Brief Encounters: A Dictionary for Court Reporting [Paperback]

Laurie Boucke (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Brief Encounters is a collection of machine shorthand abbreviations that should be excellent for realtime writing because, as Laurie Boucke says in the preface, "none of the entries conflict with each other."

Let me tell you about a dictionary of shorthand abbreviations that may save the day for you, or at least make writing some words and phrases a bit easier. Brief Encounters has more than 20,000 words and over 6,500 phrases in the book, all listed in alphabetical order. Phrases are in bold italics, and verbs are listed with the principal part first, followed by an indented list of the verb's forms. Most of the entries have one-stroke sten. outlines; some of them I found downright clever.

At the back are a few pages with "extras": shorthand abbreviations for characters such as parentheses, the dollar symbol, opening and closing quotation marks, to name a few; speaker-identification shortcuts; questions shortcuts and answer shortcuts... -- Lynn Brooks, Journal of Court Reporting, Nov 1995 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 908 pages
• Publisher: White-Boucke Publishing; 4 edition (January 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888580348
• ISBN-13: 978-1888580341
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Court Reporter's Bible!, December 4, 2002

By 

Jodi, a Certified Realtime Reporter (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brief Encounters: A Dictionary of Briefs and Phrases for Court Reporting (Paperback)

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! I think this book should be required reading for EVERY court reporter. I've been reporting 21 years, have all my certifications, but I'd have to say I feel like I have just now "turned the corner" after incorporating some of these briefs!

Curious? How about MOINGS for "among other things," AEFM for "African-American," and my favorite, the 40+ pages of "is" phrases including STHR-LGS for "Is there anything else."

You'll want to make space in your carrying case so you always have this reference with you!

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE building-block resource for reporters and students., September 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Brief Encounters: A Dictionary of Briefs and Phrases for Court Reporting (Paperback)

I can't say enough good things about Laurie's books for court reporters. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS should be on every reporter's and student's reference shelf. This book contains one- and two-stroke briefs and phrases for everyday reporting and is full of ideas which you will want to incorporate into your dictionaries. Some examples:

HOUB = how about HOUBT = how about the HOUBZ = how about these HOUBS = how about those HOUF = how far HOUFT = how fast HOUM = how many HOUFM = how many of them HOUMZ = how many of these HOUMS = how many of those

The consistency of Laurie's outlines makes it very easy to adopt new briefs and streamline your writing. Get it -- you won't be disappointed!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous resource for court reporters!, July 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Brief Encounters: A Dictionary of Briefs and Phrases for Court Reporting (Paperback)

Laurie Boucke has written a few dynamite books for court reporters, one of which is Brief Encounters. Are you hearing the same words over and over and writing them out and falling behind and your hands hurting as a result? Well, forgetaboutit! Check out Brief Encounters for a totally sensible one-stroker for tons and tons of often-used words.

Some examples that are worth the price of admission:

regurgitate = GURJ kidnap = KIP stretch of the imagination = STREJ

And on and on and on. I say get this book and her two other books, CATegorically Speaking and the newest one, Medical Briefs.