Cherubs were baffled by some of the things they heard coming from their instructors' mouths.

Who is your microlede? Where is your attribution? Strengthen your nut graf!

Soon enough, journalism students at the National High School Institute picked up the secret code. It's the language of journalists, complete with terms such as fluff, lede and kicker.

“I feel like I’m still learning the language,” Alix Cohen, of Weston, Fla., said. “Most of it makes sense, but when you first hear it, it can be confusing and random.”

Rebecca Messinger, of Stow, Ohio, learned that there is more than one kind of question to ask someone.

“I used to think a question was a question,” Messinger said. “But I soon realized that a reporter could ask an open, closed or probing question, each of which warrants a different kind of response.”

Most of the 88 cherubs had never used “journalism lingo.” And instructors had to remember that not everybody was fluent.

“I realize that when I write the word 'graf' on my students’ papers, they may not know what I mean,” instructor Elia Powers said.

A "graf" is short-hand for paragraph.

Lauren Hitt, of Towson, Md., believes that most of these words were created by reporters just to save time.

“Obviously journalists are under a lot of pressure to meet all of their deadlines,” Hitt said. “So it is understandable that they would want to abbreviate as much as possible so that they could waste as little time as possible.”

Before Alex Jones, of Kansas City, Mo., arrived at the program, he had no idea that journalists used special lingo. Now, he realizes a journalist must be fluent in the language of the newsroom or they won’t be taken seriously.

“It’s almost like a club, however, pretentious or not,” said Jones. “You have to know what you’re talking about.”