tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post8008950464557758460..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: special(i)ty, newspaper editing jargon and dogpilelynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-48135938410649745142008-11-04T13:56:00.000+00:002008-11-04T13:56:00.000+00:00This is a good place to mention that proofing symb...This is a good place to mention that proofing symbols in the US and UK are completely different.<BR/><A HREF="http://www.interactivetraining.co.uk/proofreading-symbols.html" REL="nofollow">UK symbols</A><BR/><A HREF="http://webster.commnet.edu/writing/symbols.htm" REL="nofollow">US symbols</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-11179954432287028142008-08-17T07:23:00.000+01:002008-08-17T07:23:00.000+01:00I actually thought the Dogpile website was named a...I actually thought the Dogpile website was named after dog poop, which I certainly thought was kind of a gross name.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-9970544748278204292008-04-17T14:07:00.000+01:002008-04-17T14:07:00.000+01:00As a British journalist, I see standfirsts and kic...As a British journalist, I see standfirsts and kickers as two different things: a standfirst is the short piece of introductory text usually found near the headline, and sometimes called an intro, whereas a kicker is the part of a picture caption that precedes a colon.<BR/><BR/>Oh - where I grew up (Berkshire) we also used to refer to 'bundles'...JD (The Engine Room)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62169559614699225582008-02-01T19:43:00.000+00:002008-02-01T19:43:00.000+00:00Can anyone tell me the meaning of an offie' and a ...Can anyone tell me the meaning of an offie' and a 'topper.'?<BR/>Thanks<BR/>PeterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-78390280856961186462008-01-08T02:48:00.000+00:002008-01-08T02:48:00.000+00:00I was born and raised in Minnesota (US) and I'd ne...I was born and raised in Minnesota (US) and I'd never heard of a "dogpile." But when I saw the photo of the baseball players, I immediately recognized it as a "pigpile!" Thanks for bringing back a flood of memories of pig-piling. :-D We did that all the time as kids.<BR/><BR/>Your blog is great!Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12041818072916522912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-25495083723116634512007-10-18T11:57:00.000+01:002007-10-18T11:57:00.000+01:00I;d never heard of the term Dogpile until recently...I;d never heard of the term Dogpile until recently and understood it as the same as a "pile-on" as we used to call it at school in Torquay, Devon. <BR/><BR/>Ina similar way to Larry, people (children!) used to shout "pile on!", usually if someone had fallen over, and everyone jumped on top of them! When I moved schools to Exeter (only 30 miles away) these were called "bundles", with the shout being "bundle!"DeeDubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02787109203736547656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-36638607568131889282007-10-09T17:55:00.000+01:002007-10-09T17:55:00.000+01:00I grew up in Maine in the 80s with the same "pigpi...I grew up in Maine in the 80s with the same "pigpile on [victim]" game that others have mentioned - dogpile was new to me when the search engine came out, but readily understandableAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-77598518765729299852007-10-09T01:59:00.000+01:002007-10-09T01:59:00.000+01:00Growing up in sports mad Australia, I was familiar...Growing up in sports mad Australia, I was familiar with both scrum and dogpile, but in our area, when a 'dogpile' developed, usually during a game of Aussie Rules, or 'football', it was called stacks on the mill. I have no idea why.Interfacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10270650386605534373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-58390605299013578882007-10-08T20:25:00.000+01:002007-10-08T20:25:00.000+01:00You can use lead (never lede) to refer to the intr...You can use lead (never lede) to refer to the intro of a story in Britain. Technically it refers to the part of the story before the hook, which gets you into the meat of the story. It is also commonly used to describe the main story on a page, howeverGinger Yellowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06103410278129312943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29900435985036906812007-10-08T18:30:00.000+01:002007-10-08T18:30:00.000+01:00Meg: Oh, yes! That's it!! I thought it was Loon...Meg: Oh, yes! That's it!! I <I>thought</I> it was Looney Tunes, but i couldn't quite remember. Thanks!chris.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18140000097215409495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-48418997347091683052007-10-08T07:41:00.000+01:002007-10-08T07:41:00.000+01:00The BBC news site carried a perfect example of 'sp...The <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7029622.stm" REL="nofollow">BBC news site</A> carried a perfect example of 'specialty' in a BR/E medical context today.Wordshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07120147558061119469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62130817398047140372007-10-06T02:16:00.000+01:002007-10-06T02:16:00.000+01:00I too knew "dogpile" as a game from my So. Cal. 70...I too knew "dogpile" as a game from my So. Cal. 70's childhood. It was actually fairly friendly in tone.<BR/><BR/>Chris, you're right about the cartoons. There's one where Bugs Bunny vanishes under a pile of whoever's chasing him, and ends up on top, shouting "Dog pile on the wabbit, dog pile on the wabbit!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-57362392955077979972007-10-05T20:28:00.000+01:002007-10-05T20:28:00.000+01:00We use "scrum" in Canada. For example: "But while ...We use "scrum" in Canada. For example: <BR/><BR/>"But while Harper appears willing to talk to the press one on one, he clearly has no interest in holding regular press conferences, or in subjecting himself to the Parliament Hill “scrum.” For more than forty years, the scrum has been a uniquely Canadian vehicle for political accountability. The drill is that the Prime Minister or a member of his cabinet leaves the House of Commons and is swarmed by a couple of dozen reporters with cameras and microphones at the ready. The reporters proceed to pepper questions at the politician. It is unruly and often undignified, and there is little mercy shown to politicians who insist on staying “on message.” All Prime Ministers have hated the scrum, and more than one political career has been derailed by a bad scrum performance. Harper is determined that will not happen to him."<BR/>From: http://www.pogge.ca/archives/001335.shtmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-13123185871740254292007-10-05T13:16:00.000+01:002007-10-05T13:16:00.000+01:00Thanks for this post, and commentor John Cowan. I...Thanks for this post, and commentor John Cowan. I've been seeing these terms (lede, graf et cetera) on blogs, and was wondering why they didn't appear in any dictionary. I now know that these writers probably worked for newspapers.