Saw a game writer refer to their ‘beat’
Remembered I had a beat when I worked in news
Police have a beat, an area they typically patrol
But I can’t find much on the etymology of *why* it’s called a beat, where that started 🤔
@chartier I always thought it was related to the “beaten path,” like where you usually spend time or the places you repeatedly frequent
@chartier interesting question! Maybe derived from the verb form meaning “to walk on”? Sense 1b here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beat
@chartier It appears to be jargon of the job in policing vs. slang in other areas of reporting that are not directly related to police. I found a Wikipedia article on Beat (police), but it doesn't get too deep into etymology.