the phrase started out as “bury the lead”, but newspaper journalists specifically changed only the spelling, though not the usage or definition, into “lede” because news printers were allegedly worried people would get confused since part of the printing of a newspaper contained the metal lead.
“The use of the alternate spelling of lead in the journalistic phrase “burying the lede” began in the 1970s. Newsrooms began to use the alternate spelling to refer to an article’s opening lines, distinguishing it from a part on the linotype machine made with lead.”
either spelling can be used, Merriam Webster has a good article about “lede” too, with more examples and context, explaining that writers
"…attributes the fondness for the spelling to nostalgia, calling it “an invention of linotype romanticists, not something used in newsrooms of the linotype era.”
Despite the acknowledgment of lede by Safire and others, and its subsequent use by journalists and non-journalists alike, phrases employing the traditional spelling of lead still find their way into print…"
and as Choire Sicha points out:
“You schmucks who use ridiculous journo-terms make me crazy! Finally, someone is willing to speak out against the use of “lede” in public. Because, ha ha, sucka, there’s no reason for it!”
It’s LEDE, not lead.
It took me 40+ years to learn this, just passing it along.
appreciate it, i enjoy these rabbit holes.
the phrase started out as “bury the lead”, but newspaper journalists specifically changed only the spelling, though not the usage or definition, into “lede” because news printers were allegedly worried people would get confused since part of the printing of a newspaper contained the metal lead.
“The use of the alternate spelling of lead in the journalistic phrase “burying the lede” began in the 1970s. Newsrooms began to use the alternate spelling to refer to an article’s opening lines, distinguishing it from a part on the linotype machine made with lead.”
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/bury-the-lede-explained#5IbZTCXa3QGtQgw0byJIDQ
either spelling can be used, Merriam Webster has a good article about “lede” too, with more examples and context, explaining that writers
"…attributes the fondness for the spelling to nostalgia, calling it “an invention of linotype romanticists, not something used in newsrooms of the linotype era.”
Despite the acknowledgment of lede by Safire and others, and its subsequent use by journalists and non-journalists alike, phrases employing the traditional spelling of lead still find their way into print…"
and as Choire Sicha points out:
“You schmucks who use ridiculous journo-terms make me crazy! Finally, someone is willing to speak out against the use of “lede” in public. Because, ha ha, sucka, there’s no reason for it!”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/bury-the-lede-versus-lead
TIL!