Roy Peter Clark. ‘Lead’ vs. ‘lede’: Roy Peter Clark has the definitive answer, at last. August 13, 2019.When my husband was proofreading the proof copy of the book, he choked on the word lede in this chapter. He couldn’t find it in our American Heritage dictionary. I did a little hunting around and found Roy Peter Clark’s article discouraging its use and another article that explained where it came from. It’s not that old. Oh well! Maybe responding to this bit of jargon will help make the idea stick in your head. Lede or lead, don’t bury it.