fudge
n.— «This remarkable time record was rendered possible by a process known as “fudging.” The type lines set by the linotype-telegraph operator are wider at the top that at the base, so that when placed together they form the section of a small cylinder. They are firmly clamped in an ingenious little supplemental machine consisting of a cylinder and an inking roll for red ink. This is attached to a revolving shaft at the top of one of the huge printing presses, and so arranged that when the paper comes rushing through from the regular type cylinders below, the “fudge” prints a big red “WAR” and a few lines of extra news in spaces left for that purpose in the right-hand columns of the editions. This is the genesis of the “Red Extra,” and it is a typical development of modern journalism.» —“The Reporting of War News” by Albert Shaw American Monthly of Review of Reviews (New York City) July-December, 1898. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuries, everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern...
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...