next steps

Use text search to find all occurrences of “the Michael Jordan of”. (first results for Michael Jordan, Michelangelo, Babe Ruth, Don Quixote)
Use the results to improve the identification method.
Add all examples from NYT as test cases.
Analyse distribution of regex patterns.
Try to restrict to search for 2nd and 3rd part.

missing vossantos

The current code did not find the following vossantos:

“Nintendo, the king of video games” in 1993/07/18/0622176
“I’m the ‘Michael Jordan of rodeo” in 2002/05/15
“he was the Michael Jordan of late-night TV” in 1999/01/24
For more examples, see Google.

statistics

number of articles

for i in $(seq 1987 2007); do
  echo -ne "$i\t"
  tar tzvf nyt_corpus_$i.tar.gz | grep "xml$" | wc -l
done

year	articles
1987	106104
1988	104541
1989	102818
1990	98812
1991	85135
1992	82685
1993	79200
1994	74925
1995	85392
1996	79077
1997	85396
1998	89163
1999	91074
2000	94258
2001	96282
2002	97258
2003	94235
2004	91362
2005	90004
2006	87052
2007	39953
sum	1854726

The corpus starts in January 1987 and ends in June 2007. Thus, it spans 20 years and 6 months, which is equal to 246 months. The average number of articles per month thus is 1854726/246 = 7540.

number of candidates

echo -e "year\tv01\tv02\tv03"
for i in $(seq 1987 2007); do
  v01=$(cat v01/vossanto_$i.tsv | wc -l)
  v02=$(cat v02/vossanto_$i.tsv | wc -l)
  v03=$(cat v03/vossanto_$i.tsv | wc -l)
  echo -ne "$i\t$v01\t$v02\t$v03\n"
done

number of vossanto candidates

This is the set of candidates after the first cleansing round, still including some non Vossantos and many non-individuals like countries or companies.

grep "^-.*([0-9]" README.md | sed -e "s/.*(//" -e "s/\/.*//"  | sort | uniq -c

year	candidates
1987	19
1988	17
1989	20
1990	24
1991	20
1992	24
1993	28
1994	28
1995	26
1996	24
1997	35
1998	38
1999	35
2000	36
2001	30
2002	38
2003	39
2004	38
2005	35
2006	30
2007	13

number of vossantos

After the second cleansing round – only individuals are included:

New York Times

grep ^- vossanto-NYT-only-individuals.md | grep -v "<strike>" | sed -e "s/.*(//" -e "s/\/.*//"  | sort | uniq -c

year	count
1987	4
1988	9
1989	6
1990	10
1991	8
1992	12
1993	14
1994	15
1995	7
1996	15
1997	11
1998	17
1999	12
2000	14
2001	14
2002	15
2003	19
2004	11
2005	16
2006	12
2007	5
sum	246
mean	11.7

Die Zeit

grep "^\* [0-9]" vossanto-ZEIT.md | sed -e "s/-[0-9].*//" -e "s/^* //" | sort | uniq -c

year	count
1995	9
1996	12
1997	13
1998	10
1999	16
2000	12
2001	16
2002	12
2003	11
2004	13
2005	19
2006	20
2007	17
2008	8
2009	10
2010	17
2011	9
sum	224
mean	13.2

Plots

year	nyt	zeit
1987	4
1988	9
1989	6
1990	10
1991	8
1992	12
1993	14
1994	15
1995	7	9
1996	15	12
1997	11	13
1998	17	10
1999	12	16
2000	14	13
2001	14	16
2002	15	12
2003	19	11
2004	11	13
2005	16	19
2006	12	20
2007	5	17
2008		8
2009		10
2010		17
2011		9
sum	246	224
mean	11.7	13.2

set datafile separator "\t"
set xlabel "Jahr"
set ylabel "Vossantos"
set yrange [0:*]
set ytics 5
set grid linetype 1 linecolor 0
set key top left
set style fill solid 1

jitter=.15
set boxwidth .5 relative

set term svg enhanced size 800,600 dynamic fname "Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, FreeSerif, serif" fsize 16
set out "vossantos.svg"
plot data using ($1+jitter):2 with boxes title 'New York Times',\
     data using ($1-jitter):3 with boxes title 'Die Zeit'

set boxwidth .8 relative

set term svg enhanced size 800,600 dynamic fname "Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, FreeSerif, serif" fsize 16
set out "vossantos_nyt.svg"
plot data using 1:2 with boxes title ''
set term png enhanced size 800,600 font "Arial,16" lw 3
set out "vossantos_nyt.png"
replot

set term svg enhanced size 800,600 dynamic fname "Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, FreeSerif, serif" fsize 16
set out "vossantos_zeit.svg"
plot data using 1:3 with boxes title ''
set term png enhanced size 800,600 font "Arial,16" lw  2
set out "vossantos_zeit.png"
replot

final result

columns:

articles: overall number of articles within that year
v01: number of articles with Vossanto candidates found with the first version of our approach (the one used for the submission)
v01%: percentage of v01 among all articles
CAND01: number of candidates from the first approach after first cleansing round (the ones listed in README.md)
CAND01‰: per mill of CAND01 among all articles
prec01: precision of our first approach when considering candidates after first cleansing round
VOSS01: number of candidates from the first approach after second cleansing round (the ones listed in vossanto-NYT-only-individuals.md)
VOSS01‰: per mill of VOSS01 among all articles
prec01: precision of our first approach when considering candidates after second cleansing round
v02, v02%, v03: corresponding values from second and third version approach (not used)

year	articles	v01	v01%	CAND01	CAND01‰	prec01	VOSS01	VOSS01‰	prec01	v02	v02%	v03
1987	106104	792	7.46	19	0.18	2.41	4	0.04	0.51	1030	9.71	1127
1988	104541	734	7.02	17	0.16	2.28	9	0.09	1.23	963	9.21	1051
1989	102818	775	7.54	20	0.19	2.52	6	0.06	0.77	989	9.62	1067
1990	98812	668	6.76	24	0.24	3.55	10	0.10	1.50	860	8.70	946
1991	85135	583	6.85	20	0.23	3.36	8	0.09	1.37	781	9.17	861
1992	82685	605	7.32	24	0.29	3.96	12	0.15	1.98	777	9.40	854
1993	79200	503	6.35	28	0.35	5.51	14	0.18	2.78	658	8.31	742
1994	74925	540	7.21	28	0.37	5.13	15	0.20	2.78	689	9.20	749
1995	85392	626	7.33	26	0.30	4.09	7	0.08	1.12	790	9.25	853
1996	79077	584	7.39	24	0.30	4.06	15	0.19	2.57	773	9.78	841
1997	85396	632	7.40	35	0.41	5.54	11	0.13	1.74	781	9.15	835
1998	89163	667	7.48	38	0.43	5.75	17	0.19	2.55	859	9.63	925
1999	91074	604	6.63	35	0.38	5.73	12	0.13	1.99	822	9.03	881
2000	94258	420	4.46	36	0.38	8.52	14	0.15	3.33	604	6.41	654
2001	96282	365	3.79	30	0.31	8.18	14	0.15	3.84	525	5.45	585
2002	97258	340	3.50	38	0.39	11.14	15	0.15	4.41	497	5.11	574
2003	94235	331	3.51	39	0.41	11.68	19	0.20	5.74	535	5.68	609
2004	91362	294	3.22	38	0.42	13.04	11	0.12	3.74	487	5.33	533
2005	90004	300	3.33	35	0.39	11.71	16	0.18	5.33	466	5.18	517
2006	87052	260	2.99	30	0.34	11.37	12	0.14	4.62	405	4.65	457
2007	39953	121	3.03	13	0.33	10.89	5	0.13	4.13	187	4.68	211
sum	1854726	10744	120.57	597	0.32	140.42	246	2.85	58.03	14478	162.65
avg	88320	512	5.74	28	0.32	6.69	12	0.14	2.76	689	7.75

special/dubious cases

These cases are from all 597 Vossanto candidates listed in README.md, not the 264 cleansed ones in vossanto-NYT-only-individuals.md.

