CHAPTER III - THE BAD INDEXER
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2012
Summary
“At the laundress's at the Hole in the Wall in Cursitor's Alley up three pair of stairs, the author of my Church history—you may also speak to the gentleman who lies by him in the flock bed, my index maker.”
—Swift'sAccount of the Condition of Edmund Curll (Instructions to a porter how to find Mr. Curll's authors).BAD indexers are everywhere, and what is most singular is that each one makes the same sort of blunders—blunders which it would seem impossible that any one could make, until we find these same blunders over and over again in black and white. One of the commonest is to place the references under unimportant words, for which no one would think of looking, such as A and The. The worst indexes of this class are often added to journals and newspapers. A good instance of confusion will be found in the index to a volume of The Freemason which is before me; but this is by no means singular, and certainly not the worst of its class.
Under A we find the following entries:
“Afternoon Outing of the Skelmersdale Lodge.”
“An Oration delivered,” etc.
“Annual Outing of the Queen Victoria Lodge.”
“Another Masonic MS.”
Under B:
“ Bro. Bain's Masonic Library.”
Under F:
“First Ball of the Fellowship Lodge.
“First Ladies' Night.”
Under I:
“Interesting Extract from an “Old Masonian's’ Letter.”
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- Information
- How to Make an Index , pp. 53 - 84Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1902