voice writing n.— «In the US, court reporters have abandoned stenotype machines, whose keyboards use chord-like combinations to represent sounds, for a technique called voice writing. The “writer”—really a speaker—repeats...
124-man n.— «The estimable dean was a lifelong crime reporter from the old Herald Tribune, a gentle sage who taught the pick-pocket art of massaging vivid details from a precinct’s “124-man,” the clerk who controlled “good stuff” filed by...
beat sweetener n.— «The New Yorker says White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is “a political John McEnroe, known for both his mercurial temperament and his tactical brilliance,” yet is also uncommonly indifferent to both...
god bump n.— «As we climbed up the mountain, we met the pastor of the village and he said that he had been praying for two years for help.…I got what I call “God bumps” on the back of my neck because I realized that I...
staff riding n.— «Soweto youths aren’t alone in their crazy train-surfing habits.…James Oatway first encountered the local variant, otherwise known as “staff riding,” while at City Press. “I was asked by the picture editor to...
curtain raiser n.— «The petition was given to the media in plenty of time for reporters to write what we in the business like to call “curtain raisers,” in advance of a big news conference that was held on Tuesday. Let it never be said...