the PLACE version of

grep -i version README.md

Sassy, the United States version of Dolly (1987/08/24/0068801)
Marks & Spencer is the British version of Wal-Mart (1992/11/09/0569053)
MediCal, the California version of Medicaid (1994/07/11/0698715)
Buran, the Russian version of the space shuttle (1995/03/21/0750052)
Macco, the Calabrian version of the dish (1997/02/14/0908831)
Voluntary Service Overseas, the British version of the Peace Corps (1997/12/21/0981913)
Take That, the British version of the Backstreet Boys (1999/05/10/1106572)
Much Music is the Canadian version of MTV (2000/02/06/1174454)
Kakavia, the Greek version of bouillabaisse (2000/04/19/1193000)
Fado is the Portuguese version of the blues (2002/11/24/1443088)

the PLACE equivalent of

grep -i equivalent README.md

New South Wales, the Georgian equivalent of deep space (1987/01/25/0007151)
Olivier Award, the English equivalent of the Tony Award (1987/02/01/0009058)
the Wireless Service, the German equivalent of the BBC (1987/04/05/0027535)
the Cesars - the French equivalent of Oscars (1987/06/29/0052991)
the Olivier Award - the British equivalent of a Tony (1987/07/10/0055426)
Laurence Olivier Award, the English equivalent of the Tony Award (1987/12/22/0103798)
Olivier Award, the English equivalent of the Tony (1988/02/01/0114868)
Nahlas - the Slovak equivalent of glasnost (1988/03/03/0124041)
the Young Pioneers - the Soviet equivalent of the Boy Scouts (1988/03/21/0129426)
Olivier Award, the British equivalent of the Tony (1990/09/06/0382052)
the Grey Cup, the Canadian equivalent of the Super Bowl (1990/11/25/0403957)
Superintendent Martin Beck, the Scandinavian equivalent of Sherlock Holmes (1993/02/21/0591703)
Monoprix, the French equivalent of Kmart (1993/04/27/0605068)
Ariels, the Mexican equivalent of Oscars (1994/03/20/0675424)
the Performer, the British equivalent of Variety (1994/04/24/0682538)
Gosatomnadzor or GAN, the Russian equivalent of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1994/08/19/0707174)
Fairfax, the Los Angeles equivalent of the Lower East Side (1995/05/11/0761719)
Hulton Deutsch, the European equivalent of the Bettman Archive (1997/05/18/0930910)
the Inland Revenue, the British equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service (1997/09/06/0955411)
Business Review Weekly, the Australian equivalent of Business Week (1997/09/13/0957036)
Muchmusic, the Canadian equivalent of MTV (1997/09/28/0960868)
the Tax Administration Service, the Mexican equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service (1997/11/10/0972063)
Eurosport, the European equivalent of ESPN (1998/02/23/0997564)
Special Unit Corps, the Yugoslav equivalent of the American Special Forces (1999/04/01/1096836)
Central Service of Information, the Greek equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency (1999/06/28/1119302)
Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys (1999/10/17/1146042)
Olivier Awards, the London equivalent of the Tony Awards (2000/07/05/1212567)
the Whitbury New Town Leisure Center, the English equivalent of a health club (2000/10/20/1240169)
Olivier Award, the London equivalent of the Tony (2003/03/02/1468848)
Yomiuri Giants, the Japanese equivalent of the Yankees (2004/03/28/1569955)
Oden is the Japanese equivalent of chicken soup (2004/03/10/1565172)
Mabahith, the Egyptian equivalent of the F.B.I. (2005/04/08/1663228)
Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch equivalent of the Corps of Engineers (2005/11/29/1721150)
Bafta, the British equivalent of the Academy Awards (2006/03/06/1744762)
Biz Cool, the Japanese equivalent of business casual (2006/06/24/1771315)
Liberty, the British equivalent of the American Civil Liberties Union (2006/06/25/1771465)
Chalkhill Estates in London, the British equivalent of a housing project (2006/11/01/1801327)

the pioneer, king, queen, … of

for term in apostle Boys Capital counterpart Czar Darling dean Diva Duke Emperor Father Giant [gG]od [kK]ing Land Lord Marquis [mM]aster [mM]ecca [pP]ioneer Princess Queen Satan Sultan Valley Voice; do
    echo "- $term ::"
    grep $term README.md | sed "s/^/  /"
done

apostle

Milton Friedman, the American apostle of free-market economics (1989/07/12/0265229)

Boys

the Islanders, the Boys of Winter (1992/01/24/0502719)
Take That, the British version of the Backstreet Boys (1999/05/10/1106572)

Capital

the Dandelion Capital of the World (also known as Vineland, N.J.) and the Fire Hydrant Capital of the World (Albertville, Ala., of course) (2001/07/12/1308610)
Crawford, the Deer Capital of Nebraska, or Llano, the Deer Capital of Texas (2001/07/12/1308610)
Ogallala, the Cowboy Capital of Nebraska (2001/11/10/1341592)

counterpart

Europcar, the European counterpart of National Car Rental (1989/03/05/0228921)

Czar

Albert, the Czar of Sportscast Shtick (1992/11/06/0568322)
Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo, the Czar of Mystification (1993/11/30/0653147)

Darling

Dainty June, the Darling of Vaudeville (1998/08/16/1039368)

dean

Roy Lancaster, the English dean of plant explorers (1999/06/20/1116753)

Diva

If Kelly Hoppen is the Design Diva of London, then Rita Konig is the Design It Girl. (2002/12/26/1451541)

Duke

Dukes Stadium is the Coors Field of the minor leagues (1996/07/08/0863204)
When the bassist Harry Goodman began his own swing band in the 1940’s, posters billed him as the brother of Benny Goodman, the King of Swing. (Perhaps he could have been the Duke of Swing, if it weren’t for Ellington.) (1999/06/06/1113206)

Emperor

Mr. John, the Emperor of Fashion (1988/05/02/0141129)

Father

Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics (2005/03/01/1653553)

Giant

the Giants, the New York Titans of the American Football League (1987/01/28/0007820)
Forget the Yankees of Reggie, the Giants of Taylor, the Mets of Carter and Hernandez, even the Knicks of Reed and DeBusschere. The Islanders won like the old, old New York Yankees and they charmed like the old, old Brooklyn Dodgers (1992/03/04/0511581)
Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence (2002/07/22/1410302)
Lance Armstrong, the Giant of the Tour (2002/07/22/1410302)
Yomiuri Giants, the Japanese equivalent of the Yankees (2004/03/28/1569955)
Styx Valley, the Valley of the Giants (2004/09/12/1610579)
Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence (2005/06/05/1678016)

