https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.

G-Man Shorthand.
A friend of mine is about to begin university. He mentioned to
me that he thought his handwriting might need some improvement,
so I sent him my article on Nuscript. He also stated that he would
like to be able to write faster. Sending him articles on shorthand and
speedwriting would not help, since most of these systems require
weeks or months to master. I ruminated on this for a week or so and
the result is the shorthand system below, which in honour of my
friend I have named “G-man Shorthand”.
G-man is based on the Teeline system with a number of ideas
from the Ford Shorthand system. Some ideas from Gregg
Shorthand have also been used. Reading some of the lessons for
Teeline and Ford will help you understand the sections below. See
the reference section at the end for examples of these systems.
G-man is based on the concept that characters should be quick
and easy to write. Characters should bear some relation to their
traditional forms. If you cannot remember a character you can use
the traditional form. You can also use traditional characters for
clarity or emphasis.
G-man is currently a prototype, version 0.9, if you will. There
are a few issues I think need work. I would like characters to be
more independent of their position relative to a line or other
characters. This is mainly an issue with combined characters I think.
I am not entirely happy with the letter “L” either.
Nothing here is set in stone. Take what you wish from it and
adapt it to what works best for you.
The Alphabet.
“a” is written as a small inverted “v” shape. It is the same as the
shape we call an “A-frame”. Its alternate forms just draw one side of
this shape. Either a line sloping upwards to the right or downwards
to the right. This is the same as in the Teeline system. Which form
you use depends on personal preference and the surrounding letters
the character joins to.
“b” is fairly conventional. The tall part can be curved for easier
1 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

writing, making it resemble a “6”. It doesn’t really matter if the tall

part is straight or curved.

“c” is also conventional. Phonetically “c” has little real use in

English, substituting for “k” before an “a”, “o” and “u” or “s”
before an “e” or “i”. C can be used instead of these letters to
distinguish a word normally spelt with “c”. The main use of “c” is to
form “ch”. This is written as a single character, the c shape jointing
to the top of the “h” shape (qv). Not all words in English with “ch”
have the “ch” sound. “Chemical” is actually “kemikal”.
“d” is made like a reversed “6”. The alternative form, from
Teeline, is a medium length horizontal dash drawn on or near the
line or the bottom of the neighbouring character. This dash should
be made slightly humped, “𛱊” to distinguish it from “t” and “e”.
This effectively makes d the same shape as “k” in Gregg.
“e” is a little right-angle corner. It can be remembered as being
the bottom left corner of a capital “E”. The alternative forms are a
short vertical or horizontal line, the horizontal being close to the
bottom of nearby characters. When the letters “ee” occur within a
word these can be written as a single longer dash. To distinguish it
from a “t” it can instead be made with a little step, like a lightning
bolt. Alternatives for “e” are a slightly curved oblique line or a low
reversed apostrophe, sloping down to the right. E is used a lot in
English and thus there are several alternatives.
“f ” is written as normal, omitting the cross piece, “ſ”.
“g” may be fairly conventional, resembling the “j” with a cup
2 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

