Today is National Indexing Day (#indexday) – at least according to the UK’s Society of Indexers. ‘Celebrating book indexes, indexers, and the profession of indexing.’ As I write, they’re wrapping up their annual jamboree, at London’s Foundling Museum.
A few months back, I was out walking the dog and listening to Dracula on my phone when I could’ve sworn I heard a character described as ‘indexy’.
Now, audio recordings are not always perfect, and glitches – digital or human – do creep in (I recently heard one narrator trip over a word, say ‘sorry’, then repeat the word and carry on – all of which remaining in the finished version). But I thought I’d give Greg Wise, narrating, the benefit of the doubt. I rewound the tape. Nope: ‘indexy’, for certain.
This did not seem right at all. Anachronistic. American, perhaps. Quite frankly jargony.
The dog was in the hedgerows, so I thought I too had time to dig around a little.
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