» Shop Talk
John McIntyre, the former copy desk chief of the Baltimore Sun, offers a non-exhaustive list of newsroom lingo delivered in his usual droll style. A few favorites:
- byline (n.) The reporter’s name at the tip of an article; the most important component of an article.
- goat-choker (n.) An article of inordinate and suffocating length, produced to gratify the vanity of the author and the aspirations of the publication. (Cf. Pulitzer-Prize-winner.)
- nut graf (n.) The paragraph—if it exists—that explains the central point of an article, typically following a labored and self-indulgent introductory sequence of paragraphs.
- stet (v., from the Latin) Let it stand; let the original copy go as written. The hardest word for a copy editor to use.