[gG]od

Mr. Reagan fares far better, nicknamewise, than some other Presidents in the compendium, including one known as Gloomy Gus, King Richard, the Bela Lugosi of American Politics, Richard the Chicken-Hearted, the Nero of Our Times, the Tarnished President, the Godfather, St. Richard the Commie Killer, President Truthful and Trickie Dick. (1987/01/29/0008167)
If Toys “R” Us is the Gulliver of toy sellers, then Nintendo is the Godzilla of toys (1990/12/06/0406527)
Mount Meru, the Olympus of the Hindu gods (1992/06/21/0537615)
Mike Wallace, the Godzilla of the tube (1992/10/26/0565903)
Martin Margiela, the Belgian godfather of deconstructionism (1994/09/11/0711455)
Michael Jordan is the God of Chicago (1995/03/12/0748227)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (1997/02/27/0911924)
Momo, the God of Bad-mouthing (1997/06/14/0936821)
James Brown, Godfather of soul music (1999/06/27/1119059)
Yoshinori Watanabe, the Japanese godfather of the yakuza (2000/04/02/1188831)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (2000/04/13/1191452)
Strauss, the Jupiter of the composer gods (2002/01/06/1357042)
Dionysos, the God of drama (2004/06/27/1592422)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (2006/03/25/1749390)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (2007/05/27/1850236)

[kK]ing

Mr. Reagan fares far better, nicknamewise, than some other Presidents in the compendium, including one known as Gloomy Gus, King Richard, the Bela Lugosi of American Politics, Richard the Chicken-Hearted, the Nero of Our Times, the Tarnished President, the Godfather, St. Richard the Commie Killer, President Truthful and Trickie Dick. (1987/01/29/0008167)
Dana Dane, the King of Rap, (1987/11/26/0096606)
If the American Budweiser is the King of Beers, what does that make the Czech Budweiser? Why, none other than the Beer of Kings, if negotiations between the two brewers succeed. (1991/03/10/0429088)
Ludwig, the Mad King of Bavaria (1993/07/14/0621506)
James Vacca, the King of Clean (1994/08/21/0707596)
Alan King, the Spike Lee of tennis (1994/09/10/0711111)
Hillary, the Queen of Cups, is going to go to bat for Bill, the King of Wands (1994/12/25/0733168)
Riley, the King of Heat (1995/11/25/0811302)
Viktor Dysenko, the Russian king of pulp (1997/05/14/0929759)
Zulu King Shaka, the Genghis Khan of Africa (1998/02/05/0993081)
If Nelson Mandela is the George Washington of this new democracy, the kind of giant among men who turns down offers to be king, then Mr. Mbeki is its John Adams. (1999/06/04/1112428)
When the bassist Harry Goodman began his own swing band in the 1940’s, posters billed him as the brother of Benny Goodman, the King of Swing. (Perhaps he could have been the Duke of Swing, if it weren’t for Ellington.) (1999/06/06/1113206)
Youngman is the King of One Liners (2001/01/07/1260710)
Bing Crosby, the Unsung King of Song (2001/02/11/1269897)
George Duboeuf, called King of Beaujolais (2003/04/09/1479284)
the late Jack Kirby, the King of Comics (2003/08/27/1514969)
Lil’ John, the King of Crunk (2004/05/23/1583885)
Moon Mullican, the King of the Hillbilly Piano (2006/06/04/1766403)
Benny Goodman, the King of Swing (2006/11/22/1806655)

Land

Ann Landers, the Oprah Winfrey of newspapers, (1996/01/17/0823245)
Jersey Shore, the Land of Imposition (2002/07/28/1411586)

Lord

Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Lord of the Skies (1997/05/24/0932060)
Frank Pembleton, the Lord of the Box (1998/03/29/1005941)
Lord’s Cricket Ground, the Yankee Stadium of the sport (2000/12/07/1253266)

Marquis

Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux, the Marquis of Marquees (1993/05/04/0606594)

[mM]aster

the Masters, the ”cathedral of golf” (1999/04/11/1099455)
Raymond Chandler, the Anglo master of crime fiction (1999/07/13/1123045)
Alan Greenspan is the Master of the Universe (1999/12/19/1162227)
Yasujiro Ozu, the Japanese master of emotional understatement (2003/08/08/1510478)
Terry Riley, the California Minimalist; Astor Piazzolla, the Argentine master of the nuevo tango; and John Zorn, the New York bender of genres (2004/01/11/1549709)
Jon Jerde, the California master of mall design (2007/01/04/1816247)
Fred Sandback, the American master of ethereal string geometries (2007/06/15/1854531)

[mM]ecca

Seattle, the American mecca of waste reduction (1991/12/12/0493523)
University of California at Davis, the American mecca of viniculture education (1998/08/15/1039075)
America is the Mecca of that ideology (2001/11/27/1346329)
Las Vegas, the Mecca of boxing (2003/11/30/1539102)
the southern French city of Grasse, the Mecca of perfume manufacturers (2004/11/05/1624748)
New York is the Mecca of basketball (2007/04/05/1838196)

[pP]ioneer

the Young Pioneers - the Soviet equivalent of the Boy Scouts (1988/03/21/0129426)
Samuel Barber, the Pioneer of the American Symphony (1996/09/22/0878602)
Russel Wright, the American pioneer of modern product design (1999/06/05/1112688)

Princess

Gillian Anderson is the Pauper of professional experience, Brenda Blethyn is the Princess (1991/02/20/0424794)
Call her the Princess of Patina, the Queen of Faux (2000/07/30/1218802)

Queen

Queen Victoria, the Great Satan of the time (1988/02/03/0115425)
Tiramisu, the New Queen of Italian Desserts (1991/03/13/0429693)
Luis Cisneros, better known to colleagues as Sandra, the Queen of the Bois (1992/01/11/0499353)
Hillary, the Queen of Cups, is going to go to bat for Bill, the King of Wands (1994/12/25/0733168)
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (1996/05/02/0847754)
“Some people say Claire Shulman is the Golda Meir of Queens. […] I say Golda Meir was the Claire Shulman of Israel.” (1996/05/21/0852275)
the former Kiva Shliuger, performs regularly as a fire-eater known as Combustible Kiva, the Queen of Kerosene (1998/06/07/1022995)
Queens, the Rodney Dangerfield of boroughs (1999/05/15/1107670)
Call her the Princess of Patina, the Queen of Faux (2000/07/30/1218802)
Harris has been called the Queen of Country Music, the Angel of This, the Sweetheart of That (2000/09/03/1227433)
Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa (2001/03/16/1278191)
Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Mean (2002/02/27/1371153)
Hillary, the Cattle Queen of commodities trading (2002/07/10/1407094)
Alice Gordon of Massapequa Park is the Queen Mother of the Long Island Lusties (2003/03/30/1476594)
Ouidad, the Queen of Curl (2004/02/15/1559089)

Satan

Queen Victoria, the Great Satan of the time (1988/02/03/0115425)
the Walt Disney Company is the Great Satan of this jeremiad (1997/04/06/0920680)

Sultan

Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat (1995/11/27/0811882)
Kenneth Starr, the Sultan of the Subpoena (1998/03/20/1003494)

Valley

Bangalore, India, the Silicon Valley of South Asia (1997/06/19/0938068)
Dick French Jr. is the Ted Turner of the Hudson Valley (1998/04/26/1012685)
Hsinchu Science Park, Silicon Valley of Taiwan (1999/09/22/1139658)
Las Cruces, the Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico (2003/03/09/1470804)
Styx Valley, the Valley of the Giants (2004/09/12/1610579)
the only alternative to the Canyon of Heroes is the Valley of Doom (2004/09/30/1615408)
Ravenswood is the Death Valley of New York City (2005/07/23/1689358)
Garberville, the Central Valley of marijuana (2006/08/28/1786070)

