SNP’s word of the day: Pedeconference

Illustration by Lewis Mirrett
Illustration by Lewis Mirrett

Word: Pedeconference

Meaning: To walk and talk, especially through the corridors of power.

Usage: “Jed and Leo pedeconference all the way back to the Oval Office—and it’s a long way—as Leo tells him that was impressive.” — a Television Without Pity recap of The West Wing, 2003

You should know it because: Screenwriter and TV genius (genius? I think we can say genius) Aaron Sorkin is the top of his game, and that game involves a lot of speed-talking and speed-walking, preferably at the same time. He introduced this plot-hastening device on the show Sports Night, a show I’m too young to remember (sorry dudes), and perfected it on The West Wing. A Television Without Pity recapper named Susan coined “pedeconference,” and it stuck; if you go to the all-Sorkin-quotes all-the-time Twitter account @Sorkinese (and you should), it’s in the bio. We saw pedeconferencing in Sorkin’s Oscar-winning Social Network in 2010 and in Sorkin’s Oscar-nominated Moneyball in 2011 (well, you did—I don’t care about baseball), and we’ll see lots more of it in Sorkin’s new HBO show, Newsroom, come summer. Gawker called it “the most Sorkin thing ever,” or something; and having seen what I believe to be a leaked shooting script (thanks, internet-friend-who-shall-remain-unnamed), I wholly concur. It’s also been mocked on 30 Rock, you know, when Tina and Alec (that’s what I call them, Tina and Alec, just my good friends) walk somewhere and then say “Where are we going?” and the joke is “nowhere,” like on Seinfeld. I kind of feel like this post is turning into kind of a pedeconference. Uh, where’s the door? I’ll just… yeah.

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