The word “the” is the Rodney Dangerfield of words
Have you ever scrolled through your iPhone or iTunes music library
looking for a song that begins with the words ‘the’ or ‘a’ but know you won’t
find them under ‘t’ or ‘a’?
Have you ever scrolled through your Windows music library
looking for a song that begins with the words ‘the’ or ‘a’ and know you won’t
find them anywhere but under ‘t’ or ‘a’?
Files that begin with other seemingly insignificant words
like of, if, at, on, as, or in will be alphabetized in their respective orders,
as those words are not overlooked in the iTunes system.
Billy Mays interlude:
When the same words show up in the middle of a file name,
iTunes takes them into account appropriately, and gives them equal weight.
For the record, iTunes treats ‘a’ and ‘an’ equally, depending
on the succeeding word and whether or not it begins with a vowel sound or a
consonant sound.
‘The’ is both an adverb and a definite article, two very
valid and important parts of speech. ‘A’ can be either a preposition or an indefinite
article. Other words belong in these categories, yet they don’t get mistreated.
Besides, I couldn’t have formed a valid paragraph here without those words.
So, Apple, I ask you this: What’s big deal? Do you have
problem with these words? Why don’t you give words respect they deserve? Maybe
you should stop treating them like poor Rodney:
