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dofmtoday at 2:57 PM2 repliesview on HN

Random trivia (and something I learned this way myself from an internet reply, though I can't remember when):

What gets buried is the "lede". It is a really unusual thing — a deliberate, engineered misspelling of "lead" that leaked into broader use:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/bury-the-lede-versu...

(Not meant as a nit-pick — it's just something that adds really fascinating historical colour to a useful expression, that people often mistakenly re-correct)


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reaperducertoday at 5:27 PM

It's spelled "lede" so as not to be confused with "lead," as in the metal with which was used to print newspapers.

Since "lead" (as in beginning of a story) and "lead" (as in metal) were frequently used in print newsrooms, the spelling of one changed over time to reduce confusion.

There were a number of other language convolutions in newsrooms, such as "slug" which meant a piece of hot metal, and so was useful for describing a spent bullet, the very short text that served as a title for a particular story, and a section of metal letters on the printing press.

/Worked for two major newspaper companies back when printing newspapers was akin to printing money.

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