"bury the lede"

[Dave Wilton]

"Lede" is a standard journalistic term and, indeed, it is so spelled to
avoid confusion with the metal. Merriam-Webster has it from 1976. "Bury the
lede/lead" is a common phrase among journos.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Charles Doyle
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 4:42 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "bury the lede"

I noticed this in today's syndicated column by Leonard Pitts, regarding the
recent televised exchange with McCain: "In answering the abortion question .
. . one could argue that he [Obama]--to use a journalist term--buried the
lede."

Including various forms of the verb, the phrase gets some 22,000 Google
hits, with a comparable number for "bury the lead"--which was surely the
prototype expression, "lead" in the sense of 'leading news story'?  Was
"lede" substituted to avoid confusion with "lead" [lEd], the base metal?

No entry for "lede" (in that sense) in the OED.

--Charlie
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