I know this is nothing serious and may be nit-picking to some, but I am curious since I've encountered this issue on several occasions so I hope you'll indulge me. In an dealer directory that includes a company name (like for coin shows), if a dealer's business name begins with the word "The," do you search under the "T's" for the company or do you search for them under the next word in their name like "P" for "The Penny Lady"? Or do you first look for the dealer in the listing under the dealer's individual last name (or even first name)? The reason I ask is that I have had customers at some shows tell me they couldn't find me in the show directory - that's when I discovered I was listed under "T." I even looked at the online PCGS authorized dealer directory, and sure enough, I'm listed under "T" along with every other company that begins with "The." I realize this may be due to computer databases that do the alphabetizing automatically, but to me as a dealer, this can be quite frustrating because customers may not be able to locate our table number, and any company beginning with "The" can lose business because of this simple alphabetizing error. I don't know about you, but I was taught in school to drop the word "the" and any other "non-significant word" when alphabetizing names or phrases. And I was also taught to alphabetize personal names by their last name. How about you?
Last time I called you I looked you up in the Directory under P but refered back to T when I did not find you.
It doesn't matter what the proper way is - only thing that matters is the way that is actually used. The problem Charmy is that computers never went to school. And the whippersnappers who program the computers, well they din't pay attention when they were in school. What it is is a phenomena known as "common usage". The definitions of certain words and rules on grammar and structure basically get thrown out the window in everyday usage. Eventually resulting in entirely new and different definitions and rules regarding the English language. Not much we can do about it except learn to live with it. And adapt when necessary.
At last years WFOM I think I started with P then looked at T. You can always fill out the show submissions form to show like RickMP typed it. This way it gets entered into the show DB this way and you end up under P.
The only problem with filling out the bourse application "Penny Lady (The)" is that's how my sign will read - which doesn't appeal to me. What I usually try to do is make a note on the application to place my name under the "Ps" and not the "Ts."
I would look for you under the P's, but if I couldn't find you there, I'd check the T's second. I'd think most would do that.
My first thought would be P, but if I didn't find you there, I'd then look in T. I can understand T as well.
Definately under P, most folks should know (and computers) that "THE" shouldn't be part of the alphabetical filing.
"Penny Lady" is the Proper Noun so "the" is used in front of it. It's just that many search functions won't take into account with proper nouns that need, require or use "the" in front of them. If you use iTunes, even that popular program will sort your Artists who use "the" in their names under T. So it all depends on the programmer, the search engine and or how people look themselves. Anyone and everyone should know that if a name starts with "the" should look under "T" if it isn't listed under the First Letter in the proper noun after the "The" in it.
