Don’t forget that compilers of dictionaries and encyclopediae are mere humans with human weaknesses, such as a sense of humour, and put things in them as jokes. For example there is/was an entry in Grove’s Encyclopedia of Music about the fictive Danish composer Esrum-Hellrup. It took many years until someone found it out (Esrum and Hellerup, BTW, are two railway stations in Copenhagen). The way they found it out is that the hundreth anniversary of his birth was approaching and Danish radio wanted to do a special about him, but couldn’t find his name anywhere but in Grove’s. There is, however, as I just found out, a Danish choir called the Esrum-Hellerup Chorus.
In the Swedish equivalent, Sohlmans Musiklexikon, you can read about the Turkish composer Metaph Üsiks.
My own contribution to this field is I once tried to get the title “German Humour between the World Wars” in the Swedish National Bibliography 1976-1985, but someone must have seen it during the proof reading stage and deleted it.
Floater
Addendum
I just found this:
No dictionary is infallible, no editor immune from minor embarrassment. Stanley Sadie’s epic New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Macmillan) is famous, among other things, for its entry on the distinguished Danish composer, conductor and court flautist Dag Henrik Esrum-Hellerup. Born in Aarhus on July 19th 1803, Esrum-Hellerup’s rise to fame in the 1850s was, we are told, as rapid as his decline into obscurity. Some flute quartets survive (the influence of his teacher, Kuhlau, is readily detectable) but other important works are lost, including Esrum-Hellerup’s opera Alys og Elvertøj (much admired by Smetana).
The problem with this entry is that it is a spoof (Esrum and Hellerup are ferry terminals) dreamed up by Robert Layton, our leading expert on Scandinavian music, author of the superb (and recently revised) Master Musicians study of Sibelius, and as good a judge of a gramophone recording as you will find in five continents. He says he didn’t believe Grove would fall for the ruse. But they did. I’ve always thought it a small jewel in Grove’s crown - though understandably it was some time before Dr Sadie got round to taking a similarly relaxed view.
By Richard Osborne
Taken from “The Oldie”
http://www.zitech.dk/userwebs/zn7ccc0846/Newslt11.htm
Speaking of false entries in music encyclopedias, note the last entry in The Music-Lovers Encyclopedia by Rupert Hughes:
zzxjoanw (shaw) Maori 1. Drum. 2. Fife. 3. Conclusion.
Because of the initial ZZ, this “word” was well-known to connoisseurs of unusual words and even was put in Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary with just the drum meaning and a radically different pronunciation. It’s been used in at least one novel by an author who trusted Mrs. Byrne.
It turns out that the Maoris didn’t have drums and the spelling and pronunciation are completely wrong for a Maori word. (Maori is a Polynesian language simlilar to Hawaiian and has no consonant clusters.) This is obviously a bogus entry, perhaps added as a joke.
In an oblique sort of way, this sort of thing reminds me of the “no green m&m” clause that musicians often slip into a contract. Basically, it is a small, often ludicrous stipulation that is thrown into a contract as a way to see how well their partner is holding up the deal. Walk into the dressing room, find a bowl of m&m’s with green ones in it, and all of a sudden the band starts wondering what other, more important provisions aren’t being upheld.
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quote:
I assume this is a joke
I realised that it was offered in a spirit of jocularity. What I meant was that it wasn’t terribly funny.
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Well, Tom, then you probably didn’t get it!
Good one, tc! Your latest sig isn’t too shabby either…
If you read * Dilbert *, you would know that Bill Gates has the dictionary companies under his thumb, so that if there is a typo in one of the help files to his programs, that typo becomes an entry in the dictionaries.