Voice

Celebi, the Voice of the Forest (2002/10/11/1431006)
Darren Romeo, the Voice of Magic (2004/09/19/1612812)

If …

grep -E "^- \"?If" README.md

If Mr. Moynihan is the Sherlock Holmes of the fiscal story, then Mr. Stockman is at once its Dr. Watson and its Moriarty. (1988/04/17/0136766)
If Wrigley is the Faneuil Hall Marketplace of ball parks, Comiskey is Paddy’s Market. (1990/09/30/0387487)
If Toys “R” Us is the Gulliver of toy sellers, then Nintendo is the Godzilla of toys (1990/12/06/0406527)
If the American Budweiser is the King of Beers, what does that make the Czech Budweiser? Why, none other than the Beer of Kings, if negotiations between the two brewers succeed. (1991/03/10/0429088)
If Woo is the Bill Clinton of the race, then Riordan is the Ross Perot (1993/04/18/0602876)
If Klensch is the Cronkite of the rag trade, Crawford is a game, albeit hipper, Kathie Lee (1993/10/24/0644390)
If Vanilla Ice is the Pat Boone of hip-hop, watering down a vibrant black musical form to make it appeal to a generic pop audience, then G. Love is its Elvis Presley. (1994/06/20/0694707)
If Kentucky is the Roman Empire of college basketball, the Nets’ franchise is the Roamin’ Empire of pro basketball. (1996/05/31/0854362)
If Wynton Marsalis is the Steven Spielberg of the jazz scene, the alto saxophonist Steve Coleman has a strong claim to being its Stanley Kubrick. (1999/05/02/1104452)
If Nelson Mandela is the George Washington of this new democracy, the kind of giant among men who turns down offers to be king, then Mr. Mbeki is its John Adams. (1999/06/04/1112428)
If Houston’s cozy new Enron Field is the Rhode Island of ballparks, then Comerica Park is Alaska (2000/05/14/1199574)
If Kelly Hoppen is the Design Diva of London, then Rita Konig is the Design It Girl. (2002/12/26/1451541)
If Mariano Rivera of the Yankees is the Mr. October of closers, Gagne is the Mr. Season. (2004/05/18/1582589)
“If bin Laden is the Robin Hood of jihad,” the authors write, then Abu Musab al-Zarqawi “has been its Horatio Alger, and Iraq his field of dreams.” (2005/11/20/1719129)
If the vast, empty plain of eastern Montana is the Saudi Arabia of coal, then Gov. Brian Schweitzer may be its Lawrence. (2005/11/21/1719391)
If Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America, Quebec City is the Paris of North America. (2006/02/19/1740811)

more than three parts (but not “If …”)

grep -E "(\*.*){7,}" README.md | grep -v -E "^- \"?If"

Mr. Reagan fares far better, nicknamewise, than some other Presidents in the compendium, including one known as Gloomy Gus, King Richard, the Bela Lugosi of American Politics, Richard the Chicken-Hearted, the Nero of Our Times, the Tarnished President, the Godfather, St. Richard the Commie Killer, President Truthful and Trickie Dick. (1987/01/29/0008167)
Sax dressed alongside Kirk Gibson and Mickey Hatcher, the Three Musketeers of Hyperactivity (1988/11/27/0201849)
Guzman is regarded as “the Stalin of Patchogue, the Idi Amin of Long Island” (1988/12/06/0204254)
Barnum - the Michelangelo of buncombe, hokum, hoopla and ballyhoo (1989/06/06/0256423)
the New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme, the Louis Armstrong of jambalaya, crawfish pie and file gumbo (1989/08/17/0276060)
Waterman, the Rolls-Royce of pens acquired in 1987, and Papermate, the Chevrolet of pens (1990/02/25/0329728)
“New York State is the Cadillac of social services,” Mr. Alfonso said. ”Other states have Volkswagens.” (1990/11/26/0404144)
“New York is the Cadillac of welfare states,” he said. “We can’t afford it anymore. What we need is Chevys and Fords in this state.” (1991/01/31/0419226)
Gillian Anderson is the Pauper of professional experience, Brenda Blethyn is the Princess (1991/02/20/0424794)
A bagel’s the Shakespeare, the Tolstoy of flour (1991/03/27/0433213)
Lady Caroline Wrey, otherwise known as Lady Velcro, the Barbara Woodhouse of windows (1991/10/24/0482422)
Luis Cisneros, better known to colleagues as Sandra, the Queen of the Bois (1992/01/11/0499353)
But if Jordan is the Chuck Yeager of basketball, Julius Erving was its Charles Lindbergh and Connie Hawkins was its Wright Brothers. (1992/05/07/0526474)
Romario is the Michael Jordan of soccer and Bebeto is the Magic Johnson of soccer (1994/07/05/0697643)
Hillary, the Queen of Cups, is going to go to bat for Bill, the King of Wands (1994/12/25/0733168)
“Some people say Claire Shulman is the Golda Meir of Queens. […] I say Golda Meir was the Claire Shulman of Israel.” (1996/05/21/0852275)
Rutherford is the St. Julien of the valley, and Stag’s Leap is the Pauillac (1997/08/27/0953268)
Sushiko is the DMZ of Hollywood, the 38th parallel (1998/11/15/1062145)
When the bassist Harry Goodman began his own swing band in the 1940’s, posters billed him as the brother of Benny Goodman, the King of Swing. (Perhaps he could have been the Duke of Swing, if it weren’t for Ellington.) (1999/06/06/1113206)
Call her the Princess of Patina, the Queen of Faux (2000/07/30/1218802)
Cynthia Cooper is the Michael Jordan, the Larry Bird, the Magic Johnson of this league (2000/08/28/1226010)
Harris has been called the Queen of Country Music, the Angel of This, the Sweetheart of That (2000/09/03/1227433)
the Dandelion Capital of the World (also known as Vineland, N.J.) and the Fire Hydrant Capital of the World (Albertville, Ala., of course) (2001/07/12/1308610)
Crawford, the Deer Capital of Nebraska, or Llano, the Deer Capital of Texas (2001/07/12/1308610)
Pepe Sanseli is considered nothing less than the Signore of the Sideburn, the Maestro of the Mustache, Herr Hair (2001/11/25/1345804)
Terry Riley, the California Minimalist; Astor Piazzolla, the Argentine master of the nuevo tango; and John Zorn, the New York bender of genres (2004/01/11/1549709)
Reggaeton, the Puerto Rican amalgam of dancehall reggae, gangsta rap and touches of salsa (2004/09/03/1608662)
the only alternative to the Canyon of Heroes is the Valley of Doom (2004/09/30/1615408)
Mesa Verde National Park has been called the Disneyland of ancient sites, but it’s also the Anasazi Yosemite (2004/10/15/1619273)

Frequent

invividiuals only

grep ^- vossanto-NYT-only-individuals.md | grep -v "<strike>" | sed -e "s/[^\*]*\*[^\*]*\*[^\*]*\*//" -e "s/\*.*//" | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr \
  | sed -e "s/^ *//" -e "s/ /\t/" | awk -F'\t' '{if ($1 >= 2) print $1"\t"$2}'

