Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Indexer of the year


The Diary column in the 6 August issue of the Spectator is by Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins. He writes:
To my publishers to check the index of a forthcoming book on English history. I was always told, do your own index, but in this case I had no time and learned my lesson. The indexer decided, Wiki-style, to assume everyone with the same name is the same person. Hence a certain John Smith was credited with founding Jamestown, Virginia, and leading the Labour party. Better still was the entry for ‘Ridley, Nick, member of Thatcher cabinet, page xxx, burned at the stake, page xxx’.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 9, 2011 at 2:28 PM

    Hope he sorted out all those tricky King Edwards and King Henrys as well.

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  2. Craig RanapiaAugust 11, 2011 at 3:40 PM

    Part of me would love to see an index mash-up of Francis Bacon (1561–1626, Elizabethan statesman, philosopher and essayist) and Francis Bacon (1909-1992, Anglo-Irish painter, masochistic queen and compulsive gambler). Another part wants to run screaming from the room at the very idea...

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  3. Stephen StratfordAugust 11, 2011 at 3:53 PM

    Indeed, Craig. I can imagine an index entry for "Bacon, Francis, pioneer of the scientific method, page xxx, buying Kevin Ireland champagne, page xxx."

    ReplyDelete