6 ms·

FYI it's "bury the lede," a lede being the introductory section of a news story.

sharkjacobs 2y ago
I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede" outside of a context where you are worried about conflating the "lead" paragraph with the "lead" piece of metal which was used as a spacer between words in a Linotype machine
- jzb 2y ago
  It's not a misspelling, it's jargon. FWIW I prefer it and I think it's valuable to preserve in part because people who dig into it a bit learn about the history of the term and practice of putting publications (especially newspapers) together.
  - Maxatar 2y ago
    You can prefer one spelling over another, absolutely, but it's a bit too strong to say someone using the actual word "lead" is incorrect.
    - jzb 2y ago
      Oh, I wouldn't correct someone for saying "lead" -- or "intro" or any other variant that makes sense. Leed is right out, though.
  - keybored 2y ago
    If the choice is betwixt overloading a morpheme and having two distinct I shall take the latter.
  - jameshart 2y ago
    Right. Saying people outside the industry should feel free to use ‘lead’ instead of ‘lede’ is like saying people outside the tech business should feel free to talk about ‘kilobites’.
- ziddoap 2y ago
  >I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede" Does it still count as misspelling when "lede" is in the dictionary (Merriam Websters & Cambridge & Oxford)? Pretty sure it's just a word at that point, right?
Maxatar 2y ago
The word "lede" was introduced in the 1970s as an alternative spelling for the word "lead" to resolve ambiguity between the leading paragraph of an article and the metal "lead" which was used in typesetting. It didn't even become popular until the 1980s. In fact, prior to the 1980s, it was indeed spelled "bury the lead". Here for example is an excerpt from a book about newswriting from the 1970s which uses "lead" as the spelling: https://books.google.ca/books?id=3IxbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22bury+the+lead%22&pgis=1&redir_esc=y#search_anchor https://books.google.ca/books?id=3IxbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22bury+the+...
- tedden 2y ago
  [dead]
- havblue 2y ago
  Meanwhile, the group "Led Zeppelin" also avoided the ambiguous spelling to prevent people from pronouncing their name "leed zeppelin". You can't win with lead.
  - btown 2y ago
    Huh, didn't know that! Via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin#Formation:_1966%E2%80%931968 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin#Formation:_1966%E... : > One account of how the new band's name was chosen held that Moon and Entwistle had suggested that a supergroup with Page and Beck would go down like a "lead balloon", an idiom for being very unsuccessful or unpopular.[21] The group dropped the 'a' in lead at the suggestion of [manager] Peter Grant, so that those unfamiliar with the term would not pronounce it "leed".[22] The word "balloon" was replaced by "zeppelin", a word which, according to music journalist Keith Shadwick, brought "the perfect combination of heavy and light, combustibility and grace" to Page's mind.[21] It certainly doesn't help that in a rock context, "lead guitar" is very much pronounced with a long e! And one could be forgiven for thinking that a formation of flying things would necessarily have one member in the lead position. I'm glad they had the foresight to keep us from being led astray!
    - samatman 2y ago
lmm 2y ago
That's a pretentious, anachronistic affectation - the phrase predates the use of "lede".

I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede" outside of a context where you are worried about conflating the "lead" paragraph with the "lead" piece of metal which was used as a spacer between words in a Linotype machine

jzb 2y ago
It's not a misspelling, it's jargon. FWIW I prefer it and I think it's valuable to preserve in part because people who dig into it a bit learn about the history of the term and practice of putting publications (especially newspapers) together.
- Maxatar 2y ago
  You can prefer one spelling over another, absolutely, but it's a bit too strong to say someone using the actual word "lead" is incorrect.
  - jzb 2y ago
    Oh, I wouldn't correct someone for saying "lead" -- or "intro" or any other variant that makes sense. Leed is right out, though.
- keybored 2y ago
  If the choice is betwixt overloading a morpheme and having two distinct I shall take the latter.
- jameshart 2y ago
  Right. Saying people outside the industry should feel free to use ‘lead’ instead of ‘lede’ is like saying people outside the tech business should feel free to talk about ‘kilobites’.
ziddoap 2y ago
>I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede" Does it still count as misspelling when "lede" is in the dictionary (Merriam Websters & Cambridge & Oxford)? Pretty sure it's just a word at that point, right?

Maxatar 2y ago

The word "lede" was introduced in the 1970s as an alternative spelling for the word "lead" to resolve ambiguity between the leading paragraph of an article and the metal "lead" which was used in typesetting. It didn't even become popular until the 1980s. In fact, prior to the 1980s, it was indeed spelled "bury the lead". Here for example is an excerpt from a book about newswriting from the 1970s which uses "lead" as the spelling: https://books.google.ca/books?id=3IxbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22bury+the+lead%22&pgis=1&redir_esc=y#search_anchor https://books.google.ca/books?id=3IxbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22bury+the+...

tedden 2y ago
[dead]
havblue 2y ago
Meanwhile, the group "Led Zeppelin" also avoided the ambiguous spelling to prevent people from pronouncing their name "leed zeppelin". You can't win with lead.
- btown 2y ago
  Huh, didn't know that! Via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin#Formation:_1966%E2%80%931968 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin#Formation:_1966%E... : > One account of how the new band's name was chosen held that Moon and Entwistle had suggested that a supergroup with Page and Beck would go down like a "lead balloon", an idiom for being very unsuccessful or unpopular.[21] The group dropped the 'a' in lead at the suggestion of [manager] Peter Grant, so that those unfamiliar with the term would not pronounce it "leed".[22] The word "balloon" was replaced by "zeppelin", a word which, according to music journalist Keith Shadwick, brought "the perfect combination of heavy and light, combustibility and grace" to Page's mind.[21] It certainly doesn't help that in a rock context, "lead guitar" is very much pronounced with a long e! And one could be forgiven for thinking that a formation of flying things would necessarily have one member in the lead position. I'm glad they had the foresight to keep us from being led astray!
  - samatman 2y ago

lmm 2y ago

That's a pretentious, anachronistic affectation - the phrase predates the use of "lede".