# Looking for a Technical Term: Newspaper section **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333 "2003-02-06T22:51:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DemonSpawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@DemonSpawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/1 "2003-02-06T22:51:43Z")
Hi from Germany, I am a translator looking for a technical term in English that describes a physical section of a newspaper: A newspaper (like USA Today) consists of many pages. These pages, folded together are grouped in sections. Several of these sections folded together make up the whole newspaper. I am looking for a term for these sections - not something like “the sports pages” or “the politics pages”, but the physical object. For German speakers: the German term is “Zeitungsbund”. Did I explain that right? Maybe I should mail my degree back where it came from … Thanks for your suggestions! Myriam ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/2 "2003-02-06T22:56:28Z")
I really think “section” is the term you want. hrh ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/3 "2003-02-06T23:08:36Z")
yeah. you’ve got your Metro Section, Sports Section, Arts and Liesure. Section, yeah. jb ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/4 "2003-02-06T23:14:17Z")
synonyms for section according to MS Word. (grain of salt) part piece segment slice sector division subdivision fragment portion bit I think **HRH** is on the money. _Section_ is probably your best bet. ---
**Author:** ![DemonSpawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@DemonSpawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/5 "2003-02-07T02:24:16Z")
Thanks - that’s what I thought. The German word is a real technical term used by printing staff. A layman would use the German word for “sections”, but printing staff use a different one. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/6 "2003-02-07T03:34:08Z")
We use “section” to describe the part that contains the front page. The other parts (we put them inside the front section) are referred to as “inserts.” I don’t know if that’s the common terminology, or just what we call them at our newpaper. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/7 "2003-02-07T03:51:58Z")
From [The Glossary of Printing Terms](http://www.fisherprint.co.uk/pages/techgloss.html#Anchor-Sectio-39324): > [@](#): > > \*\*_Section_ > > A folded sheet which is assembled with others to make up a book. For example an A2 sheet will provide a section of eight A4 pages when folded twice. A 20 page booklet would therefore require two 8-page sections and one 4-page section. These sections are then saddle-stitched together. Larger booklets of, say, more than sixty pages could be perfect bound.\*\* Not specifically about newspapers. but pretty much the same. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/8 "2003-02-07T03:55:45Z")
There is a technical term from the book & magazine publishing industry (…but I don’t think it’s used in the newspaper industry…)that fits your description: “signature.” A signature is what you get when you print many (say, 8 to 64)book-sized pages on one giant sheet; the giant sheet is then folded to the size of a page; for larger books and mags several signatures are bundled together; the signature(s) is staple or stitch-bound at the spine, then trimmed along the top, bottom and one side. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/9 "2003-02-07T03:59:29Z")
Fear Itself, maybe “section” is what they call a bundle of sheets that are folded and bound in the middle (gutter) in England, but in the US of A it’s a “signature.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/10 "2003-02-07T04:56:46Z")
“Signature” is a book bindery term, but it is not used in the newspaper industry. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/11 "2003-02-07T06:44:12Z")
The two consecutive pages in the center of a newspaper section that appear on the same piece of paper are called the “truck”. Not that that adds anything to the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![DemonSpawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@DemonSpawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/12 "2003-02-10T14:00:25Z")
**bodypoet** , thanks for sharing that - this sounds like it may be what I am looking for. **Fear Itself** , thanks for the reference! Thanks to all other posters as well, this is quite instructive ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-technical-term-newspaper-section/153333/13 "2003-02-10T14:17:45Z")
Insert really isn’t accurate, however, as (outside the delivery area) it usually implies an ad. I vote for section. Robin