Twelve state attorneys general sued on Monday to block Paramount from swallowing Warner Bros. Discovery — the $110 billion deal the DOJ already blessed a month ago. Every newsroom in America wrote it up, and the event is identical in all of them. The noun is not. * The Washington Post: “12 states sue to block Paramount Skydance from buying Warner Bros.” Buying. NPR couldn't resist the pun: “States sue to stop Paramount-Warner Bros blockbuster merger.” And CNN — whose own newsroom is inside the thing being sold — went with “States sue to block Paramount's Warner Bros. Discovery takeover.” * Takeover. A “merger” is a handshake between equals. “Buying” is a receipt. “Takeover” is the word you reach for when something is being done to someone — and the desk that reached for it is the one it would be done to. * Credit where due: CNN's piece says the awkward part out loud — “Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.” An actual disclosure, high in the story, the thing we nag outlets about weekly. The same piece calls the deal “politically loaded” and passes along critics saying it “reeks of corruption.” Printing that about your possible next owner is either commendable spine or a very public exit interview. * The lawsuit itself, since you asked: California AG Rob Bonta says the merger would “snuff out competition, drive up prices, diminish content quality, and produce fewer movies and shows.” Paramount calls the suit “wrong on both the facts and the law” and insists the deal “strengthens competition” — which is what every company says while buying its competitor. * We noted yesterday that CNN managed to cover its own for-sale sign. The sequel is better: now it's covering the court fight over who gets the keys, and the anxiety leaks out in exactly one place — the vocabulary. Watch the nouns in this story over the coming months. The closer the desk sits to the deal, the colder the word gets.