Talk:Lectern

This is a wee bit pedantic. Usage changes words' meaning over time, and the commonly recognized meaning of podium is now the speaker's note-holder, and lectern has passed into obsolescence. Anyone prepared to be hard-line on this had better call the porcelain appliance in their bathroom a "water closet" and reserve the word "toilet" for the shoulder cloth they wear to have their powdered wig groomed. - DrSraderNCU


 * I'd agree, except the distinction can actually matter sometimes. Suppose you're giving a talk somewhere, and you ask if they have a podium. They have a podium, but not a lectern, so they say "yes"; you arrive, expecting a lectern, and realize that you should have brought your own. Etc. They are genuinely two different things, and IMHO should be treated as such.


 * My opinion doesn't really matter, of course. We're trying to dispassionately report the facts, not advocate a specific position. In this case, the facts are pretty unequivocally: A) a lot of people call it a podium, and B) that's technically incorrect. (A quick Google will reveal as much. It's a much more current linguistic debate than "toilet" vs. "water closet"; a great many people are actively protesting the degradation of the word.) I think the current status of the page reflects this in a suitably encyclopedic fashion. MSD (talk) 00:51, 7 January 2013 (MST)