6	Pied Piper
6	Michael Jordan
5	Michelangelo
4	Babe Ruth
3	Neil Young
3	Elvis
3	Don Quixote
2	Zelig
2	Thomas Jefferson
2	Rush Limbaugh
2	Ronald Reagan
2	Rodney Dangerfield
2	Robert Moses
2	Picasso
2	Paul Newman
2	Paul Bunyan
2	Nolan Ryan
2	Mr. October
2	Mozart
2	Mister Rogers
2	Mad Hatter
2	Larry Bird
2	John Wayne
2	Johnny Appleseed
2	James Brown
2	Houdini
2	Energizer Bunny
2	Boswell
2	Bill Gates

all

grep "^-" README.md | sed -e "s/[^\*]*\*[^\*]*\*[^\*]*\*//" -e "s/\*.*//" | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr \
  | sed -e "s/^ *//" -e "s/ /\t/" | awk -F'\t' '{if ($1 >= 2) print $1"\t"$2}'

9	King
7	Queen
7	British equivalent
6	Pied Piper
6	Oscars
6	Michael Jordan
5	Michelangelo
5	Holy Grail
5	Godfather
5	General Motors
5	Cadillac
4	Mecca
4	English equivalent
4	Babe Ruth
3	Zelig
3	Rodney Dangerfield
3	Neil Young
3	Microsoft
3	Japanese equivalent
3	Giant
3	Elvis
3	Don Quixote
3	Champs-Elysees
3	Canadian equivalent
3	British version
2	Yankee Stadium
2	Wizard
2	Wild West
2	Voice
2	Thomas Jefferson
2	Super Bowl
2	Sultan
2	Stradivarius
2	Simon Cowell
2	Silicon Valley
2	Rush Limbaugh
2	Ronald Reagan
2	Rolls-Royce
2	Robert Moses
2	Riviera
2	Rangers
2	Ralph Nader
2	Picasso
2	Paul Newman
2	Paul Bunyan
2	Nolan Ryan
2	Mr. October
2	Mozart
2	Mister Rogers
2	Mexican equivalent
2	Mercedes-Benz
2	Man
2	Mad Hatter
2	Lord
2	London equivalent
2	Larry Bird
2	John Wayne
2	Johnny Appleseed
2	James Brown
2	Houdini
2	Great Satan
2	God
2	French equivalent
2	Everest
2	European equivalent
2	Energizer Bunny
2	Ellis Island
2	Detroit
2	Czar
2	Buddha
2	Boswell
2	Bill Gates
2	Beverly Hills
2	American mecca
2	Age

grep -E "Pied Piper" README.md

Gregory Hines is the Pied Piper of modern tap (1992/12/25/0578860)
Robert B. Reich, the Pied Piper of high performance (1994/06/05/0691688)
Russell Cera, the Pied Piper of education (1994/07/03/0697153)
Carl Rogers, the Pied Piper of ”self-actualization” (1997/12/18/0981253)
Ken Kesey, the Pied Piper of the psychedelic era (2001/11/11/1342116)
George Gilder, the Pied Piper of telecommunications investors (2003/12/14/1543026)

grep -E "Michael Jordan" README.md

Romario is the Michael Jordan of soccer and Bebeto is the Magic Johnson of soccer (1994/07/05/0697643)
Michael Jordan is the God of Chicago (1995/03/12/0748227)
Bonfire, the Michael Jordan of dressage horses (1998/11/05/1059693)
Brian Foster, the Michael Jordan of BMX racing (1998/12/27/1072824)
The stunt biker Dave Mirra, the Michael Jordan of the dirt set (2000/08/13/1222322)
Cynthia Cooper is the Michael Jordan, the Larry Bird, the Magic Johnson of this league (2000/08/28/1226010)
McNabb has been called the Michael Jordan of the National Football League (2001/01/08/1261308)

grep -E "Michelangelo" README.md

Barnum - the Michelangelo of buncombe, hokum, hoopla and ballyhoo (1989/06/06/0256423)
Michael J. Deaver, the Michelangelo of the balloon drop (1996/08/13/0871265)
Mel Gibson is the Michelangelo of this generation (2003/08/02/1508990)
Kyle Avila, the Michelangelo of the bunch (2006/12/17/1812547)
Mr. Gunn is the Michelangelo of the form (2007/04/12/1839640)

grep -E "General Motors" README.md

Delta Pride, the General Motors of catfish processing factories (1990/12/10/0407519)
Vaz Auto Works, the General Motors of Russia (1992/03/08/0512599)
Starbucks Coffee, the General Motors of espresso (1993/12/22/0657572)
Mr. Lovano is the General Motors of jazz (1995/01/15/0736903)
the Estee Lauder Companies, the General Motors of the cosmetics world (1999/01/10/1075990)

grep -E "Cadillac" README.md

“New York State is the Cadillac of social services,” Mr. Alfonso said. ”Other states have Volkswagens.” (1990/11/26/0404144)
“New York is the Cadillac of welfare states,” he said. “We can’t afford it anymore. What we need is Chevys and Fords in this state.” (1991/01/31/0419226)
Eldredge is the Cadillac among Ferraris (2002/02/12/1367217)
the Eldorado has been the Cadillac of Cadillacs (2002/05/10/1390973)
MagLiner, the Cadillac of hand trucks (2002/06/09/1399279)

grep -E "Babe Ruth" README.md

Eddie Shore, the Babe Ruth of hockey (1988/11/04/0194523)
Jack B. Solerwitz is the Babe Ruth of ripoffs (1993/03/19/0596753)
Rush Limbaugh, the Babe Ruth of the talk-show circuit (1995/01/05/0735173)
Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat (1995/11/27/0811882)
Eric Bergoust, the Babe Ruth of freestyle aerials (2003/01/23/1458686)

Categories

Sport

grep -i "basketball" README.md

Moses Malone is the Paul Newman of professional basketball (1987/11/14/0092773)
But if Jordan is the Chuck Yeager of basketball, Julius Erving was its Charles Lindbergh and Connie Hawkins was its Wright Brothers. (1992/05/07/0526474)
Frazier is the Bill Stern of basketball analysis (1994/05/10/0686448)
Vernon Maxwell, the Mad Max of the National Basketball Association (1994/06/08/0692270)
If Kentucky is the Roman Empire of college basketball, the Nets’ franchise is the Roamin’ Empire of pro basketball. (1996/05/31/0854362)
Arizona, the Atlanta Braves of college basketball (2003/02/25/1467785)
New York is the Mecca of basketball (2007/04/05/1838196)

grep -i "baseball" README.md

Scott Sanderson is the Rodney Dangerfield of baseball (1993/05/09/0607593)
Frank Thomas is the Thomas Jefferson of baseball (1996/07/09/0863379)
Albert Belle, the Bad Boy of Baseball, (1997/02/10/0908025)
Maddux has been the Larry Bird of baseball (2004/02/21/1560506)

grep -i "hockey" README.md

Eddie Shore, the Babe Ruth of hockey (1988/11/04/0194523)
Sweden, the Rangers of international hockey (1994/02/12/0668308)
Cherry, the Rush Limbaugh of hockey commentary (1996/01/21/0824224)
Adam Graves, the Billy Budd of hockey (1998/04/05/1007678)
Long Island, the Siberia of hockey (2001/09/22/1327006)

