World's Strongest Man

This Christmas Pudding
is mine, OK?!

Earlier this evening I was watching on television the World’s Strongest* Man competition held in Los Angeles in 2012*. I do not spend an inordinate amount of time watching TV but when I settle into the armchair, I am usually only interested in the gentler subjects such as nature, history or craft work. However, I do find the Strongest Man programme quite compelling, and, meaning to only catch a few minutes of their “hard labour”, I often end up seeing it all, mesmerised by the truck pulling, car lifting, stone humping and keg tossing. All the while, I am constantly comparing their efforts with my own struggles with stubborn jam jar lids, heavy shopping, shifting half a bag of sand along the garden path, or moving out the iron garden bench in order to sweep up behind it, as well as putting it back again. Even a recalcitrant ring pull on a can has me wishing to call upon their* services to open it safely and easily. These men would find such tasks easier than blowing a feather away.

* "strongest" is an optional contraction, omitting the G stroke, similarly "longest"

*Long slash representing current century, see www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand.org.uk/vocabulary-numbers.htm#long-slash

* "upon their" uses doubling to represent "their"

Whilst gasping at their seemingly impossible endeavours, and the ease with which they can carry them out, I am at the same time concerned that they are approaching the limits of their strength and are about to tear a muscle, hurt their backs or burst a blood vessel somewhere. Then I remind myself that they are surrounded by a small army of trainers and advisers who look to their every health need, and that a lazy viewer lounging on the sofa, eating junk food or smoking, is probably doing themselves more harm in the long run. The strong men have obviously done the necessary training regularly over a long period. It would be quite ridiculous to suggest that any slackness could be made up for at the last minute, by cramming in extra training to build themselves up in a hurry. Their physique cannot be obtained except by even, day-by-day growth – including resting time and correct nourishment.

Atlas Stones

When you have worked and trained hard to gain a skill, whether it is the strength for weight-lifting, or shorthand, or any other subject, it is very difficult to accept “praise” that implies that you have some inborn gift or ability that made it all very easy to accomplish. The innocent commenter is in all probability blissfully unaware that such an implication is really an insult to all your hard work. If an ability were indeed inherited, then no praise at all has been earned, any more than you could* be applauded for being tall, having blue eyes or learning to breathe! Fortunately the Strong Man competitors all present themselves as friendly, polite, good-humoured* and courteous, so we will be spared finding out what they might manage in the way of retaliation against such an unthinking slur on their achievements!

*"could" is not phrased with the "you", to prevent it looking like "you can". "May" and "might" are handled similarly

* "humoured" The hooked and halved M stroke is not thickened for the D sound (as you would with "mud") as that is used by the IMP series, compare "clamber, clambered"

Once they have gained the bulk and the muscle, it is not going to desert them on the morning of the competition. I would like to suggest* to you that your shorthand learning is very similar. Dedicated and persistent training over a period of time, rather than last-minute cramming, will enable you to last through your exam dictation or lengthy work assignment, and carry you reasonably painlessly over the sprinkling of difficult words that might come up. Knowledge of the common words and short forms must be like the strong man’s muscles – large, solid, flexible and dependable, doing their job with complete ease every time they are called upon, and working together to overcome any other obstacle that comes their way.

* This phrases omits the "to"

The good news is that such persistent training does not need to take up huge amounts of your time and energy. Something done every day will soon become a habit, especially if your self-imposed daily assignment is kept manageable and pleasant. This all this adds up over time, without the work on any given day becoming overwhelming.* Every new outline learned is like another small muscle fibre added to the bundle, until you have, as the phrase goes, “an arm like a leg”. I like this quote by Sir Winston Churchill: “Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential.” (705 words)

* This is the dictionary outline with the Dot Hay against the W-sign

PS: Sheaffer Skrip red ink for the shorthand, to match the men's

faces and eyes as they put in maximum effort to gain the victory.

I wonder if it speeds up shorthand as well?

www.theworldsstrongestman.com

"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces
with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces." Judith Viorst