Subject: Ordering unmodel: the 1993 Nairobi telephone book

From: [email-masked]
Date: 22 Feb 94 15:58:00 -0500

----------
A follow-up on the Nairobi telephone book (see below my previous note):

By chance, an old friend of mine told me he had met, on his way to Burundi
(where he has not been able to work as machine-gun bullets were firing all
around his hotel, which was destroyed just after he changed, a nice place to
go!) a Quebecer working in Nairobi; as she gave him her card, I was
able to contact her by fax and she nicely sent me a copy of the Nairobi
telephone book.  It is really a piece of collection for ordering theory.  You
have to see it to believe it.  Even the yellow pages are a real mess.
Everything that was said in the TIME magazine article reproduced below is true
and even more.  I had a lot of fun with my wife and children on Friday night.
It was better than the best comedy show on TV.  We were laughing so much we were
all crying like babies!

The picture on the cover page is even revealing the spirit of those who made
the directory: it shows a rotary telephone dial with, instead of a series of
ordered digits, digits 1 9 9 3 in the round holes... At first glance it looks a
normal rotary dial, but when you think about it, it's odd!  The directory is
just like that!

Alain LaBont<e'>
______________________________________________________________________________
For those who did not see a posting I made in June about the
Nairobi-pnone-book style I will retake the excerpt of the TIME Magazine, June 7,
1993, p.12, in its entirety (I had just given the information, not copied it,
at that time):

______________________________________________________________________________
NAIROBI: Few books have generated more criticism, or laughter, than the
1993 Nairobi phone book. Working with a Portuguese company, compilers abandoned
the alphabetic norm and adopted some idiosyncratic variations to enliven the
information. Many entries are filed under first names, so if you are looking
for, say, Peter Mutuku, you must wade through 600 random listings under P.
On the other hand, Amynah Aubhai looked in vain for her name under A...
until she finally realized she was indexed under M for Miss.
The Aga Khan? Try H, for Hish Highness P. (for Prince) Aga Khan.
Need a doctor? Simply turn to D - unless your physician also happens to be a
professor, in which case you'd best begin with the Ps. Now coveted: copies of
the staid but reliable 1988 directory.

[a photo, by Peter Paul - Contrast/Gamma liaison, shows the Aga Khan, with the
legend "H IS FOR THE AGA KHAN"]
______________________________________________________________________________

PS: Once you're in the Ds, if you look for your doctor, your research has not
ended: it could be by family name, by first name or by some initial that
accompanies the first name.  Suppose your doctor's name is Irungu Ndirangu and
you know both these names, how would you like to find it under "Dr W Irungu
Ndirangu"... It is the case, so even under D for Doctor, you try under the
subindex I, then under the N, then you have to browse through 5 1/2 normal
telephone book pages to find this name under W... A chance he is not a
Professor!