shape. Loop or hook the tail to distinguish it from composites of

“y”. The loop of the tail is larger than on a “j” and finished
horizontally, to distinguish it from some forms of “o”: “ℊ”. The
quickest, simplest way to write “g” may be to write it like a “9”.
When joining “g” to a following letter form it as “ʕ” or a large loop
that finishes horizontally. When adding to a previous letter add a tail
with a large loop and horizontal finish.
“h” is a tall vertical line. Various vowels and consonants
combine with it to form single characters. More of this later.
“i” is represented by a single high dot, unlike the characters used
in Teeline and Ford. Think of it as an apostrophe using a dot rather
than a comma. Placing a dot over or before another character
indicates that it is preceded by an “i”.
“j” is conventional, but written without the dot, “ȷ”. With a dot
it would be “ij”. Loop or hook the tail to distinguish it from “y” The
loop of “j” finishes horizontally like “ℊ” but is made smaller. A very
tall “j” forms “jh”, which is an alternative for “ch” for some words.
For example “china” = “jhiyna”. In practice you may loop your “y”
or forget to loop the “j”, so make your “j” vertical and your “y”
more oblique.
“k” is written without the straight vertical, so may resemble “<”.
I write the lower part with a bit of a curve to distinguish it. This
looks somewhat like the Shavian character “𐑬”.
“l” in Teeline can be written with either a downward or upward
motion. It may resemble Gregg's “b”, “𛰺”. It can resemble a
reversed “j” or a tall “c” and may be straight or curved but it should
be slightly angled to distinguish it from the vertical “h” or more
oblique “r” when used in composites. The bottom has a slight hook,
so is much like how an italic “l” would usually be handwritten.
Alternately, make the L taller and less sloped than an “r” and put a
small “bump” at the foot so it resembles a very thin, italic capital L.
“m” takes the form of an arch or dome, about twice the width
of an “n”. It is easy to remember since it is just an “m” omitting the
middle column. It can be written as a wide traditional “n”. I tend to
curve the ends in a little, so it looks like “🦲”. The G-man forms of
3 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

“m” cannot be confused with a traditional “rn” grouping. “rn” in G-

man looks quite different to either form of “m”.
“n” omits the first column of the traditional character,
resembling a reversed “r”, “𐑪”. “n” can also be a sloped, narrow arch,
like the Gregg Shorthand character for “u”.
“ŋ” represents “ng” and is a useful character when writing
English. Either use the conventional symbol or use G-man
characters to form it from a “n” with a “g” tail. “ŋ” with a dot over it
represents “ing”
“o”, like most other vowels, has several forms. The Ford system
suggests it is written like an alpha “α”, but the same character turned
on its side, “𐑣”, may be better for some combinations. When joined
to other letters the loop is made with an oblique cross, unlike “g”
and “j”. Teeline uses a conventional “o” but also a variant described
as a “saucer” to contrast it with the “cup” of “u” and “plate” of “w”.
If an open-topped character is used I would try to make it more egg
or sack shaped than saucer. This resembles how many people write
an “o” in cursive already but closing the top of the character is no
longer necessary. A sloped oval, “𛱗” as Gregg Shorthand uses for
“a”, is another alternative.
“p” is distinguished as a low vertical character. It can be written
conventionally or just as a vertical with a hooked top, although the
latter does look like the character for “f ”, “ſ”. Best way to write it
may be as a single stroke “ᑭ”. This is written as a reversed “9” but it
is easier and clearer to make the tail more vertical. “p” combines
with other characters by adding its low vertical tail. “gp”, perhaps an
abbreviation for “group” would have the top of a “g” with a tail that
is straight and vertical. This is rather like the symbol “ʕ”. Drawn
higher this would be “gh”. The form of “p” used in the Moon
Alphabet, resembling “‫ ”ﮮ‬may serve as an alternative when joining
characters, although this could be taken to be “ae”.
“q” is usually represented by its traditional character. Writing a
“u” after “q” is essentially redundant in English shorthand.
Phonetically “q” is “kw”. “k” and “w” can be combined into a single,
easily written G-man character.
4 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

