Daily Variety
The whole paper. Online.
Daily Variety
The whole paper. Online.
Almost from its launch in 1905, Variety has used its own, distinctive slanguage in headlines and stories, words like ankle, which refers to someone leaving (say, walking away from) a job, or whammo, which refers to something terrific, especially box office performance. In part it was a device to fit long words into small headlines, but it was also to create a clubby feel among the paper's entertainment industry readers. People in the business understood thrush; those outside the business, well, they weren't Variety's target readers anyway.
Click here to listen to an NPR interview with Variety Editor Tim Gray, where he provides a boffo summary of what slanguage is.
Now that Variety is being made available to the whole World Wide Web, we offer the following glossary of terms, most of which you're likely to see while scanning this site.
Director of Programming - RCN
Herndon, Virginia
President - Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada
Toronto, Canada
Web Developer/Technical Producer - NESN
Watertown, MA
Editorial Manager - HBO, Inc.
New York, NY