Show OW IT T shartel how by JEAN AN NEWTON why we call them pothooks Pot hooks stenographer wants to know aay A why the characters he writes are frequently referred to as pothooks pot hooks it Is said that charles dickens in the course of his bis struggle to master shorthand a struggle which eventually terminated successfully in his ability to report the speeches and see alons of parliament frequently complained desperately about the pot hooks books as he characterized the hooked strokes of the stenographic art an that the term pothook originated with dickens Is 13 however doubtful it was actu actually an allusion to the hooks books which were to be found over every fireplace in england and from which actually hung the pots used tor for culinary purposes though originally the term pot hooks was more or less contemporaneous with the advent of shorthand in england it has in the course of time acquired the additional connotation as a reference to the crude characters formed by children in learning to write 0 1913 1933 bull bell syndicate service |