American things

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Like Morbius' bugaboos "callback" and "showrunner", it's industry jargon that has leaked into the popular consciousness

valorous wokelord (silby), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 16:24 (six years ago) link

afaik "lede", "hed", and "dek" are all spelled that way (i.e., wrong) so if they are left in copy during the editing process, it'll be easy for a copyeditor to spot and remove them

valorous wokelord (silby), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 16:25 (six years ago) link

fixt.

pplains, Wednesday, 20 June 2018 16:28 (six years ago) link

I never realised it was just a misspelling of "lead" that had become a standard, I've only ever seen it "buried the lede" and I guess thought it was an archaic term that only stuck around in that phrase

Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 20 June 2018 16:28 (six years ago) link

Never seen it before today, on ILX... twice!

We can be herpes (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 16:35 (six years ago) link

sked

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 16:41 (six years ago) link

reax

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 16:41 (six years ago) link

stix nix hick pix

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 17:06 (six years ago) link

"Lede". WTF?

i'm the one that used it, sorry! i've seen plenty of journos use it, informally. same with "graf".

obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 17:12 (six years ago) link

No need (nede?) for apologies, it was also in a tweet someone posted. An American tweet.

We can be herpes (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 17:14 (six years ago) link

as an astute observer of american journalism, i feel the need to Both Sides the shit out of this


So how did we come to spell it lede?

Although evidence dates the spelling to the 1970s, we didn't enter lede in our dictionaries until 2008. For much of that time, it was mostly kept under wraps as in-house newsroom jargon.

Once, Al Marlens, the assistant managing editor, told one of the cleaning men to walk up to me and ask to see my lede, “not lead,” a newsie slang for the first sentence of a story.
—Myron S. Waldman, Forgive Us Our Press Passes, 1991

Spelling the word as lede helped copyeditors, typesetters, and others in the business distinguish it from its homograph lead (pronounced \led\ ), which also happened to refer to the thin strip of metal separating lines of type (as in a Linotype machine). Since both uses were likely to come up frequently in a newspaper office, there was a benefit to spelling the two words distinctly.

William Safire, who knew a thing or two about newsrooms, wrote in his New York Times "On Language" column in 1990, "Wouldn't it be easier if the noun for the metal were spelled the way it sounded (led, to rhyme with dead) and the noun for the beginning of a newspaper story were spelled the way it is pronounced (lede, or leed, to rhyme with deed)?"

Others have been less than willing to embrace the new spelling. At The Awl, founder Choire Sicha tore out at those who use lede like it's an affectation:

You schmucks who use ridiculous journo-terms make me crazy! Finally, someone is willing to speak out against the use of “lede” in public. Because, ha ha, sucka, there’s no reason for it! (Plus, MOST OF YOU ARE JUST BLOGGERS.)
—Choire Sicha, The Awl, 19 Sept. 2011

obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 17:15 (six years ago) link

Or twete? (xp)

We can be herpes (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 17:15 (six years ago) link

whoops, forgot the link: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/bury-the-lede-versus-lead

obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 17:15 (six years ago) link

four weeks pass...

HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS

Rabbit Control (Latham Green), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 13:26 (six years ago) link

sweet corn on the cob

A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:07 (six years ago) link

public bathroom cubicles the size of a studio apartment

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:15 (six years ago) link

The Americans with Disabilities Act

devops mom (silby), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:23 (six years ago) link

disturbingly large gaps in cubicle doors

Number None, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:24 (six years ago) link

The Americans with Disabilities Act

nah, I mean things like a bar's toilet being one room with a toilet and a urinal and a sink, and for some reason a dresser, and also enough room for a bed, not an accessible cubicle or two within a series of cubicles, which is not an American thing

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:28 (six years ago) link

Have a Nice Day

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 22:10 (six years ago) link

No concept of the greater good. America’s slogan should be ‘Me and Mine’

Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:17 (six years ago) link

Zero shame

Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:17 (six years ago) link

Fire at will

Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:18 (six years ago) link

We are number despite all evidence to the contrary.

Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:19 (six years ago) link

Popularity in school Is based solely off n parents income

Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:20 (six years ago) link

No concept of the greater good.

This is a somewhat recent development and it certainly is not universal. The idea of public libraries originated in the USA. Public parks, public highways, public water works, public fire departments, public schools, public lands, and civil service all were flourishing ideas in the USA before about 1975.

A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:23 (six years ago) link

Backhanded insults

Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:26 (six years ago) link

^ I think the French preempted the US on that one.

A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:29 (six years ago) link

Conference call with American colleague: "over here, in the States, we have a thing we call... The Sniff Test."

Cardigan B (King Boy Pato), Friday, 20 July 2018 13:14 (six years ago) link

Cujo-ing dogs? An American tourist was talking to me in the pub while I tried to do the crossword. He started talking about is dog, and said that he used to offer it something 'from the last president, I don't talk politics in public, but you know who I mean, and something from the new president. He's very friendly, but he doesn't like black people!'. I don't understand the mechanics of the cujo-isation, but I just ignored him from then on.

Leaghaidh am brón an t-anam bochd (dowd), Friday, 20 July 2018 14:36 (six years ago) link

The sniff test is a rite of passage all men around the world take part in

F# A# (∞), Friday, 20 July 2018 15:20 (six years ago) link

one month passes...

disturbingly large gaps in cubicle doors

― Number None, Thursday, 19 July 2018 07:24 (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is so fucking weird, i do not understand this at all

calamity gammon (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 8 September 2018 23:40 (six years ago) link

seriously why even hang a door there when the gap is so big you're basically guaranteed an audience

calamity gammon (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 8 September 2018 23:40 (six years ago) link

Ranch might be the most american word there is.

Like so many concepts and objects associated with the western USA, the ranchero was borrowed from Mexico.

A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 9 September 2018 00:13 (six years ago) link

Do you mean doors or "doorways"?

Like, none of these would ever have had doors in the first place.

https://i.imgur.com/8C2eC7p.jpg

pplains, Sunday, 9 September 2018 00:36 (six years ago) link

lmao

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 9 September 2018 00:43 (six years ago) link

bathroom cubicles i think they mean

Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 9 September 2018 00:49 (six years ago) link

*unveils list of american things* so we call those bathroom stalls

21st savagery fox (m bison), Sunday, 9 September 2018 00:56 (six years ago) link

Get it right

Sicka “europeans”

Also i never even close the door if I’m inside a stall

F# A# (∞), Sunday, 9 September 2018 01:54 (six years ago) link

Foul

faculty w1fe (silby), Sunday, 9 September 2018 02:59 (six years ago) link

Number 1 not 2 grams

F# A# (∞), Sunday, 9 September 2018 03:04 (six years ago) link

what i love about ilx is that international threads always end up being about poop

Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 9 September 2018 04:16 (six years ago) link

de subjectivism aka dutch oven

gordon cartyard (alomar lines), Sunday, 9 September 2018 05:03 (six years ago) link

If only there was a blanket big enough to cover all of ilx

F# A# (∞), Sunday, 9 September 2018 10:23 (six years ago) link

CLOSETS IN BEDROOMS

Lee626, Thursday, 13 September 2018 09:56 (six years ago) link

Is that not more of a....universal thing

Number None, Thursday, 13 September 2018 12:45 (six years ago) link

If there’s a world with bedrooms without closets i do not want to live in it

F# A# (∞), Thursday, 13 September 2018 13:16 (six years ago) link

is this like closets (built in rooms) vs wardrobes (free standing furniture)? otherwise this non-american is nonplussed.

Winner of the 2018 Great British Bae *cough* (ledge), Thursday, 13 September 2018 14:02 (six years ago) link

yes

Lee626, Thursday, 13 September 2018 15:04 (six years ago) link


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