A new profile on General Mark Milley delved into his efforts to preside over the military despite his numerous concerns with former President Donald Trump.
Which noun form of lead can be “buried,” such that the sentence has prepositional phrase agreement? Talkin’ 'bout physically burying something underneath backfill.
With lead, I’ll concede people have fucked it up enough in modern usage to warrant entry in the dictionary, but it’s a quatiary definition, 2(f)(1). Even that definition literally ends in a coda, says “go look up LEDE, you f’n goofball.”
And for lede? It’s not numbered, lettered, and numbered again, because it’s the only thing lede means. “Bury the lede.” What a sentence. Evokes the typesetter sitting over the moveable type press, laying out every character, with the most important feature of the story down, below a bunch of fill. It’s how you should write. Clear, concise. Good diction. I may die on this hill a hero.
First usage seems to be around 1950, give or take, depending on the source.
The idea that this is a term common in old news rooms feels dubious at best. The inclusion in dictionaries in 2008 and later suggests that this became an “actually it’s lede” comment on the internet that caught on to the point of inclusion. The explanation provided in the link I posted, which is sourced around 1950 seems most probable and implies a very specific usage that is not relevant for general use. I have to assume this was something an English professor told to classes to sound smart and it slowly morphed and spread from there, picking up steam in the internet age.
Most sources seem to say either are acceptable, so this whole thing is rather silly. As only a fairly limited subset of the population knows what “lede” means without looking it up, “lead” seems to be safer word to use for broad understanding. Concise words are great, but only if the average reader knows what they mean.
Acceptable maybe, but one is more correct. And lede is more correct because of what it evokes, the typesetter moving the lines of movable type, literally burying the lede.
It was in fact used by typesetters as jargon in the linotype era. And when it entered the lexicon more broadly, it had a very specific meaning, the same meaning which it still has.
Listen. It’s fine if you want to use a less correct word. When it comes to word choice, as matters of diction as opposed to word choice as matters of style, I go to the dictionary, specifically Webster. For style, I go to CMoS, which says either is acceptable.
When you go to the dictionary for lead, this definition of “lead” is quaternary, was added in 2008, and tells you to go look at “lede.” Lede is the exact correct word choice for the phrase “bury the lede.”
Probably not though…
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/lead-vs-lede-roy-peter-clark-has-the-definitive-answer-at-last/
Sounds like it was used in telegraphic printout and that’s about it.
Wow can find anything on the internet.
It is lede.
Maybe they don’t use that when publishing blogs but it’s used in serious formal writing, academia and law.
You clearly didn’t even read the article, or even skim it. It’s not referencing blogs.
And by your own standard of serious formal writing using it… this is Lemmy.
Well then. Let’s check the authority on diction…
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bury
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lede
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lead
Which noun form of lead can be “buried,” such that the sentence has prepositional phrase agreement? Talkin’ 'bout physically burying something underneath backfill.
With lead, I’ll concede people have fucked it up enough in modern usage to warrant entry in the dictionary, but it’s a quatiary definition, 2(f)(1). Even that definition literally ends in a coda, says “go look up LEDE, you f’n goofball.”
And for lede? It’s not numbered, lettered, and numbered again, because it’s the only thing lede means. “Bury the lede.” What a sentence. Evokes the typesetter sitting over the moveable type press, laying out every character, with the most important feature of the story down, below a bunch of fill. It’s how you should write. Clear, concise. Good diction. I may die on this hill a hero.
It’s a fairly new word. From what I could find it was added to the Webster’s dictionary in 2008.
https://proofed.co.uk/writing-tips/idiom-tips-bury-the-lede-or-bury-the-lead/
And to the Oxford dictionary in 2015.
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/lede_n2?tab=meaning_and_use
First usage seems to be around 1950, give or take, depending on the source.
The idea that this is a term common in old news rooms feels dubious at best. The inclusion in dictionaries in 2008 and later suggests that this became an “actually it’s lede” comment on the internet that caught on to the point of inclusion. The explanation provided in the link I posted, which is sourced around 1950 seems most probable and implies a very specific usage that is not relevant for general use. I have to assume this was something an English professor told to classes to sound smart and it slowly morphed and spread from there, picking up steam in the internet age.
Most sources seem to say either are acceptable, so this whole thing is rather silly. As only a fairly limited subset of the population knows what “lede” means without looking it up, “lead” seems to be safer word to use for broad understanding. Concise words are great, but only if the average reader knows what they mean.
Acceptable maybe, but one is more correct. And lede is more correct because of what it evokes, the typesetter moving the lines of movable type, literally burying the lede.
Considering the word didn’t enter the dictionary until after typesetting died, you’re sounding like this line from the original article I posted.
It was in fact used by typesetters as jargon in the linotype era. And when it entered the lexicon more broadly, it had a very specific meaning, the same meaning which it still has.
Listen. It’s fine if you want to use a less correct word. When it comes to word choice, as matters of diction as opposed to word choice as matters of style, I go to the dictionary, specifically Webster. For style, I go to CMoS, which says either is acceptable.
When you go to the dictionary for lead, this definition of “lead” is quaternary, was added in 2008, and tells you to go look at “lede.” Lede is the exact correct word choice for the phrase “bury the lede.”