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Continuing my puzzlement about what the direct object of various neologisms should be - is it accurate to say that the listener to/downloader of a podcast is "podcasting"?
I thought the one who does the podcasting is the person who makes the show, or at least uploads a show that may have been aired first on radio or TV (by analogy with "to broadcast").
But twice now I've heard BBC Radio say when announcing that their shows are available as podcasts: "...or you can podcast them by going to our site at xxx.xxx.xx). And they even say this on their website: "We're off air now, but you can podcast the programme here."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/
Has anyone else heard this usage?
I have heard it and I agree: it's confusion-making. The term for making or distributing podcasts is "podcasting." The term for downloading and listening to those podcasts is "podcatching." I'm not sure that podcatching is destined to survive, however, not least because it sounds too much like podcasting.
Not really, Martha. The only thing I can think of that comes close is to say "to record" a piece of music or show, which could be the studio/record label/radio station recording it to be redistributed, or the person at home with the tape recorder (remember those?) recording what comes over the radio. And possibly also the musician who "recorded" a piano sonata, meaning performs it for the purpose fo the record/CD.
Grant Barrett said:
I have heard it and I agree: it's confusion-making. The term for making or distributing podcasts is “podcasting.” The term for downloading and listening to those podcasts is “podcatching.” I'm not sure that podcatching is destined to survive, however, not least because it sounds too much like podcasting.
Though I've never seen it explained, I always assumed that "podcast" was merely a bastardization of "broadcast" and if that is the case, will this word survive the evolution of the device. Already the iPod saturation is being diluted by competing mp3 players and has not had the staying power of say "Walkman" in terms of a single brand name defining an entire genre of device.
I wonder if we won't eventually just "listen" to archived broadcasts. I would love to hear an educated opinion in the evolution of slang terms.
BTW, despite being a longtime and devoted Apple user, I would really love to call a moratorium on the use of the word "pod" and the suffix "i". It just seems so neofuturist and demeaning. Like the way TV dinners were purportedly named as such in order to ride the popularity wave of the new invention. Is the Internet still such a novel concept that we perceive that something is new, modern or cutting edge because of this illustrious "i"? Do people still consciously associate the "i" with Internet?
Sorry, digression, but, really?
I just completed a long (approx. 90 min) walk, during which, as always, I was listening to my iPod. I come in, sit down at the PC, and find this discussion on the term we should be using to describe what I'd just been doing … and it occurred to me to elide “listening,” combine it with the unavoidable (and cute) “Pod” to get “Podling.”
But then, as I started to think of conjugating the verb form, it sounded less and less dignified: I podle (poddle?), you pod(d)le, she pod(d)les ... sigh
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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