grep -i "football" README.md

the Giants, the New York Titans of the American Football League (1987/01/28/0007820)
Notre Dame is the Vatican of college football (1999/08/29/1134218)
Jim Fassel, the Mister Rogers of football coaches (2000/11/23/1249646)
McNabb has been called the Michael Jordan of the National Football League (2001/01/08/1261308)
Bill Belichick is the Bobby Fischer of football (2005/01/18/1643049)
Testaverde is the Roger Clemens of pro football (2005/10/10/1708694)
Joe Namath is the Ann Calvello of football (2006/03/17/1747425)

grep -i "sport" README.md

George Foreman, the Santa Claus of sports (1991/01/01/0412333)
Albert, the Czar of Sportscast Shtick (1992/11/06/0568322)
Boxing is the Wild West of sports (1993/02/06/0588384)
Gary Bettman, the Brendan Suhr of sports commissioners (1994/10/30/0721907)
Eurosport, the European equivalent of ESPN (1998/02/23/0997564)
National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Kenneth Starr of sports (1998/04/05/1007678)
Jordan, the Seinfeld of sports (1998/05/29/1020525)
Lord’s Cricket Ground, the Yankee Stadium of the sport (2000/12/07/1253266)
Bob Irsay, the Caesar of sports carpetbaggers (2003/02/06/1462734)
George Steinbrenner, the David Merrick of sports (2003/10/15/1527475)

grep -i racing README.md

Sea Hero is the Bobo Holloman of racing (1993/08/18/0629471)
the Kentucky Derby is the Wimbledon of horse racing (1997/06/07/0935255)
Brian Foster, the Michael Jordan of BMX racing (1998/12/27/1072824)
the jockey Jim Burns, the Jerry Bailey of mule racing (2002/07/11/1407365)
Jacques Villeneuve, the Dennis Rodman of the racing world (2003/09/21/1521031)
Eclipse Awards, Oscars of horse racing (2006/10/30/1801003)

grep -i golf README.md

Vijay Singh, the James Brown of golf (1995/05/22/0764316)
the Masters, the ”cathedral of golf” (1999/04/11/1099455)
Johnny Miller, the Simon Cowell of golf criticism (2006/06/20/1770506)

grep -i soccer README.md

Romario is the Michael Jordan of soccer and Bebeto is the Magic Johnson of soccer (1994/07/05/0697643)
Italy is the Boston Red Sox of soccer (2002/05/26/1395524)

grep -E -i pitcher\|forward\|coach\|quarterback\|heavyweight\|league README.md

the Giants, the New York Titans of the American Football League (1987/01/28/0007820)
Charles Oakley, the Charles Atlas of forwards (1990/11/06/0398601)
Luis Cisneros, better known to colleagues as Sandra, the Queen of the Bois (1992/01/11/0499353)
Pat Riley, the Dale Carnegie of coaches (1992/09/23/0558269)
Jack Morris, the Mr. October of pitchers (1992/10/17/0563655)
Marv Levy, the Lionel Trilling of coaches (1994/01/28/0665094)
Dan Marino, the Lou Gehrig of quarterbacks (1994/08/04/0704092)
Al Hrabosky, the Mad Hungarian of a relief pitcher (1995/02/26/0745507)
Dukes Stadium is the Coors Field of the minor leagues (1996/07/08/0863204)
George Foreman, the Hamlet of heavyweights (1997/10/09/0963817)
Don Zimmer, the Yoda of bench coaches (1999/10/01/1141878)
Cynthia Cooper is the Michael Jordan, the Larry Bird, the Magic Johnson of this league (2000/08/28/1226010)
Jim Fassel, the Mister Rogers of football coaches (2000/11/23/1249646)
McNabb has been called the Michael Jordan of the National Football League (2001/01/08/1261308)
Clemens, the John Wayne of pitchers (2005/10/23/1712004)

Music

grep -E -i  punk\|rock\|jazz\|blues\|soul\|salsa README.md

the remarkable enclosed indoor Housewives’ Market, the Halles of soul food (1990/01/07/0314867)
Oscar D’Leon, the James Brown of salsa (1990/06/29/0364544)
Nick Cave is the Elvis of punk (1992/08/03/0547319)
Aerosmith, the Dorian Gray of rock bands (1993/12/10/0654992)
Mr. Lovano is the General Motors of jazz (1995/01/15/0736903)
Albert Collins, the Iceman of blues (1995/08/20/0783539)
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (1996/05/02/0847754)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (1997/02/27/0911924)
Charles Barkley, the Einstein of the Houston Rockets (1997/10/29/0968855)
Ozzy Osbourne, the Grandpa Munster of hard rock (1998/07/06/1029895)
Peaches and Herb, the First Couple of soul (1998/08/09/1037632)
Sally Timms, the Lauren Bacall of underground rock (1998/11/06/1059917)
Tito Nieves is called the Pavarotti of salsa (1999/03/26/1095206)
If Wynton Marsalis is the Steven Spielberg of the jazz scene, the alto saxophonist Steve Coleman has a strong claim to being its Stanley Kubrick. (1999/05/02/1104452)
James Brown, Godfather of soul music (1999/06/27/1119059)
Keith Jarrett, the Proust of jazz (1999/11/28/1156627)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (2000/04/13/1191452)
Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa (2001/03/16/1278191)
the different Rangers, the Rangers of Rocker (2002/02/28/1371472)
David Rockwell is the Wolfgang Puck of blueprints (2002/04/03/1380928)
Fado is the Portuguese version of the blues (2002/11/24/1443088)
the Village Vanguard, the Stradivarius of jazz clubs (2004/05/12/1581028)
Reggaeton, the Puerto Rican amalgam of dancehall reggae, gangsta rap and touches of salsa (2004/09/03/1608662)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (2006/03/25/1749390)
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul (2007/05/27/1850236)

Places

Continents

for CONTINENT in Africa America Asia Australia Europe; do
  echo "- $CONTINENT ::"
  grep $CONTINENT README.md | sed "s/^/  /"
done

Africa

Zulu King Shaka, the Genghis Khan of Africa (1998/02/05/0993081)
Victoria Falls, the Niagara of Africa (1999/08/06/1128621)
Ghana is the Brazil of Africa (2006/06/28/1772401)

America

the Giants, the New York Titans of the American Football League (1987/01/28/0007820)
Mr. Reagan fares far better, nicknamewise, than some other Presidents in the compendium, including one known as Gloomy Gus, King Richard, the Bela Lugosi of American Politics, Richard the Chicken-Hearted, the Nero of Our Times, the Tarnished President, the Godfather, St. Richard the Commie Killer, President Truthful and Trickie Dick. (1987/01/29/0008167)
George Romney, the Middle America sort of guy (1987/03/15/0021513)
Milton Friedman, the American apostle of free-market economics (1989/07/12/0265229)
If the American Budweiser is the King of Beers, what does that make the Czech Budweiser? Why, none other than the Beer of Kings, if negotiations between the two brewers succeed. (1991/03/10/0429088)
Seattle, the American mecca of waste reduction (1991/12/12/0493523)
Samuel Barber, the Pioneer of the American Symphony (1996/09/22/0878602)
Willoughby is sometimes called the Lake Lucerne of North America (1997/09/21/0959002)
Lovely Lane Methodist Church, the Mother Church of American Methodism (1998/01/09/0986279)
University of California at Davis, the American mecca of viniculture education (1998/08/15/1039075)
Special Unit Corps, the Yugoslav equivalent of the American Special Forces (1999/04/01/1096836)
Russel Wright, the American pioneer of modern product design (1999/06/05/1112688)
Brighton Beach is the Russian bazaar of America (2000/05/21/1201255)
America is the Mecca of that ideology (2001/11/27/1346329)
the North American International Auto Show, the Cannes Film Festival of the auto industry (2002/01/06/1357245)
Lawrence Rubey, the American booster of free enterprise (2003/07/13/1503960)
Dan Flavin, the American avatar of the fluorescent tube (2004/10/01/1615466)
Cambridge, the Athens of America (2005/11/27/1720488)
If Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America, Quebec City is the Paris of North America. (2006/02/19/1740811)
Liberty, the British equivalent of the American Civil Liberties Union (2006/06/25/1771465)
Fred Sandback, the American master of ethereal string geometries (2007/06/15/1854531)

