JOE@OREGON.BITNET (Joe St Sauver) (02/03/90)
Edwin Hart brought up the issue of alphabetizing names. As someone who has
had uncountable problems (personally) due to this problem, let me expound on
just one way collating sequences can cause problems with "unusual" names.
My surname is "St Sauver" without a period after the "St". No big deal, right?
Maybe not as common as "McDonald" but still, "St" names aren't that uncommon
(Jill St. John, etc).
Nonetheless, computer systems have forced me to virtually carry a card to hand
to befuddled clerks unable to find my computerized records at the airport,
doctor's office, or wherever:
"NOTE: My last name is 'St Sauver' but your
computer system may have me 'filed' as:
CORRECT FILING [unlikely]:
St Sauver
"ALMOST" CORRECT [typically due to human "assistance"]:
St. Sauver
Saint Sauver
RUN TOGETHER [Often done to satisfy data validation
StSauver routines which refuse to allow spaces]:
SaintSauver
Saint_Sauver
Saint-Sauver
St.Sauver
St-Sauver
St_Sauver
COMPUTER MUTILATED [Often done by computers running
Sauver (only) "personalized" letter generation programs
St (only) drawing data from databases which don't
St. (only) reject spaces during initial data validation,
Saint (only)" but which then parse name "elements" on the
basis of those uncontrolled spaces.]
Since some of you are directly responsible for writing data entry and/or
name parsing routines in SAS for major institutions, I beg of you: be
sensitive to those of us who have non-cannonical surnames (unlike my wife's
maiden name: Hurley). You may have the people with "Mc" and "Mac" names more or
less down pat, but I can tell you, much code still have a LONG ways to go on
at least some of the other "odd" surnames.
Pardon the tirade,
Joe St Sauver (JOE@OREGON or JOE@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU)
Statistical Programmer and Consultant
University of Oregon Computing Center