long time. In the meantime, I practice about 10 minutes a day doing exercises out of Harry Butler's Teeline Shorthand Made Simple. The goal is to form a habit that lasts a long time.
Below, I am including some samples of what my shorthand writing looks like. Are there any shorthand writers out there? What kind did you pick to learn and why?