“r” is an oblique straight line. It should be at an angle of 45

degrees to avoid confusion with “l”. It combines with vowels or
semi-vowels to create single characters for “ar”, “er”, “ir”, “or”, “ur”,
“ayr”, “iyr”, etc. If written in a more traditional manner it must be
sized and sufficiently curved to distinguish it from “l”, with which it
shares some phonetic similarity.
“s” in its traditional form can be used in either direction. Write
it as a mirror image, like a curvy “z” if this is quicker. For speed just
write the lower part of “s”. For example: “ა”. I tend to write this as
an asymmetrical, reversed “c”, rather like “𐑠” or “� �”. The alternate
form of “s” from Teeline is a smaller circle, smaller than an “o” but
bigger than the dot used “i”. This is useful when combining with
other characters, for constructions such as “st”, “sh” etc. It may also
be a wavy sloped line such as “𐑥”.
“∫” is an alternative character for “sh”.
“t” is a medium length horizontal dash. Unlike the alternate “d”
it always appears in the top two thirds of a line, relative to other
characters. To distinguish it further the dash can be slightly dished,
like the Gregg character for “r”, “𛱇”, “ᴗ”.
“u” is a “cup”. Take care to round the bottom. It can be written
at an oblique angle, like the character used for “o” in Gregg
Shorthand, “𛱕”.
“v” needs to be formed carefully to prevent it being confused
with “u” or the single line forms of “a”. One way to do this is form
“v” with a very small loop at the base, like “γ”. Obviously if the loop
is too big you have formed an “o” variant! Ideally, making the
bottom loop makes the sides of the “v” slightly concave.
“w” when handwritten often looks like a “u” or “v”. Instead
write it like an a broad inverted arch, missing the middle bump.
Teeline describes this as a “plate” in contrast to the “cup” and
“saucer” of “u” and “o”. Where possible make it as an extra wide “u”
with the tips bent in, “𝈱”, effectively the “m” character inverted. A
bowl rather than a plate! Some forms of “oo” in English are
represented by “uu”. In shorthand it is acceptable to write a single
G-man “w” character rather than two “u”s.
5 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

“x” has no alternate character. It is seldom used so having it

formed with two strokes is unlikely to be a problem. Phonetically in
English it is “eks” and these characters are easily combined into a
single G-man character if desired. Since my friend is Brazilian, he
will probably use “x” for “sh”.
“y” is a low character represented by a straight oblique line,
longer than an “r”. It is not vertical like “j” but can be slightly curved,
like a traditional “y” with the “u” or “v” beginning omitted, “㇢”.
Certain vowel sounds are represented by combining “y” with vowels
to create single characters. When an “r” follows a “y” they are made
at different angles so there is a corner.
“z” can be written with traditional characters since these only
use one stroke already.
Plurals and Possessives.
Adding an “s” to the end of any noun in G-man plurifies it,
even if it usually uses an irregular plural. Rather than “children”,
“oxen”, “wolves”, “geese” etc use constructions that create the
equivalents of “childs”, “oxs”, “wolfs”, “gooses”. Using phonetic
spelling this may require a double “s” ending. Use a traditional “s”
for the terminal preceded by the alternate “s”. Some plurals are
shorter than the singular. In such a case it may be smarter to “de-
pluralize” a word for a singular. Rather than “mouse” and “mice” it
is “a miyc” and “miycs”.
An apostrophe added to the end of a noun in G-man makes it
possessive. Worry about whether it should have an additional “s”
later if transcribing into more formal English.

6 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

Letter Groupings.
Use Teeline as a guide on how to connect G-man characters. If
a grouping is unclear separate one or more characters. As shown in
Nuscript, some words are clearer if characters are not connected.

On the previous page are shown the basic vowels, and how they
connect to other characters to create other vowel sounds.
Top line shows a version of “a”, “e”, “i”, “o” and “u”.
The second line combines the vowels with “h” so read as “ah”,
“eh”, “ih”, “oh” and “uh”. Note how “oh” is formed like the mirror
of a “j”, to avoid confusion.
The third line uses “r” and reads “ar”, “er”, “ir”, “or” and “ur”.

The first line below shows “al”, “el”, “il”, “ol” and “ul”. Final
character is an alternate design for “l”.
The first two characters of the second line show two ways to
write a long “e” sound, represented by “ee”. You could also use “ᴦ”.
The third character is an “o” and “u” combined to make “ou”. This
is pronounced like the “ow” in “cow”. It looks a little like a
traditional “au” and this sound is represented by /aʊ/in IPA.
The fourth line is with “y” and makes “ay”, “ey”, “iy”, “oy”, “uy”
and “yu”. “iy” is the sound “eye”, represented by /aɪ/ in IPA. “oy”
7 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

is pronounced as in “toy” and “boy”.

