Shortform
“against” in braille
Written a-g-s-t — 7 letters cut to 4 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 4 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-2-4-5, then dots 3-4
Unicode ⠁⠛⠌ — 7 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
a-g-st, and the st is one cell rather than two, so a seven-letter word lands in three. It is the standard example of a shortform that is contracted again after being abbreviated.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “against” loses 3 letters — a, i, n — to become agst. Then it contracts again: st is a single cell, which is how 4 letters of abbreviation fit into 3 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | against | 7 cells |
| Abbreviated | agst | 4 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
Longer words that keep it
For “against” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names three longer words that keep it: hereagainst ⠐⠓⠁⠛⠌, thereagainst ⠐⠮⠁⠛⠌ and whereagainst ⠐⠱⠁⠛⠌. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “againsts” is ⠁⠛⠌⠎ (10.9.5).
Words that only look like it
This begins with the same letters, is not on the Shortforms List, and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| againstand | 6 cells |
What these 3 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the letter a | |
| 1-2-4-5 | the letter g; the word “go” standing alone | |
| 3-4 | the letters st inside a word, and the word “still” alone |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is written 9 times and saves 36 cells. That is 0.10% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 115th of the 158 contractions used.
Every one of those is the word “against” itself.
Check your own text
The translator writes “against” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“against” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: agst in 3 cells, not 7 letters.
