The practice was also used in shorthand. In addition to being a phonetic transcription, the secretary would also utilize standard abbreviations and contraction

The practice was also used in shorthand. In addition to being a phonetic transcription, the secretary would also utilize standard abbreviations and contractions to keep up with the spoken word. The documents would then be sent to a secretarial pool of typists who would transcribe it to long-hand. Schools would train secretaries to write their shorthand identically, so that it was legible to other secretaries and the abbreviations were universally understood.