Monday, July 20, 2009

A Vocabulary Lesson

A staff member was showing a patron around one of the library's meeting rooms, pointing out the location of the chairs, tables, the podium...

"That's not a podium. That's a lectern," the patron interrupted.

What followed was an anecdote about this patron's old grade-school teacher, who had once made a big deal about the differences between a podium and a lectern, full of snail-slow enunciations and a discourse about Greek and Latin roots. This patron had been waiting his entire life to pass on this lesson, and he was sheepishly thrilled at the chance.

This quickly became a little joke amongst staff members. Marian Librarian asks Betsy Book, "What is that piece of furniture called?" And Betsy answers, "Podium. PO-DI-UM". Marian replies, "No, it's a lectern!"

Etc.

Anyway, for the edification of our readers:

This is a podium:
Podium

And this is a lectern:
Lectern




Do you feel smarter? I do!

2 comments:

Elwood Podium Dowd said...

Sorry, but this is a common misconception. You're correct about a lectern, but a podium is the platform (constituting a raised floor) on which the lectern rests. As do your feet (pods).

Anonymous said...

Quit interesting Blog. I think visual aids make the lesson easy. This is the Great Blog to learn Vocabulary lesson. Thanks!!