[Ads-l] Antedating of Lede

[Baker, John]

For the journalistic term "lede," the opening sentence or paragraph of a news article, intended to summarize the most important aspects of the story, the earliest citation in the OED is from 1951.  There is an earlier example from the Wall Street Journal, May 21, 1947 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers).  In an article entitled "Congress' Conferees on labor Bill Near Agreement on Measure Similar To Version Senate Voted Last Week," the text of the story is preceded by the line "NEW LEDE - LABOR -     2-STAR."  Apparently the typesetter failed to delete this editorial instruction before publication.  The citation shows that this word/spelling was in use behind the scenes (at least at the Wall Street Journal) by 1947, even if it was not deemed suitable for print.

There is a still earlier example from the Washington Post (Oct. 8, 1940) (ProQuest Historical Newspapers), where a similar process apparently occurred.  At the beginning of the Legal Record column, which was a table of various legal actions with no sentence text, the first line reads "LEDE Legal Record - TUESDAY."  The meaning may not be exactly the same, since there is no opening sentence or paragraph for the column.


John Baker


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