Asia

Bangalore, India, the Silicon Valley of South Asia (1997/06/19/0938068)

Australia

Business Review Weekly, the Australian equivalent of Business Week (1997/09/13/0957036)

Europe

Europcar, the European counterpart of National Car Rental (1989/03/05/0228921)
Denmark is the Hong Kong of Europe (1993/04/01/0599397)
Hulton Deutsch, the European equivalent of the Bettman Archive (1997/05/18/0930910)
Latin, the European language of learning (1998/01/03/0984739)
Eurosport, the European equivalent of ESPN (1998/02/23/0997564)

Countries

URL=http://data.okfn.org/data/core/country-list/r/data.csv
for COUNTRY in $(wget -q -O - "$URL" | tail -n +2 data.csv | sed -e "s/ /_/g" -e "s/\"//"| awk -F',' '{print $1}' | sort -u); do
  COUNTRY=$(echo $COUNTRY | sed "s/_/ /g")
  MATCHES=$(grep "$COUNTRY" README.md)
  if [ "$MATCHES" ]; then
    echo "- $COUNTRY ::"
    grep "^-.*$COUNTRY" README.md | sed "s/^/  /"
  fi
done

Afghanistan

Faryab is the Wild West of Afghanistan (2005/09/18/1703218)

Argentina

Cordoba, the Omaha of Argentina (1998/11/22/1063995)

Australia

Business Review Weekly, the Australian equivalent of Business Week (1997/09/13/0957036)

Brazil

Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, the Walter Reed of Brazil (1989/11/26/0304421)
Oscar, the Larry Bird of Brazil (1990/07/29/0372556)
Tom Ze, the Tristan Tzara of Brazilian Tropicalia (1999/10/03/1142247)
Ghana is the Brazil of Africa (2006/06/28/1772401)

Canada

Windsor is the Detroit of Canada (1987/09/21/0076414)
Winnipeg is the Green Bay of Canada (1991/11/25/0489598)
Canada is the Death Star of cultural fortifications (1999/07/14/1123261)

China

Wei Jingsheng, the Sakharov of China (1996/12/09/0894541)
John Rabe is the Oskar Schindler of China (1996/12/12/0895003)
Sunset Park, the Chinatown of Brooklyn (2006/04/09/1753245)

Colombia

Colombia is the South Korea of flower exporters (1989/09/20/0284628)
Colombia, the Fort Knox of ransom proceeds (1998/08/09/1037554)

Denmark

Denmark is the Hong Kong of Europe (1993/04/01/0599397)

Egypt

Mabahith, the Egyptian equivalent of the F.B.I. (2005/04/08/1663228)

France

Jean-Claude Gallotta, the Mark Morris of France (1992/12/14/0576566)
Canal Plus, the HBO of France (1994/03/27/0676813)

Georgia

New South Wales, the Georgian equivalent of deep space (1987/01/25/0007151)
the Appalachian Trail marching grandly from Georgia to Maine, the Holy Grail of thousands of hikers (1998/07/10/1030659)

Germany

Heiner Goebbels, the John Zorn of West Germany (1989/11/10/0299484)

Ghana

Ghana is the Brazil of Africa (2006/06/28/1772401)

Hong Kong

Denmark is the Hong Kong of Europe (1993/04/01/0599397)

India

Bangalore, India, the Silicon Valley of South Asia (1997/06/19/0938068)
Azim Premji is the Bill Gates of India (2004/03/21/1568087)

Iraq

“If bin Laden is the Robin Hood of jihad,” the authors write, then Abu Musab al-Zarqawi “has been its Horatio Alger, and Iraq his field of dreams.” (2005/11/20/1719129)

Ireland

Gay Byrne, the Johnny Carson of Ireland (1991/11/13/0486648)

Israel

“Some people say Claire Shulman is the Golda Meir of Queens. […] I say Golda Meir was the Claire Shulman of Israel.” (1996/05/21/0852275)
Benjamin Netanyahu is the Ronald Reagan of Israel (1998/01/20/0989013)

Italy

Italy is the Boston Red Sox of soccer (2002/05/26/1395524)

Japan

Hiroshi Itsuki, the Frank Sinatra of Japan (1987/06/29/0052991)
Japan, the Everest of export markets (1992/05/01/0524977)
NHK, the BBC of Japan (1998/10/11/1053265)
Shimano of Japan, the Microsoft of bicycle-part makers (1999/03/11/1091448)
Yoshinori Watanabe, the Japanese godfather of the yakuza (2000/04/02/1188831)
Yasujiro Ozu, the Japanese master of emotional understatement (2003/08/08/1510478)
Yomiuri Giants, the Japanese equivalent of the Yankees (2004/03/28/1569955)
Oden is the Japanese equivalent of chicken soup (2004/03/10/1565172)
Biz Cool, the Japanese equivalent of business casual (2006/06/24/1771315)

Jersey

New Jersey, the Charlie Brown of franchises (1996/05/26/0853475)
Jersey Shore, the Land of Imposition (2002/07/28/1411586)
Frank Lautenberg, the Rosie Ruiz of the New Jersey race (2002/10/30/1436301)
New Jersey’s Vince Lombardi is the Yosemite of rest stops (2003/02/02/1461651)
Arturo Gatti is the Oscar De La Hoya of New Jersey (2004/02/22/1560800)

Jordan

But if Jordan is the Chuck Yeager of basketball, Julius Erving was its Charles Lindbergh and Connie Hawkins was its Wright Brothers. (1992/05/07/0526474)
Romario is the Michael Jordan of soccer and Bebeto is the Magic Johnson of soccer (1994/07/05/0697643)
Michael Jordan is the God of Chicago (1995/03/12/0748227)
Jordan, the Seinfeld of sports (1998/05/29/1020525)
Bonfire, the Michael Jordan of dressage horses (1998/11/05/1059693)
Brian Foster, the Michael Jordan of BMX racing (1998/12/27/1072824)
The stunt biker Dave Mirra, the Michael Jordan of the dirt set (2000/08/13/1222322)
Cynthia Cooper is the Michael Jordan, the Larry Bird, the Magic Johnson of this league (2000/08/28/1226010)
McNabb has been called the Michael Jordan of the National Football League (2001/01/08/1261308)

Korea

Colombia is the South Korea of flower exporters (1989/09/20/0284628)

Mexico

Virginia Gonzalez is the Dorothea Dix of Mexico (2000/01/16/1168831)
Las Cruces, the Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico (2003/03/09/1470804)
Puebla is the Lyon of Mexico (2005/11/20/1718800)

