Shortform
“said” in braille
Written s-d — 4 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 2 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 2-3-4, then dots 1-4-5
Unicode ⠎⠙ — 4 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
s-d in two cells. Nothing that begins with these letters keeps it beyond the plural and the archaic saidst and saidest, but it rides on the end of others: aforesaid, gainsaid and unsaid are on the Shortforms List.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “said” loses 2 letters — a, i — to become sd. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | said | 4 cells |
| Abbreviated | sd | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Longer words that keep it
For “said” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names 7 longer words that keep it, among them saidst ⠎⠙⠌, unsaid ⠥⠝⠎⠙, missaid ⠍⠊⠎⠎⠙, saidest ⠎⠙⠑⠌, foresaid ⠿⠑⠎⠙ and gainsaid ⠛⠁⠔⠎⠙. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “saids” is ⠎⠙⠎ (10.9.5).
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| saids | -s | 3 cells |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| saidi | 5 cells |
What these 2 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3-4 | the letter s; the word “so” standing alone | |
| 1-4-5 | the letter d; the word “do” standing alone |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is written 460 times and saves 920 cells. That is 2.67% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 5th of the 158 contractions used.
Every one of those is the word “said” itself.
Check your own text
The translator writes “said” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“said” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: sd in 2 cells, not 4 letters.
