Chip Scanlan / The Poynter Institute

I’ve been on the road a lot this summer teaching newsrooms about online writing. It’s challenging, exciting and fun; I get paid to learn, just the way I did as a reporter.

But I’ve encountered a problem that makes such training especially challenging: the lack of a common online vocabulary.

The problem predates the Internet.

Take “nut graf,” the device that tells the reader what the writer is up to; it delivers a promise of the story’s content and message.

It’s called the nut graf because, like a nut, it contains the “kernel,” or essential theme, of the story.  “Graf” is shorthand for “paragraph.” At The Philadelphia Inquirer, reporters and editors called it the “You may have wondered why we invited you to this party” section.

I’ve noticed similar variations on online terms.

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