Web Users Collaborate To Interpret Old WWII Diary

Naturally, the period of the Second World War was pretty hard for everybody involved. Everywhere, danger seemed to hang in the air, and it was tough to tell who was friend or foe. Over in Europe, the German forces posed a terrifying threat, with the risk of unexpected air raids during the quiet hours of the night that could level bustling cities.

The case was, they’d need to locate them first, but the blackout was making things tricky.

An ancient code

The first thing that the person who uses Imgur had to do was to decode the type of language their grandfather used. It became clear to them that their granddad had been educated in the ways of short-form writing.

The characters in the journal were not old, mysterious hieroglyphs; they were traces of the intricate form of communication called shorthand. Luckily, this meant that there was a real possibility someone might be able to help decrypt its secrets. The solution was as simple as making a post on Reddit, specifically on the r/shorthand subreddit, to seek assistance.

A crash course in shorthand

The internet user found themselves unable to decipher their grandfather’s old diary entries. These entries were full of mysterious shorthand writing that seemed akin to something from a different world. Sadly, their grandfather was no longer present to shed light on these cryptic messages. All they needed was someone skilled in the art of shorthand to unveil the meaning hidden within these pages.

That’s when the user of Imgur got a brilliant idea. They thought of sharing photos of the pages of the diary on the popular social media site, Reddit. They figured someone might be interested and able to help mynameisbetterthanyours420x69 get a clearer picture of their granddad’s experiences during the war. They carefully took photographs of each page in the diary and shared them in a very specific group on Reddit, r/shorthand. This group is specifically designed and filled with folks who know and can read this special style of writing.

What is shorthand?

Shorthand has been a method used for many years to jot down information way faster than the ordinary longhand. It’s a technique that transforms regular letters into symbols, and it was developed to reduce the amount of time and space required during writing. This specific writing method has traditionally been taught to people like journalists and police officers because they are often in situations where they need to record a large amount of information as rapidly as they can.

Shorthand is an efficient approach to writing where you use shorter forms of words and usual phrases making them extremely condensed. This means they’re swift and simple to jot down and can then be reviewed later on. This practice has been used for centuries, but it’s not as popular now because we have the ability to record everything with video or audio recording devices.

Shorthand in the military

It’s highly probable that mynameisbetterthanyours420x69’s grandpa, a military man, had a packed schedule during the peak times of the Second World War. Due to his engagement in his duties, he potentially had very limited time to keep up with a diary. But his brief leisure couldn’t curb his desire to jot down daily experiences and his thoughts. To manage both – his work and interest – he might have used a smart solution and that solution could be shorthand writing. This time-saving technique would have allowed him to swiftly pen down his thoughts, thereby keeping pace with his military assignments without lagging behind. Hence, his written accounts might be formulated in an abbreviated textual format, a result of his effective time management.

An additional advantage was that if he ever got caught by a foe, there was a fair likelihood that they wouldn’t grasp any of the words documented in the diary. This is primarily because, even individuals who are completely fluent in English may look at shorthand and see an entirely foreign language presented to them.