athletic shoes (and home furnishings)

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

it occurred to me yesterday to look in the yellow pages of my phone
book to see what heading(s) athletic shoes (sneakers, whatever) are
listed under.  the yellow pages present a taxonomy of people and
organizations providing goods and services, and a vocabulary to go
along with this taxonomy.  it's a specialized vocabulary, supplying a
single high-register term for each taxon; every so often i've had to
explain to a foreign student that if you're looking for a doctor, you
have to look under Physicians, for cars under Automobiles, for drug
stores under Pharmacies, etc.

most yellow pages these days also have an index, supplying pointers
to the main headers.  look up "doctors", and you'll get a list of
types of doctors in the main section.  in general, these indices
aren't very helpful; in my local yellow pages, "cars" won't get you
to Automobiles, for example.

what about athletic shoes? the index has no entry for any of the
reasonably common ordinary-language terms: athletic shoes, sport(s)
shoes, tennis shoes, running shoes, gym shoes, sneakers.  this
despite the fact that there are some stores, like The Athlete's Foot,
specializing in exactly these things.

you have to look under a higher-level taxon.  there are two.  one is
obvious: Shoes.  (well, Shoes-Retail.)  this is imperfect: a fair
number of these stores don't sell athletic shoes (though that's not
necessarily clear from their names), and some stores that do sell
them (like The Athlete's Foot) have chosen not to be listed under Shoes.

so to get the full set of stores offering athletic shoes, you have to
look also under the other relevant higher-level taxon: the less
obvious Sporting Goods.  (well, Sporting Goods-Dealers.)  that will
pull up bike shops, stores selling hiking and camping gear, swimsuit
shops, less specialized stores selling all kinds of stuff, including
athletic shoes, and some specializing in athletic shoes (though some
of these are listed only under Shoes).

there are two problems here.  one is that the index isn't well
designed; there should be an entry for "athletic shoes", with
pointers to both Shoes and Sporting Goods.  (the index also lacks
entries for "athletic equipment", "athletic gear", "sports
equipment", and "sports gear", by the way.  you really have to know
that the appropriate technical term is Sporting Goods.)  this defect
could be fixed by some research into how people try to use the yellow
pages and what types of things they look for.

the other problem -- that most listings can be found under only one
heading -- is insoluble.  it follows from the nature of the yellow
pages, which are primarily a system of advertising and only
secondarily a service to users.  you can list your store or your
services under more than one heading, but you have to pay for it, so
people are inclined to choose only one heading.  it's either Shoes or
Sporting Goods; some (The Footlocker, The Runners High) choose the
first, while others (The Athlete's Foot, Metrosport) choose the
second, and only a few (Big 5 Sporting Goods, Palo Alto Sport Shop &
Toy World) have double listings.

a (sigh) footnote: i believe that the Shoes heading used to be
Footwear; Shoes (or Shoe Stores) is a change in the direction of
ordinary language.  it turns out that in some cities (Chicago,
Dallas, Louisville, D.C., New Orleans, Philadelphia, Indianapolis,
for example) it seems still to be Footwear.  but in Palo Alto it's
Shoes only, and there's not even a "footwear" entry in the index.

ok, one more bit: suppose you want to buy stuff for serving and
eating food: dishes, glasses, cups, mugs, platters, bowls, knives,
forks, and spoons, that sort of thing.  i'd have guessed that
"dinnerware", "glassware", and "flatware" would be the right middle-
level descriptors, with "tableware" as the next level up, since these
are the terms that tend to be used by the manufacturers and retailers
themselves.  but the index for my yellow pages offers no retail
sources of dinnerware, glassware, or flatware.  under "tableware" it
has pointers to Chinaware & Crystal (upscale subtypes of dinnerware
and glassware), Gift Shops, and Gourmet Food Shops. oi.  in case you
think flatware will also be referred to via its upscale subtype,
silverware, you won't be entirely disappointed: there is a Silverware
heading, but there's only one store listed under it, and it actually
specializes in stuff made of silver.

ok, we continue up the taxonomic scale, to housewares; again this is
a label widely used in the industry (amazon.com has a section
offering "kitchen & housewares").  well!  there is a Housewares
heading.  alas, it has only five listings, none of them sources of
housewares which would occur to someone who actually knew the local
housewares territory.

one more step up, to home furnishings, and we hit a certain amount of
paydirt in the index, where there are twenty pointers from "home
furnishings".  suspiciously, Housewares and Silverware are not among
them.  some are clearly relevant, and helpful: Bedspreads & Bedding
(there is, however, no index listing for "bedding", and "bedding"
doesn't cover sheets; of course, there is none for the ordinary-
language term "sheets", which you have to know to look for under the
next taxon up, the heading Linens), Carpets & Rugs (under "rugs &
carpets", there's a helpful pointer to Carpets & Rugs), Chinaware &
Crystal, Draperies, Upholsterers, Window Coverings.  there's a
pointer to Furniture-Custom Designers & Makers, but not to Furniture
Dealers, which is bizarre.  most of the pointers are to astonishingly
specific types of home furnishings: Blinds, Christmas & Holiday
Products, Futons & Accessories, Hardwoods, Kitchen Cabinets &
Equipment, Murals, Picture Frames, Shoji Panels & Decorative
Screens.  there are no pointers from "home furnishings" to Linens, or
to Kitchen Accessories.

and flatware isn't even alluded to.  you have to guess that places
that advertise as selling Chinaware & Crystal or Kitchen Accessories
are likely to carry flatware as well, and your guess would be right.
by the way, Crate & Barrel is listed only under the first of these,
and Pottery Barn only under the second -- so, once again, you have to
look in (at least) two places to find what you're after.

meanwhile, though "bed and bath" is (yet another) industry term,
there's no index listing for it, or for any relevant term beginning
with "bath", or of course for "towels".  ya gotta know to go to
Linens for sheets and towels.  i don't know what you do for what are
termed in the trade "bathroom accessories" (shower curtains, clothes
hampers, soap dishes, etc.), which (in the trade) come under "bed and
bath furnishings/accessories/products" but not under "linens".

most people i know don't seem to use the yellow pages at all any
more.  no wonder.  especially when it's easy to surf for this
information, and you can even compare prices.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)
.

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