Definition
A phrase often used in filler story headlines in print newspapers, prior to the adoption of computer-aided typesetting and publishing methods, as it filled out the usual width of a column in the eight-column layout then prevalent in the industry.
Origins
From bus + plunge.
In Context
- "“One of them said to me, ‘We’re keeping up the bus plunges in your absence,’ or words to that effect,” says Siegal. Bus plunges had become an inside joke, with editors scouting the wires for new ones."
- "Here's the thing about newspapers: they can't publish blank space. You've gotta put something in there. So editors started putting in lots of "bus plunge" briefs because they were short, simple, and filled space easily."
- "We ran a bus plunge story on page 6 to fill the empty space so we could make deadline."