4 ms·

I always understood "news at 11" to mean that a fuller report of the event that was just briefly introduced would be provided at 11.

• tivert 2y ago
  > I always understood "news at 11" to mean that a fuller report of the event that was just briefly introduced would be provided at 11. That feels like a retcon, for lack of a better word. I'd like to see a clip of "news at 11" being used that way by an anchor in a news broadcast (especially pre-1980). Edit: I think the term that covers what I'm talking about is folk etymology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_etymology: > Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology,[1] analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation[2] – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar one through popular usage.[3][4][5] The form or the meaning of an archaic, foreign, or otherwise unfamiliar word is reinterpreted as resembling more familiar words or morphemes. My theory is that: 1) Delayed available of footage due to film technology created the "film at 11" idiom, which became so ubiquitous it was the basis of jokes. 2) "The phrase was used in many TV shows and movies from the 1960s through the 1980s." 3) Film was replaced by video at some point prior to 1980 (guess). The idiom ceased being used in news broadcasts, and became unmoored from its foundations but continued to drift around in popular culture. 4) People ignorant of the origin use "folk etymology" to mis-correct/twist "film at 11" to "news at 11," which fits the pop culture formula. 5) "News at 11" gets repeated all over the internet all the time.