I am having trouble figuring out how to make shorts for some words that are very similar, both at the beginning and the end. I use Shorthand, and I don't want to have to choose from a popup list. No matter what short I try to use for these, I can't seem to remember which is which.

The words are:

appropriate
appreciate
approximate

Should I perhaps use the "middle" letter which would be p, c, and x?

Thanks in advance.

"FarAwayDeb"

How about this:

aprp = appropriate
aprc = appreciate
aprx = approximate

This is one of those personal choice things because we all memorize and little differently.

My personal opinion is that for these type words, yes, the middle letter at the end would be an excellent way. For instance, if they all were appe, then add that middle letter at the end.

This sort of conflict is where I found Jon Knowles' ABCZ to be so helpful to me. And in the same vein, I think using the middle letter is a very nice idea.

Folks?

Here's what I use, and I refuse to do pick-listing also:

aprt = appropriate
aprty = appropriately
etc.

appre = appreciate
appred = appreciated
appres = appreciates
apprb = appreciable
apprby = appreciably
etc.

apot = approximate
apod = approximated
apoy = approximately
apoj = approximation
etc.

YMMV, but I hope this at least inspires you.

Thank you for the help! I think I've got it figured out now, and I've made a little "cheat sheet" to glance at until I get used to them.

"FarAwayDeb"

The alternative is to accept human limitations and decide NOT to memorize. So you'll type it one way on Monday and another way on Tuesday...

This assumes you use Instant Text in which case you can then see the choices and select the one you want

Given that she clearly stated in her original post that she uses Shorthand, this is an assumption indeed by any definition of the word. *best innocent look*

There is merit to having abbreviations memorized if you are kinesthetic and your fingers work faster than your eyeballs.