Lede

Filed Under April 2007, columns 

A zippy lede makes light the grafs.

Dear Word Detective: In the newspaper biz, the lead sentence(s) of a story or the most important article of a publication is referred to among journalists as the “lede.” Supposedly this intentionally erroneous variant of the spelling of “lead” is used to avoid confusion in the newspaper operation about whether a note refers to “the first sentences” (pronounced with a long “e”) or “the line spacing” (leading), or the material of which type was made (atomic symbol Pb, pronounced with a short “e”). In journalism classes, students are told that there are many anecdotes about how things got messed up due to confusion about what the writer meant, hence “lede.” But I’ve yet to hear any of those anecdotes and nobody I’ve talked to about it can recall a single one. They “know” that there ARE anecdotes, but don’t know what those stories might be.

The explanation doesn’t make sense to me, as I think a writer’s intentions would be clear from the context in which the word is used, regardless the spelling. In my skeptical view, the explanation is a bit of folklore — a made-up, back-formed explanation that sounds plausible but does not hold up under scrutiny. I have a theory, though, that “lede” is leftover from an earlier spelling of the word (which changed in the 16th century to “lead”), and that editors (being well-known for their curmudgeonly ways regarding language) continued to use the old spelling while the technologists who made and used type adopted the newer “hip” form. Of course, I’ve been wrong about one or two things in the past. What’s your view? Do you know any anecdotes about pressroom confusion or have any sources regarding the derivation of this alternate spelling that would allay my skepticism? — Bob Kalsey.

I admire your skepticism, and I have heard the “confusion” explanation for years, but never a concrete example. Then again, if the seminal mistakes were made by obscure editors (who were then probably sacked), the lack of specifics is understandable.

Moreover, having worked as a proofreader for several years at the end of the “hot type” era, I can vouch for the importance of the distinction between “lead” and “lede.” “Leading” (pronounced like the metal) back then was thin strips of lead used as line spacers in typesetting machines. A proofreader’s (or editor’s) quick note to “fix lead” could mean thus either that the first paragraph is garbled (poorly written or set in the wrong type) or that the lines are incorrectly spaced, two very different problems. And take it from me, typesetters working on a deadline hate ambiguity (often at top volume) and are not in the business of judging context to decode “lead.” So I tend to believe the “avoid confusion” explanation.

The most important article on a front page is actually usually spelled “lead” (or called the “leader” in the US), by the way (so every “lead” has a “lede”). The “leader” in a British newspaper is the main editorial.

 

 

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