A page, not a column

As an editorial page editor in Mansfield, Ohio, during the Seventies and Eighties, I was responsible for producing an editorial page each day of the week. On Sundays, however, we had a second opinion page for columns, cartoons, letters to the editor or whatever. Because it was always located opposite the editorial page, we called it the "op-ed page."

Merriam-Webster still defines op-ed as "a page of special features usually opposite the editorial page of a newspaper."

Somehow over the decades, however, op-ed has come to mean not a page but what used to be called a column. And to most people now it means not "opposite editorial" but "opinion/editorial." A column, whether in a newspaper, magazine or online, is usuallly just referred to as an op-ed, but the other day I heard someone on television use the full phrase — she referred to someone who had written an "opinion/editorial."

An editorial has a specific meaning. It is an opinion by definition, usually unsigned, representing the voice of the publication itself. As editorial page editor I wrote most of the editorials, but officially it was not my opinion but that of the News Journal. I also wrote many columns for the newspaper, which included both my name and my photograph. These were not editorials or opinion/editorials, but just columns. Anyone can express an opinion, but an editorial is more exclusive. To say "opinion/editorial" just makes no sense at all. If it refers to editorials, it is redundant. If it refers to columns, it is wrong.

The blame for this change of meaning may lie with newspapers themselves, such as the one represented above that calls its op-ed page the "Op-ed page," without bothering to explain what an op-ed page is. Readers may scratch their heads before deciding it must mean a page for op-eds, or opinions and editorials.

Many newspapers still have op-ed pages, I am happy to say. Publications still run columns. Why not just call them that? Or call them opinions. Leave newspaper lingo to newspapers. Unfortunately, it's probably already too late to rescue the term, and I expect Merriam-Webster will soon have to cave to those who don't know what they're talking about.