Mr. Hoskyns’s book is a chance for a multiangled reappraisal.

Suppose we have two objects, foo and bar.

If a reader searches for dioxin, she arrives at this article. The too-long hatnote on this page probably befuddled many readers looking for the Wikipedia article Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins.

But if this twig be made of wood That will hold tack, I'll make the fur Fly 'bout the ears of that old cur; And th' other mungrel vermin, Ralph, That brav'd us all in his behalf.