[Ads-l] Antedating of Lede

Thu Jul 16 21:34:12 UTC 2020

Here is an instance of "lede paragraph" in 1942.

Date: October 23, 1942
Newspaper: Woodstock Daily Sentinel
Newspaper Location: Woodstock, Illinois
Article: Plea for More Recruits for Nurses Aid
Quote Page 1, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
General reaction to this column is that it is popular and is being
read with interest. Knowing this we are giving readers a different
lede paragraph today. We believe it fits right in our service news
because it is an appeal for young women able and willing to take the
Nurses Aides training course at the local hospital.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 4:45 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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"
>
> ----
>
> > 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.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org