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can be found Lam
Filed Under April 2007, columns | Leave a Comment
Dear Word Detective: In a recent column you gave an explanation of “on the lam” as originating from a radio newscast in the 1920s. I disagree that this is the origin of the term. I think that the expression of being “on the lamb” originated with the Odyssey of Homer, and more specifically with the section of this epic story in which Odysseus and his men were being held captive in the cave of the one-eyed Cyclops. If you will recall, the men had blinded the Cyclops by putting out his one and only eye. He kept sheep and lambs in the same cave where he kept the captive soldiers imprisoned. The sheep and lambs were let out to graze on a daily basis. They had to pass by the blinded Cyclops in order to leave the cave. He felt the lambs’ woolly bodies and determined that they were sheep or lambs and let them pass by unimpeded. The soldiers, being ever so alert and clever, took ropes and tied themselves to the underside or belly of the lambs. The Cyclops felt the woolly hides of the lambs and let them pass. Therefore the soldiers were able to escape from the cave of the Cyclops by quite literally being tied “on the lambs.” This is the more plausible origin of the term and one which has over 2,000 years of historical precedent. — David M.
Hmm. This is a bit awkward, but as far as I can tell, I have never suggested that “on the lam” originated in a 1920s radio broadcast, although if you were searching on the net for the origin of the term, you may well have found someone who did.
What I did say was that the term “on the lam” first appeared in print in the late 19th century, and that “lam” (from the Old Norse “lamja”) has meant “to beat” in English since the 16th century. “To lam it” in the underworld slang of mid-1800s was the exact equivalent of “to beat it,” i.e., run away so fast that your feet seemed to “beat” the pavement. So to be “on the lam” simply meant to be “on the run,” a fugitive from justice.
Given the phonetic similarity between “lam” and “lamb,” the story of how Odysseus and his men outwitted the Cyclops does furnish an intriguing sidelight to “on the lam.” But there is no evidence that there is any actual connection to the phrase, and a good deal of evidence that there isn’t. There’s the little matter of that 2,000 year gap between Homer’s epic (written between 800 and 600 B.C.) and the appearance of the phrase. There’s also the fact that, to my knowledge, the phrase “on the lamb” or anything similar doesn’t occur in any other language. More importantly, the form “on the lamb” does not appear at any point in English, which would be expected if it had been the original form that later mutated into “on the lam.” But “lam” in the “beat” sense has a long, documented history in English which can be traced in citations right up to the appearance of “on the lam.”
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Lede
Filed Under April 2007, columns | Leave a Comment
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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