Portugal

Algarve, the Riviera of Portugal (1987/06/14/0048773)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the Augusta National of Islam (2002/11/17/1441420)
If the vast, empty plain of eastern Montana is the Saudi Arabia of coal, then Gov. Brian Schweitzer may be its Lawrence. (2005/11/21/1719391)

Spain

Savannah, the Central Park of the capital, Port of Spain (1999/08/11/1129887)

Sweden

Sweden, the Rangers of international hockey (1994/02/12/0668308)

Taiwan

Hsinchu Science Park, Silicon Valley of Taiwan (1999/09/22/1139658)

United States

Sassy, the United States version of Dolly (1987/08/24/0068801)
the Presidency of the United States is the Holy Grail of world politics (1996/01/21/0824276)

Cities

grep -E -i London README.md

Olivier Awards, the London equivalent of the Tony Awards (2000/07/05/1212567)
If Kelly Hoppen is the Design Diva of London, then Rita Konig is the Design It Girl. (2002/12/26/1451541)
Olivier Award, the London equivalent of the Tony (2003/03/02/1468848)
Chalkhill Estates in London, the British equivalent of a housing project (2006/11/01/1801327)

grep -E -i Paris README.md

La Villa, the Village Vanguard of Paris (1995/01/15/0736911)
Biennale International des Antiquaries in Paris, Super Bowl of antique fairs (2000/09/08/1228700)
L’Ami Louis, the Parisian temple of foie gras (2002/11/06/1438122)
If Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America, Quebec City is the Paris of North America. (2006/02/19/1740811)

grep -E -i "^-.*New York" README.md

the Giants, the New York Titans of the American Football League (1987/01/28/0007820)
“New York State is the Cadillac of social services,” Mr. Alfonso said. ”Other states have Volkswagens.” (1990/11/26/0404144)
“New York is the Cadillac of welfare states,” he said. “We can’t afford it anymore. What we need is Chevys and Fords in this state.” (1991/01/31/0419226)
Forget the Yankees of Reggie, the Giants of Taylor, the Mets of Carter and Hernandez, even the Knicks of Reed and DeBusschere. The Islanders won like the old, old New York Yankees and they charmed like the old, old Brooklyn Dodgers (1992/03/04/0511581)
New York is the Gomorrah of the New World (1995/04/09/0753967)
Peter Eisenman of New York is the Gertrude Stein of contemporary architecture (1999/03/14/1092170)
the Bronx, the Riviera of New York City (2000/07/09/1213712)
the Mighty Mose, the Paul Bunyan of New York (2001/11/04/1339907)
the A-team in New York is the A-team of A-teams (2002/01/21/1361231)
Terry Riley, the California Minimalist; Astor Piazzolla, the Argentine master of the nuevo tango; and John Zorn, the New York bender of genres (2004/01/11/1549709)
Ravenswood is the Death Valley of New York City (2005/07/23/1689358)
New York is the Mecca of basketball (2007/04/05/1838196)

POS patterns

Which are the most frequent POS patterns?

Create a directory which contains only the 500+ NYT articles:

mkdir v01_nyt_articles
for i in $(grep ^- vossanto-NYT-only-individuals.md | grep -v "<strike>" | sed -e "s/.*(/nyt_corpus_/" -e "s/)/.xml/" -e "s/\//.har\//"); do
    cp $i v01_nyt_articles
done

Extract the POS/NER patterns:

./nyt.py --pattern v01_nyt_articles > v01_nyt_patterns.tsv

Clean them up and sort them:

 awk -F'\t' '{print $5}' v01_nyt_patterns.tsv |\
./analyse_patterns.py | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head

n	target,	the	source	of	modifier		example
13	PERSON,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	NNS		(PERSON Thomas Eisner) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION St. Francis) of/IN bugs/NNS
13	PERSON,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	GPE		(PERSON Ethel Merman) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION Birgit Nilsson) of/IN (GPE Broadway)
10	PERSON,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	NN		(PERSON Eddie Shore) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION Babe Ruth) of/IN hockey/NN
9	PERSON,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	DT	NN	(PERSON Hal Schell) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION Boswell) of/IN the/DT delta/NN
7	PERSON	VBZ	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	NN	(PERSON Mr. Solerwitz) is/VBZ the/DT (ORGANIZATION Babe Ruth) of/IN ripoffs/NNS
7	PERSON,	DT	PERSON	IN	GPE		(PERSON Oscar) ,/, the/DT (PERSON Larry Bird) of/IN (GPE Brazil) ,/,
7	PERSON,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	NN	NNS	(PERSON Edward Rogoff) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION Don Quixote) of/IN cab/NN riders/NNS
6	PERSON,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	JJ	NN	(PERSON Carlos Gardel) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION Elvis) of/IN tango/JJ culture/NN
5	PERSON,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	NN	NN	(PERSON Johnny Miller) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION Simon Cowell) of/IN golf/NN criticism/NN
5	GPE,	DT	ORGANIZATION	IN	NNS		(GPE McEnroe) ,/, the/DT (ORGANIZATION Picasso) of/IN players/NNS

category	count
Sports	55
Arts	28
New York and Region	22
Movies; Arts	20
Arts; Books	18
Opinion	10
Style	9
Arts; Theater	8
U.S.	7
Magazine	7
Home and Garden; Style	7
Business	6
World	5
Technology; Business	4
Travel	3
Travel; Magazine	2
Magazine; Washington	2
Education; New York and Region	2
Dining and Wine; Style	2
World; Washington	1
World; Front Page	1
Week in Review	1
U.S.; Washington	1
Travel; Style	1
Theater; New York and Region	1
Technology; Science; Arts; Books	1
Technology	1
Style; Magazine	1
Science; Movies; Arts	1
Obituaries; Sports	1
Obituaries; Books; New York and Region	1
New York and Region; Opinion	1
Movies; New York and Region	1
Movies; Front Page; U.S.	1
Movies; Arts; Theater	1
Movies; Arts; Books	1
Health; Sports	1
Health; Magazine	1
Front Page; U.S.	1
Dining and Wine; Style; Books	1
Business; Obituaries	1
Business; Books	1
Books	1
sum	241

category	count
Sports	55
Arts	54
Movies	24
New York and Region	23
Style	10
Opinion	10
Magazine	9
U.S.	8
Business	8
World	7
Home and Garden	7
Travel	6
Technology	6
Dining and Wine	3
Obituaries	2
Health	2
Education	2
Week in Review	1
Theater	1
Science	1
Front Page	1
Books	1
sum	241

category	count
Arts	78
Sports	57
New York and Region	28
Movies	25
Books	24
Style	21
Magazine	13
Business	12
Opinion	11
U.S.	10
Theater	10
World	7
Home and Garden	7
Travel	6
Technology	6
Washington	4
Obituaries	3
Front Page	3
Dining and Wine	3
Science	2
Health	2
Education	2
Week in Review	1
sum	335

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next steps

missing vossantos

statistics

number of articles

number of candidates

number of vossanto candidates

number of vossantos

New York Times

Die Zeit

Plots

final result

special/dubious cases

the PLACE version of

the PLACE equivalent of

the pioneer, king, queen, … of

If …

more than three parts (but not “If …”)

Frequent

invividiuals only

all

Categories

Sport

Music

Places

Continents

Countries

Cities

categories

Raw Categories

First category only

All categories

POS patterns