He’ll take no more of your questions

P. G. Wodehouse fans are

breathing a sigh of relief now

that the search engine Ask Jeeves

is retiring its cartoon manservant

mascot named after the British humorist’s most famous character.

“I don’t think any of us are offended

about Jeeves being dropped,” said Amy

Plofker, membership secretary of The Wodehouse Society. “In fact, we were more indignant when he was used in the first place and was referred to as a butler; he’s actually a valet.”

Barry Diller, chairman of InterActiveCorp, which bought the search engine in July, announced this week that his company planned to phase out the helpful, all-knowing Jeeves, who was inspired by Wodehouse’s all-knowing “gentleman’s gentleman.” “Not that I don’t like that fat butler,” said Diller, who is also shortening the Web site’s name to Ask.

When Ask Jeeves launched nearly 10 years ago, its creators did not seek permission to use the name of the unflappable valet Jeeves, who first came to the aid of his bumbling master Bertie Wooster in the 1917 short story “ The Man with Two Left Feet.” In 2000, after threatening legal action, the trustees of the Wodehouse estate reached an undisclosed settlement with the search engine that included adding information about Wodehouse’s works on the site.

But fans of the original Jeeves, who was the subject of 14 books by Wodehouse, have never warmed to the search engine’s appropriation of the character. Irritation stemmed from the cartoon Jeeves’ uncharacteristic appearances, such as being turned into giant balloon in a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or being pictured working out on a rowing machine on the Web site.

“ Jeeves is stately and dignified,” wrote Wodehouse enthusiast Robert on his blog The Llama Butchers, after spotting the search engine mascot wearing an iPod this July. “He reads Spinoza … He doesn’t go in for trendy things. He abhors pop culture. Putting him in these ridiculous poses is preposterous or, as he himself would put it, ‘ taking a liberty.’ ”

Similarly out of character was Ask Jeeves’ recent make-over, which slimmed the butler down and gave him a tan. “ Jeeves would never tan,” noted Plofker, over the phone from Sleepy Hollow, N. Y. “Even on his

shrimping holiday in Bognor Regis.”

“I don’t think Ask Jeeves really

brought anybody to Wodehouse, so he won’t be a loss to

our cause.”

J. Kelly Nestruck, National Post