rewording wordy phrases (lexicographical)

[Valarie <TASSARI -at- CGI -dot- COM>]

Sue Jones <suej -at- ANNAMAY -dot- BBN -dot- HP -dot- COM> posted the question:
>> Has anyone got any idea for a phrase I could use instead of the word
>> "lexicographical", in the context of a listing (i.e. "nodes/templates
>> are listed in lexicographical order")?

I asked the linguists in my company for their translation of this term.
Following are the responses received:

#1:     I'm not sure what that means; I've never heard the term before.
        My best guess would be that it means strict alphabetical order,
        as opposed to that annoying system they sometimes use in library
        card catalogues, where you alphabetize on each word separately.
        E.g., in strict alphabetical order, "Systems Technology" would
        precede "System Tools", but in the annoying card catalogue
        system, "System Tools" would come first, because all names
        starting with "System" precede all names starting with "Systems".
        As far as I know, dictionaries always use strict alphabetical
        order, which is why I'm guessing that that's what
        "lexicographical order" means.

#2:     I've never heard the phrase.  I would guess alphabetical order, since
        lexicography is dictionary writing and dictionaries are in alphabetical
        order.  If that is so, I think it is unnecessarily pendantic and
        shouldn't be allowed.

So, rewording the phrase to "nodes/templates are listed in strict
alphabetical order" might be your best translation.             -Val

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Val Tassari                                     Carnegie Group, Inc.
Sr. Technical Writer                            Five PPG Place
tassari -at- cgi -dot- com                                 Pittsburgh, PA  15222
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