Op-ed = opinion-editorial?

Tags: English, Esl, Grammar, English Language, Efl
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an op-ed article = an opinion-editorial article?

Context:
"No one condones the actions of those who disrupt public events," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said in an op-ed article published in today's USA TODAY. "But those in Washington who dismiss the frustration of the American people and call it 'manufactured' do so at their own peril."

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Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 265 • Replies: 16

@oristarA,

The "op" in "op-ed" stands for opposite. In American newspapers, the opinionated editorials are usually (almost always) found on a separate left-hand page, identified as the editorial page. The page opposite from these opinion pieces is called the "op-ed" page. The columns printed on the op-ed page often (but not always) will disagree with the official opinions expressed on the editorial page.

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@Merry Andrew,

Thank you.
But how to pronounce op-ed? Opt?

1 Reply

@oristarA,

No. It's pronounced like two distinct words. Op Ed.

0 Replies

Incidentally, it's only relatively recently that this expression -- op-ed -- has become part of the standard vernacular. It used to be strictly newsmen's slang but somehow wormed its way into general everyday use.

1 Reply

@Merry Andrew,

I didn't know that

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@Merry Andrew,

So it is with many words, Merry. Are you suggesting that newly coined words are less worthy than those with history? It came into use like every other word that comes into use; it either described something that never was or it described something that was, better.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Are you suggesting that newly coined words are less worthy than those with history?

I wasn't suggesting any such damned thing. What made you think I was? Words enter the mainstream language from slang sources all the time; as an undergraduate (about 44 b.c.e. or thereabouts) I once wrote a whole long essay on that subject. Got an A on it, too. You tryin'a start a fight or somethin'?

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@Merry Andrew,

easy champ, easy...gotta go the distance...pace yourself

0 Replies

@Merry Andrew,

Quote:

I wasn't suggesting any such damned thing. What made you think I was?

Your choice of words, Merry. "It used to be strictly newsmen's slang but somehow wormed its way into general everyday use.

Forgive me if I've misinterpreted your words but is there a meaning for 'worm its way in' that isn't pejorative?

2 Replies

@JTT,

No.

1 Reply

@roger,

'No' what, Roger, the artful dodger. Smile

1 Reply

@JTT,

No, in response to your question.

0 Replies

@JTT,

Less than precise word choice seems to be one of my more glaring failings. To me, to 'worm its way' suggests something cloaked, clandestine and 'below the radar'. Not that there's anything wrong with that. No pejorative connotation intended.

1 Reply

@Merry Andrew,

If I may be so bold; a fault that one oughta be careful about considering how ESLs and others, me included, look to you as a source of knowledge and wisdom.

1 Reply

@JTT,

You may not be aware of this, JTT, but I'm ESL myself. My native tongue is Latvian. Didn't pick up this local vernacular until I was 11 yrs of age, and then mostly in self-defense. One can't really go about the world today without the lingua Franca or Inglesia, if you will.

Op-ed = opinion-editorial?

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