[Dutch]

Has anyone considered shorthand as a type of cipher.  The diary of Samuel Pepys was written in a form of shorthand.  Some systems can be read almost at sight and others can not.  It's just a thought.

Dutch 

[Aaron]

That's true... someone once suggested the Voynich manuscript was really a strange shorthand of Hebrew.

It would certainly make for an excellent cipher that machines would struggle with, if you purposefully left out certain things before encoding the data further. Like, remove all vowels. Granted, the output could be anything at that rate, but perhaps certain things would be recognizable enough to get a gist of the entire message.

Nice to see you back on the forums btw.

[Dutch]

   I believe that there are 4 main shorthand systems still in existence.  There are Gregg, Pitman, Speedwriting, and Superwrite.  If anyone has any comments on any of these systems, please feel free to write a response.  I personally use the Regency edition of Speedwriting to write notes on my desk calendar to keep them private.  No schools of which I am aware still teach this art.

[Aaron]

Cool, there's a whole book on how to do secret shorthand? Me, I would probably do something devious like hiding a heavily crippled message inside an ordinary one. Try this one:

Witch bess, hag, has pie to one "egad".

[redroseviking]

Goede  Dag, Archie,

I never heard of the Regency shorthand system. Is it simpler than the others?

I am interested in joining this Flying Dutchmen club, as I am also a Dutchman (geboren in Alkmaar in 1947). Can you tell me a bit more about it?

My mother was Fries, and I can understand it, read it, but not talk it--strange but true. Have you noticed the vowels sound are close to English? Even some of the words are identical or nearly so, such as tjies and cheese.  My mother had no problem learning English, but my father never learned it properly, though (and here it gets arcane) he could speak fluent Frisian!
He hid at my mother's parents house during the war.
 
hatelyke groeten,

henk de graaf

[Dutch]

   REDROSEVIKING

I can give you the website address for the American Cryptogram Association.  It is www.cryptogram.org.  If you need a specific name and e-mail address, contact Eleanor Joyner at:  honeybee@cryptogram.org.  Everyone in the organization goes by a nom de plume.  Mine just happens to be The Flying Dutchman.  I have studied Nederlands as a second language but usually use esperanto.  Thanks for the interest.  Happy solving.

Dutch