The symbols used in Pitman were designed to be rapid to write, and easy to differentiate. Like many invented scripts, its based on geometrical shapes. Some people dislike this, because it doesn't seem "natural" or ergonomic. Others like the regular mathematical look of the letters (although that impression soon vanishes when you see a page of Pitman chicken-scratchings).

Dividing a circle up with horizontal and vertical cuts gives four distinctive curves. These are assigned the sounds. L, R, F and Sh. .

When you're not doing geometry, they're written like this:

The first one, the L, is written from bottom to top. The fourth one, the Sh also feels a bit wacky, travelling from right left. Luckily, the next four are a bit better behaved. .

Dividing the circle diagonally gives four more curves. Thes are also easy to tell apart from each other, and from the previous curves. These are assigned the sounds M, N, Th, and S.

And here they are written out normally...

The next symbols are straight lines. A vertical line, written downwards, represents the sound of T, and a horizontal line represents the sound of C (or, if you prefer, K).

A downwards-sloping diagonal line stands for P.

The symbol for H is a small clockwise circle, and an upwards sloping line.

The symbol for W starts wtih a counterclockwise hook, then turns into a 45-degree line. Y is similar, but starts with a clockwise hook.

The final shape in this group is another downwards-sloping line. It's halfway between 45-degrees and vertical.

Next... Some more consonants