Monday, January 3, 2011

Another Indexing Dilemma

First, Happy New Year to the loyal readership and drive-by viewers.

The rapper 50 Cent appears in the book I'm indexing. Given that numbers are to be alphabetized as if the word was spelled out, should "50 Cent" appear alphabetized as "Fifty Cent" or "Fiddy Cent"?

As projected back in November, indexes did take up much of December. I think 8 or 9 indexes rolled off the LoD desk, amid other work. Tends to drive me crazy after a while.


I'm planning on another Year-in-Review post sometime soon, a la 2009. No crazy authors this year that I can recall, but some other interesting stuff happened and may portend for 2011. And a lot of stuff went on under the radar. A peek at the Internet's most reviled content producer might be in order.
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5 comments:

  1. moiJanuary 6, 2011 at 10:52 AM

    Shouldn't it be 50 Cent, regardless? Treated like a, whatchamacallit, proper noun, much in the same way you wouldn't spell out the band names Blink 182 or 311?

    ReplyDelete
  2. czarJanuary 6, 2011 at 11:00 AM

    Moi:
    Yes, it would appear as "50 Cent," but I believe he and everyone else pronounces it as "Fiddy," so the conundrum is whether to place it in the alphabetical listing as if it were spelled Fiddy or Fifty:

    fickle
    fiddledee-dee
    50 Cent
    fiefdom

    or

    fickle
    fiddledee-dee
    fiefdom
    50 Cent

    Make sense? Well, maybe that's not the best way to ask it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. moiJanuary 6, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    Ah. I see what you're getting at. Hmmm . . . not sure I'd alphabetize it as Fiddy. I like your second choice best. As the reader, I'd search the index as 50 Cent (because that's how I visualize him—as a brand, so to speak), even though, while reading, I'd likely "pronounce" him as Fiddy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. joy at proofreading and editingJanuary 10, 2011 at 1:03 PM

    It would be interesting to read that year-end review.
    More useful and informative tips would be expected.

    ReplyDelete
  5. czarJanuary 10, 2011 at 4:08 PM

    Joy:

    Thanks for checking in. Interesting website you've posted from, and I'm glad you found your way here. Not that I want to pry, but are you a DMSer?

    I'll work on the year in review before it all slips away from me. I fear some of it has already.

    ReplyDelete

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