Shorthand

[prog]

This is a curious image of a reporter writing in shorthand, found by dougo.

My whole life I understood the word "shorthand" as a synonym for "abbreviation", not a complete and formal writing system that looks like alien script to the uninitiated. But the commenters on that photograph say it's so, and Wikipedia agrees, with yet more graphic evidence. Very interesting!

Comments

[dougo.livejournal.com]

It's not alien, it's totally D'ni script.

Er, wait, are D'ni aliens? Is "D'ni" a race or a civilization?

[radtea.livejournal.com]

In a fit of orthogonal geekery, I interpreted your comment to mean "Dene' script", which I figured was probably similar to written Cree (although apparently the syllabic representation of Athabaskan languages is no longer much used.) On that basis I was going to suggest that "civilization" was probably a better designation than "race", but as D'ni turns out NOT to be yet another Anglicization of Dene' there isn't really much I can say about the question!