<BR/><BR/>Having an explanation doesn't make me honor the breach any more, I'm afraid, but it's better than not knowing.jhmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15024302748759726815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-77233544162535316442007-10-05T12:52:00.000+01:002007-10-05T12:52:00.000+01:00I first learned "dogpile" at a young age (n. centr...I first learned "dogpile" at a young age (n. central Indiana) where it was a playground game (same as larry describes in the previous comment). Someone would shout "dogpile" and point at the victim, at which point everyone would jump on them in a heap as described above. Very much like the other common playground game "smear the queer" (Cringe!), only the latter was played with a football while the former required no accessories.<BR/><BR/>Some kids used the term "piggy pile" but they were from out of town.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-41664474798491380302007-10-04T23:19:00.000+01:002007-10-04T23:19:00.000+01:00Growing up in Central (and central coast) Californ...Growing up in Central (and central coast) California, my brothers/cousins/uncles liked to play a "game" where someone would yell "Dogpile on ____" and then everyone in the room would jump on whoever was named. I have no idea how it came to be in my family, but I'd guess it came from my uncles when they were growing up in the 60s and early 70s.<BR/><BR/>Too often I was the "_____"...larhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17314820003835656973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-26600016050242532792007-10-04T22:52:00.000+01:002007-10-04T22:52:00.000+01:00I grew up with the term "pigpile" rather than "dog...I grew up with the term "pigpile" rather than "dogpile". I don't know if it's a regional thing (I'm from Oregon) or just my family.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-49027371907672291382007-10-04T22:24:00.000+01:002007-10-04T22:24:00.000+01:00I'm not familiar with all the words on Terry's lis...I'm not familiar with all the words on Terry's list (it's been a long time since i worked at a daily paper, and currently i work in a university news office where things are slightly ... different), but, yes, the AmE words are listed first. And John Cowan above made excellent points about the origins of "lede," etc.<BR/><BR/>Re: Dogpile. I've known the word for a long time, despite not being a sports fan. I'm pretty sure i picked it up from saturday morning cartoons.chris.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18140000097215409495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-90532031376013271022007-10-04T22:04:00.000+01:002007-10-04T22:04:00.000+01:00Believe it or not, a scrum is a far more organized...Believe it or not, a scrum is a far more organized thing than a dogpile.<BR/><BR/>A Dogpile is nothing more than a lot of poeple jumping on one person. Be it literally or figuratively.<BR/><BR/>When it is figurative, it is rarely for a good thing ("They <I>dogpiled</I> on Britney Spears after the VMA performance")...but more often than not, when it is literal, it is in celebration...("They <I>dogpiled</I> on the pitcher when he struck out the final batter.")Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-70843344308061798552007-10-04T21:15:00.000+01:002007-10-04T21:15:00.000+01:00Historically, the terms "hed", "graf", "lede", "de...Historically, the terms "hed", "graf", "lede", "dek" (and its synonym "subhed") and "HTK" (headline to come; i.e., not yet written) were deliberate misspellings used to distinguish editorial remarks written on the copy from the copy itself.<BR/><BR/>As such, they should never appear in running prose, even prose about journalism; this is a rule more often honored in the breach nowadays, though.John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-8594802842857325692007-10-04T21:08:00.000+01:002007-10-04T21:08:00.000+01:00As a rugby player from Texas (where [American] foo...As a rugby player from Texas (where [American] football is the major sport,) I'd agree that dogpile and scrum aren't comparable. <BR/><BR/>I think of a football dogpile forming when numerous players (literally) descend onto either the player with the ball or a loose ball. I think I hear it most often in a metaphorical sense, and sometimes transformed into a verb, as in "The media dogpiled onto Senator Craig after his arrest for soliciting sex in an airport bathroom." It works on two levels - there's some target that numerous people are going for, and the bottom of a dogpile can be a very uncomfortable place to be.<BR/><BR/>I tend to think of a "scrum" as having vertical, tightly packed people and pushing forward. The best examples I can think of all come from public transport(ation) and the people who bunch up at the door to a bus, train, or plane before it opens in order to be the first ones on or off.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08337058121848195497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-75698359210873376712007-10-04T18:28:00.000+01:002007-10-04T18:28:00.000+01:00Another British newspaper term, standfirst, doesn'...Another British newspaper term, <A HREF="http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/standfirst/" REL="nofollow">standfirst</A>, doesn't really have an American equivalent at all thoug "kicker" or "précis" would do. <BR/><BR/>I'd caution that American newspapering is a vast and varied affair and jargon doesn't necessarily translate from company to company, between magazines and newspapers, or beween the big institutions and the mom-and-pop papers that are run adjoining a print shop.Grant Barretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05593468399212584960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-1510799059319676722007-10-04T18:01:00.000+01:002007-10-04T18:01:00.000+01:00In a legal context, there's also the term "hotchpo...In a legal context, there's also the term "hotchpot" which broadly means a common pool of money among a group or class of beneficiaries under a will or trust; a beneficiary who was in receipt of a prior benefit may be obliged to "bring it in into hotchpot".eimearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06098185957633154074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-81569861526622844892007-10-04T17:53:00.000+01:002007-10-04T17:53:00.000+01:00Although scrum is in common terminology for a pile...Although scrum is in common terminology for a pile of people, in the games scrums are organised, as opposed to rucks and mauls, which happen on their own. <BR/><BR/>Hazel who has been watching far too much rugby latelypandophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12499439566627693699noreply@blogger.com