Joho the Blog
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May 30, 2003
Daniel is talking about the arise of alphabetical order. [Abstract] Yes, it was an invention. Alphabetizing was highly unusual in the Middle Ages. E.g., in a book from the 11th century, the author had to explain exactly how it works. 150 years later, another author claimed he'd come up with a new way of organizing a list of words in the Bible. And the idea was then forgotten again. Again in 1604 an author had to explain the system to the reader. There was a serious debate about whether it made sense to arrange encyclopedias alphabetically rather than topically, perhaps keying off the Bible's own taxonomical preferences. The debate depended on imagining a new type of reader: not a scholar who reads continuously but someone who looks things up. Cross-references were invented in the 18th Century to connect topics dispersed by alphabetical order. "Alphabetical order remains an insult to logic." E.g., the 1987 edition of the Britannica tries to organize itself thematically as well as alphabetically, resulting in a bit of a hodgepodge. And on the Web there's no need to store things alphabetically. "We will soon no longer need to learn our ABCs." We've cut ourselves off from secular humanism and alphabetical order. "We now float free in the sea of information." Posted
by D. Weinberger at May 30, 2003 04:11 PM
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Comments
If you think that's annoying, Brazilians alphabetize people by given name. This makes a trip to the library or the CD bins kind of hard sometimes, although it does allow to head straight for all the Zés (Zé Ramalho, Zé Pagodinho, etc.) :-D
Posted by: iggy (cbrayton) | May 30, 2003 06:27 PM
Try alphabetising in Welsh, in which the digraphs ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh and th are actually separate letters and must have their own entry. Ng really throws learners, because it comes not after n, where you might expect it, but after g. That makes sense when you know that ng actually is a g which has undergone what is called nasal mutation, but it confuses the hell out of most non-Welsh speakers.
Whilst I can possibly see the day coming when learning the English alphabet might be unnecessary because paper dictionaries etc. are replaced by searchable electronic ones, that’s not going to happen for Welsh or other minority languages any time soon. The majority of software does not support the Welsh alphabet at all - sort a Welsh list alphabetically in almost any programme you like and you will end up having to go through it by hand to fix the mess.
Plus, of course, the electronic resources that would remove the need to memorise your ABC aren’t available in poorer communities and will probably remain a luxury item for a considerable time to come, so I think it’s a little premature to write off the alphabet just yet.
Posted by: suw | May 31, 2003 06:39 AM
If you have the ABCs, you have ABC books, which are a great genre. All those people looking for something clever to write that starts with X.
Are there ABC books in Welsh? I suppose there must be.
Posted by: Edward Vielmetti | June 1, 2003 02:18 AM
I am looking for the Daniel Headrick that used to live on Cottonwood Drive, Marietta, GA. Are you that Daniel Headrick? Please email your response. wrrobertsoniii@yahoo.com
Posted by: Bill Robertson | June 18, 2004 11:54 AM