OT: sorting capitalized initials

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stephen Larivee
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Stephen Larivee

What is the proper way of sorting initials in a list? For example, IBM or
ATT. Does IBM go
1. at the top of the "I" list?
2. at the bottom of the "I" list?
3. under the letter sequence "ibm"?
4. under "International" since that is what the "I" stands for?

TIA
 
If you use machine sorting, you'll find that letters and symbols are sorted
according to their ASCII values. This means that capital letters will appear
before the corresponding lowercase letters, but initials will be mixed in
with other words. Traditional sorting places initials before any words; for
example, in your phone directory, you'll find all the radio and TV stations
at the beginning of the W (or K) section. Similarly, abbreviations such as
St. and Mt. are alphabetized as if they were spelled out, and all variations
of Mac, Mc, M', etc., are alphabetized as if they were spelled "Mac." There
are also rules governing whether or not to count spaces (machine sorting
does; traditional alphabetizing doesn't).

As publishers become more and more heavily dependent on word processing, you
will see less and less traditional alphabetizing and more sorting according
to machine rules.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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Thank you very much for your detailed answer. When I was asked this
question, my first thoughts were similar to yours, but I thought we might
have already reached a point where we were handing things over to the type
of sorting done by word processors, but I apparently we are not there yet!

Thanks again.
 
What is the proper way of sorting initials in a list? For example, IBM or
ATT. Does IBM go
1. at the top of the "I" list?
2. at the bottom of the "I" list?
3. under the letter sequence "ibm"?
4. under "International" since that is what the "I" stands for?

TIA
Click to expand...

I think the answer depends at least partly on what your audience
expects to find, but my preference would be #3.
 
In some cases it would be preferable to human alphabetizing. I work on a
number of dictionaries published by Barron's Educational Series, and every
time we revise one of them, I find some of the terms ridiculously out of
alphabetical order. Even now, any index produced by Word will use machine
sorting.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Certainly in the UK, initials usually go to the top: so IBM would be towards
the top of the Is (though IAM would precede it, for instance).

Options 2 and 4 are definite no-nos.

--
Terry Farrell - Word MVP
http://word.mvps.org/

: On Wed, 6 Apr 2005 15:59:46 -0400, "Stephen Larivee"
:
: >What is the proper way of sorting initials in a list? For example, IBM
or
: >ATT. Does IBM go
: >1. at the top of the "I" list?
: >2. at the bottom of the "I" list?
: >3. under the letter sequence "ibm"?
: >4. under "International" since that is what the "I" stands for?
: >
: >TIA
: >
:
: I think the answer depends at least partly on what your audience
: expects to find, but my preference would be #3.
:
: --
: Regards,
: Jay Freedman
: Microsoft Word MVP
 
The workaround for 4 in indexes and dictionaries is a cross-reference from
IBM to International Business Machines or vice versa (with both in their
proper alpha order).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
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