Today I finally posted my weird database search experience on one of the listservs I'm on. One day I was searching for information about SWOT analyses and I went into ProQuest's ABI/INFORM. Since I didn't want to see any actual company SWOT analyses--I was interested in finding articles that explain the process--I did a very basic search so that I could identify the marker of a company SWOT and figure out how to remove them from a second search. To do that I searched just SWOT. I thought that would be simple, and then I got my results back.
Sure, there were some articles out of the 3000 that used the word SWOT. But the vast majority were highlighting a few different, and very unusual, words instead: wonk, nerd, and grind. What the heck was going on? At first I thought that the database just didn't like my acronym, but a search for TQM was spot on. Then I became more puzzled.
The other librarians couldn't give me an answer (okay, they laughed at me). So I brought it to the listserv, and then suddenly it all started to make sense. One of the librarians mentioned that Swot is British slange for a nerdy person. Now I had a link between swot and nerd. Well, it stands to reason that wonk can be viewed in the same light. We use wonk almost exclusively in it's policy wonk form, but it may actually be a broader term.
But GRIND? That required an internet search, and lo and behold, after all the dirty slang usages is a much tamer one: someone who is mocked for being too studious. So, there you go. ABI/INFORM, which is set at our library to search related terms, has gone a little overboard. It's now adding british slang to BUSINESS SEARCHES! Someone there has got to have a weird sense of humor (humour).
Speaking of odd humor from across the pond: Tristram Shandy rocks so far!
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