"Graf"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 12/4/05, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I've seen it spelled as"graph" only, but I've encountered it a number of times.

You wouldn't catch an old-school newspaper editor spelling it as
"graph". "Graf" is an intentional journalistic misspelling, like
"lede", "hed" (for "headline"), or "TK" (for "to kome" -- cf. "oll
korrect"). The misspellings arose as a way of distinguishing between
the copy to be published and "metacommentary" on the copy that would
be removed before publication.


--Ben Zimmer