[Ads-l] Antedating of Lede

[Bill Mullins]

Earlier, and probably a result of the same type of missed deletion.


1923 McAlester OK _News-Capital and Democrat_ 29 Jun 6/4
"NEW LEDE POLICE CLASH"

1939 _Canton [OH] Repository_ 16 Feb 1/1
"2 - NEW LEDE DEFENSE"

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> 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.


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