and finally

English

Etymology

From a newsreader's standard introduction to such pieces, which typically come at the end of a news bulletin.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

and finally (plural and finallies)

1. (idiomatic, journalism, colloquial) A light news story reserved for the end of a bulletin when there is a lack of more important items; typically involving animals or other features supposed to be amusing.
   • 2005 December 26, Raymond Snoddy, The Independent:

     All this was broadcast on the evening of 23 February 1956, and it's the earliest surviving example of an Independent Television News bulletin. Even then, there was an ‘And finally...’ item, but on this occasion it was merely the good news that a thaw was on the way.

   • 2006, BBC News website, headline, 1 January:

     The best ‘and finallies’ of 2005.

   • 2006 June 20, Eddy Lawrence, Time Out, London:

     Racing domestic animals in funny costumes on soapbox sleds is surely no more offensive than watching David Blaine take a dump in a Perspex box, and will look much better as an ‘And finally...’ on the news.

   • 2008, The Highlands‎:

     The shots were included as part of BBC natural history producer Fergus Beeley nature diary from Beinn Eighe’s National Nature Reserve show water being blown back uphill on a windy day in Torridon. They have been picked up by the media as an ‘and finally’ and widely circulated.

Translations

a light news story reserved for the end of a bulletin

Portuguese: boa-noite (pt) m, e finalmente