One of my great pet peeves, of which, I admit, I have too many, is when jargon appears in a story I’m editing.
On the times that happens, the big vein in my forehead throbs and somewhere a cardiac surgeon gets a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Most of the copy editors here jump all over jargon like a lion on a pudgy antelope, creating something readable from bureaucratese or PR-speak. Admittedly, it’s not a common problem, but when we see a reference to groups that want to effort vertical integration to achieve synergy, we try to make it understandable to a general audience.
That said, there’s a benefit to it within an industry. Jargon sets a common language and can streamline communication.
Journalism is no different. We have our own terms and phrases that make perfect sense to us but could mystify outsiders. In the interest of demystifying, here are some of them and what they mean.
art — the photos that go with a story
catch — when a big error is kept out of the paper
cutline — what normal people would call a caption, the words underneath the art
flow — making sure stories and everything else that goes in the paper is where it needs to be to make deadlines
groundbox — the strip across the bottom of Page 1A that tells you about stories inside or ones coming up
hole — something missing from a story
jump — the part of the story that continues from the front of the section
lede — (pronounced “leedâ€) the first sentence or first few sentences of a story
mug — a small picture of someone’s head, hopefully including the face
newshole — the space left on a page after the advertisements have been placed
nut graf — the paragraph that summarizes what a story is about
rim editors — the people who perform the initial copy editing
skybox — the flashier cousin of the groundbox. It runs across the top of Page 1A
slop — when a story is too long to fit in the newshole, the amount that doesn’t fit
slot — the people who check the work of the rim editors
specs — what designers give copy editors so they know how big and how many lines to make the headlines
style — see posts here, here and here
tagline — the information at the end of a story that tells you how to contact a reporter
traffic cop — the person who ensures flow is met
That’s just the surface. If demand warrants it, later I’ll explain folios, ears, legs, slugs, widows and other terms that make you wonder whether people were inhaling too many ink fumes when they created them.