Teeline Shorthand

Many journalists in the UK and around the world are users of a shorthand system called Teeline.

On 15 July 1968, James Hill published a 32-page handbook on a new system he called Teeline. It was an introduction to a new, untried method of fast writing facing it's "laboratory tests." Teeline’s initial strength was its fast learning.

In 1969, James, and his wife, I.C. Hill, followed up and published "Basic Teeline - a textbook of fast writing."

Why was it called Teeline? Quoting from "Basic Teeline," "Because the streamlined form of the letter "T" - one of the most common letters - is used as a basis for the contraction and blending of so many words and syllables in English."

The "rules" of Teeline are relatively straightforward:

1. Omission of silent letters.
2. Omission of vowels occurring in the middle of words.
3. Omission of one of (any) double letters.
4. Use of phonetics where helpful (e.g., F for GH and PH)
5. Retention of vowels at the beginning of words to aid reading.
6. Retention of vowels at end of words if they are sounded vowels.

Teeline employs the use of special outlines (frequently used words which are 'reduced' to make writing even quicker). These are learned as they come up and very often, they represent just the first part of a word.

‍Speeds above 140 wpm are not uncommon. Thorough knowledge of both Word groupings and special outlines are key to building speed. Most Teeline writers create some for their own use and this is one reason it is considered a flexible system.  

Teeline is a key feature of many NCTJ-accredited journalism courses today in the UK. The content Let's Love Teeline Together has created on YouTube links to the NCTJ "Journalism Skills Workshop - Shorthand" module.  There is a Teeline blog for anyone looking to improve their Teeline skills.

Did you know Teeline started out with a different name? James' wife, I. C. Hill, was known to her friends as 'Bo' and it was in honour of her James first called his system 'Boscript.'

Although Teeline has evolved over the years, often resulting in the streamlining of its theory and the simplification of certain outlines, a list of known historical published works can be found here, in descending order, most recent first. The vast majority of the books are available for purchase through eBay, Amazon or AbeBooks.com, among other sites. You may also wish to try BookFinder.com, which is a particularly good site for finding used books, rare books, textbooks, new and/or out-of-print books.

Keep in mind the more recent books will have incorporated most of the theory and outline changes the Teeline system has gone through since inception. That said, this is not to suggest there is no merit in reading older material. Many things have not changed, and there is much "gold dust" sprinkled throughout the literature that may prove valuable to you in your studies.

The Internet Archive houses many of the Teeline-related books noted above. Most are available to borrow electronically for up to one hour at a time, but some are community "texts," meaning, a PDF is available to download.

The Shorthand subreddit is a good place to meet people from around the world who share a love for shorthand. Many different types of shorthand enthusiasts engage in useful discussions every day.