7UP, Break Up, & Make Up

To 7UP, to make up, or to break up? Hmm. Why can't you have all three? With steno, you can. If you guys are longtime readers of Court Reporter Bound, you know I like word families. This week's post is about a word family that comes up a lot and has so many incarnations; The Up family.

I think I was given a few of these while I was in theory class, though I don't know if they were part of Sten Ed or something my teachers threw at us. Whatever. Doesn't matter. The point is that sometimes you can see patterns in a list of similar briefs, and then boom, you add to the family following the same principle(s). Here's my non-comprehensive list of the "up" family. Feel free to add to this list in the comments if you think of any good ones.

7UP                         #UP
(lolJK. Just came up with that one, but I kinda like it for no particular reason other than my guy drinks it all the time.)
back up/backup       BAUP    BA*UP
break up/breakup    BRAIP   BRA*IP
broke up                 BROEP
check up/checkup   KHUP     KH*UP
clean up/cleanup      KLAOEP  KLAO*EP
close up/closeup      KLOEP   KLO*EP
come up                  KMUP
flare up/flareup         FLAIRP  FLA*IRP
follow up/followup   FLOUP   FLO*UP
give up                    GI*FP
grow up                  GROE*P (beware, RTers, of possible, um, conflicts.)
grown up/grown-up GRUP    GR*UP
hold up/holdup        HOUP    HO*UP
line up/lineup           LUP        L*UP
lock up/lockup        LOUP     LO*UP
make up/makeup     MAIP     MA*EUP
pick up/pickup/pup  PUP       P*UP      PUP/PUP
(Not a great solution, I know. Suggestions?)
screw up/screwup    SKRAOUP SKRAO*UP
shut up                     SHUP
stand up/stand-up     STAUP  STA*UP
start up/start-up        STARP  STA*RP
stuck up/stuck-up     STUP     ST*UP
walk up/walk-up      WAUP   WA*UP

Philosophy aside: Strange how powerful the word "up" is. For being just two teensy letters, it's very transformative. Every word in this list seems so final or powerful but wouldn't be so much so if it were on its own. Huh. Everything really is a metaphor for everything else.

Dress For the Court Reporting Job You Want

Everyone's heard the saying dress for success before, right? Truer words have never been spoken. That said, it's hard to know as a steno student what to wear to a mock trial, deposition, or internship assignment. You want to be taken seriously and look like you know what you're doing when you're walking into an unfamiliar situation with unfamiliar people, and dressing professionally is part of that.

The Waiting Game

Graphic as modified by me from the original version

Some things never change. When I was in school, if I'd take a test that I thought I passed, sometimes I'd almost be paralyzed in between its completion and when I heard back from my teacher about how I did. It was almost like a state of suspended animation where I didn't want to practice or do anything but see my results. Cue my current state of limbo while waiting to see the results from the November 5 RPR.

Thankfully, though, after several days off from practice, I started doing almost-daily practice again in the hopes of gaining additional speed to keep up with fast-talking attorneys. So as hard as it seems to keep practicing while waiting for your results, do it because you'll thank yourself later. After a small breather or reward of some sort, of course. Take a couple hours off, do something you enjoy, and then get back to practicing. You'll get through school faster and become a better, faster writer for it.

Gearing Up for the Big Event

How does a court reporter, CART provider, closed captionist, or student prepare for an important test? Whether its your national/state certification or your last test to move up to the next speed class doesn't matter. What you do to prepare is the same. After diligently training for weeks or months with a wide variety of material and techniques, you have built up your skill set, and this is what you have to work with on test day. You can't magically (physically) cram the night before and expect it to help you. Reviewing flashcards of steno outlines or reading steno notes can, however, benefit you.