Shortform
“although” in braille
Written a-l-t-h — 8 letters cut to 4 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 5 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-2-3, then dots 1-4-5-6
Unicode ⠁⠇⠹ — 8 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
a-l-th, where the th is a single cell, so four letters of abbreviation still fit in three cells. It is the only al- word whose third cell is a contraction rather than a plain letter.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “although” loses 4 letters — o, u, g, h — to become alth. Then it contracts again: th is a single cell, which is how 4 letters of abbreviation fit into 3 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | although | 8 cells |
| Abbreviated | alth | 4 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
Longer words that keep it
The Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names no longer word that keeps “although”. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “althoughs” is ⠁⠇⠹⠎ (10.9.5).
Learn it with the al- words
This is one of 6 shortforms built to the same shape — a-l, then what tells them apart: almost (alm), already (alr), also (al), altogether (alt), always (alw).
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 | |
| 1-2-3 | the letter l; the word “like” standing alone | |
| 1-4-5-6 | the letters th inside a word, and the word “this” alone |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is never written: the word “although” does not occur in the book. It is one of 24, out of 182, that the story has no use for.
Check your own text
The translator writes “although” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“although” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: alth in 3 cells, not 8 letters.