The left of the bottom line shows characters for “ch”, “gh”,
“sh”, “th”, “wh” and “st”. Note the upper part of the “gh” hangs
over the other side, in contrast with “ch”. The horizontal of “wh” is
a bowl rather than a plate. The final character is for the English
sound “awl”, which is similar but not identical to “orl”.
Punctuation.
Standard English punctuation should work with G-man. If “i”
and full stops get confused, use a long slash for a full stop, as for
Teeline. Draw a line over, or otherwise mark a letter that should be
capital. If you mark the capital at the start of a new sentence do you
have to put a full stop at the end of the previous? Underline or circle
numerals that are actual numerals, and not just being used as symbols.
Getting Faster.
Characters that are easier and quicker to write is just a part of
an effective short hand system.
The fastest shorthand systems such as Gregg and Pitt are
phonetic. Thirteen per cent of English words, about one in eight, are
no spelt as they sound. The remaining words draw from a number
of phonetic conventions or heritages so the same sounding word
may have multiple spellings.
My preferred phonetic system is outlined above. Most English
vowel sounds can be approximated with just two or occasionally
8 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

three letters. G-man has been designed so that these groupings can
be quickly and easily written.
One problem with phonetic spelling is that English speakers are
so used to “exceptions to the rules” that they have trouble
pronouncing some words as they are spelt phonetically. If I write “hi”
you will have probably read it as “high” rather than its more
phonetic rendering as “he”.
Some words are just shorter in non-phonetic form. The English
words “buy” and “bye” would be /baɪ/ in IPA and “biy” in my
system. In shorthand it may be easier to just write “by”.
Many English words have silent and doubled letters that do not
contribute to pronunciation. Eliminating these will increase your
writing speed. Many English words can still be recognized if some
of the vowels or consonants are omitted. Shorthand systems such as
Teeline rely heavily on omitting certain letters. As a general rule,
keep the first letter of a word and the terminal vowel if it is
pronounced. “Comma” becomes “cma” and “please” becomes “pls”.
These words can be written as single strokes using the above
characters.
I am not a great fan of “text-talk” for general communication.
Shorthand, on the other hand, is a good place to use symbols. Write
“b4” instead of “before” or “bfr”. “2” can mean “to” or “too”,
hopefully the context making it clear. A downward pointing arrow
can mean “small”, “little”, “lower(ing)”, “decreasing”, “downward”,
“descending” and so on. Write a letter or two beside the symbol if
the exact meaning was important.
Related to the use of symbols is the use of abbreviations. You
may have worked out that in G-man you can write the word “the”
with a single stroke. A high horizontal for the “t”, a vertical for the
“h” and a low horizontal for the “e”. Or use the symbol “ћ”. Or use
a phonetic approximation and use the letter “v” as shorthand.
Adding “a”, “i”, “o” and “s” to any of these symbols could mean
“that”, “this”, “those”, “these”. For inspiration towards a set of
“single letter” words have a look at Dutton Speedwriting. Many of
these draw on French for inspiration, which may be useful if you

9 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

have some familiarity with French. Modify as you see fit. The
numeral “1” is a better substitute for “one/ a/ an” than “u”. “u” a
better substitute for “you” than “v”.
Most shorthand systems include abbreviations or codes.
Sequences of letters that sound for common words or word
components. We have already seen one for G-man, “ŋ” with a dot
over it representing the ending “-ing”. Take a look at other
shorthand systems and adopt codes that you find particularly useful
or easy to remember. Use the G-man characters to turn the code
into a distinctive symbol. If you forget what the symbol means you
can deconstruct it into its components to help you remember.
Phil West
Sept 2018
Updated Sept 2020

References.
Teeline Shorthand.

10 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

Ford Shorthand.

Gregg Shorthand.

11 of 12
https://www.scribd.com/document/388711650/G-man-Shorthand-System Version 1.3

Moon Alphabet.

12 of 12