Word of the Day: Alphabetical

Alphabetical/al/pha/bet/ic/al  

1. ADJECTIVE: relating to the arrangement of letters or characters in a customary order

“Dictionary is a universe in alphabetical order.” –Voltaire (1694-1778) Samuel Johnson, an English writer, developed the first alphabetical system in his Dictionary of English Language in 1755. Currently, we can utilize his alphabetical concept as an organizational tool while completing the following tasks:

• Look up a word in a dictionary
• Find a recipe in a cookbook
• Efficiently file or retrieve documents
• Find a phone number or address of a business
• Locate a business or service in an office building
• Locate a certain book, (arranged by author’s last name)
• Find a classmate’s or colleague’s phone number in the school’s directory
• Find information in a specific manual

However, the Internet have taken over this once prominent reference tool and replaced it with Search Engines and smart phone App’s. It appears that fewer people resort to the logistic method and are continuing to rely solely on technology. The alphabetical model is an extremely important instrument of our past; we need to make sure its significance is part of our future.