Why are podcasts still called podcasts?

[nolabels]

It's my understanding that podcasts were originally given that term because the reigning digital playback technology of the time when podcasts began was the iPod.

The thought of podcasts still being called podcasts has been bugging the heck out of me in recent weeks.
Since iPods are ancient history, why are podcasts still called podcasts?

Yes, I'm manic at the moment, and I have been for some time, but still, I consider this to be a valid question, worthy of being addressed and rectified, if at all possible.

This is 2024, for goodness' sake!

In order to not rock the podcast world too much by my radical thinking (as influential as I am not, of course. Who the heck is "nolabels", anyway?) I'd accept the acronymizing of the existing "pod" portion of the word to reflect the actual typical intent of such recordings, such as:
PODcast - Personality Of (the) Day, or Person On Deck, maybe People On Display.
You get the idea, I think.
But I don't like any of my suggestions.

If someone out there has a good title that'd fit the acronym POD (cast) to be used as "podcast" has for far too long, be a pal and share it with me if you would.
All credit will go to you for as long as I live.
Pinky promise.

I may be the only person in the world who cares about this subject, but if this issue could be resolved, at least to my satisfaction, anyway, I have other things to think about, also.

Although I do still have and sometimes use a later generation iPod, the iPod technology is considered, I believe, by most, to be defunct.
Those who, like me, still have and use an iPod style device, chime on in if you so desire.
I'd be glad to hear from everyone except trolls.
(Where's a good troll-blocking button when a guy thinks he might need one, anyway.)

Another question here on G@G regarding defunct technology re-prompted my thinking about this subject, so, gee thanks.
I'd sort of gotten over it, but noooooooooooooooooooooo, I had to be reminded.
I'm just kidding about that.
LOL.

Thanks!

Updates

1 y

I think I figured out what bugs me about the term "pod" in podcasts.

You know the movies, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Aliens", et al?
Yeah.
Pods are in those movies.
And they're not the good kind, either.

Updates

1 y

To everyone who has responded to my question, thanks for the fun we had here for a while!!!

[FunkyMonkee]

I don't have a clue. They're not cast to pods!
Hey! Would you like to see my girls pussy?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/x359GgVRWaE

[Guacamole409]

It's a combination between Apples i Pods and news cast.

[nolabels]

@FunkyMonkee
I wonder if that was in with the bunch of my Grandpa's 78s that I broke when I was a kid.
Dang it, I'll never know.

Hey, you asked me if I had a 78 with a certain label or something the other day.
I can't find where you asked me that.
If you tell me now, I'll write it down now.

If you tell me later, I'll write it down later.

I won't write down "it".
I'll,... you know what I mean, I think, I hope.

[nolabels]

@Guacamole409
Yeah, I know.
Read the long-winded elaboration of my question, if you dare.
I'll see you, maybe, on the other side.

Thanks for responding. 👍😊

[FunkyMonkee]

One that really cheeses me off is when people insist on calling every scandal that comes along some kind of GATE!! "Gate" does NOT mean, "Scandal"! Look it up in the dictionary!
In the `70's, there was a SCANDAL that happened at the WATERGATE HOTEL!! People talking about it just shortened the whole term, "Watergate scandal" to, "Watergate". End of story! But, NOOOOOOO, ever since then, EVERY TIME there's a scandal of some sort, the media HAS to tag the name of it with the word, "gate"!!
Why is it when someone drowns in a car they don't tag that with, "QUIDDICK"? Or maybe start the term with, "CHAPPA"?
And why does every one have to use the term, "nine eleven" or "nine one one" instead of saying "Sept. 11th"? I don't know of ANYONE that's EVER said, "tweleve seven" or, "one two seven" when talking about Pearl Harbour!

[nolabels]

I can see that we are in agreement regarding this wide-ranging subject!!!

Cheeses!!!
Where the heck does that one come from?

My head's getting too full of these malapropisms, man, it's gonna start to curl open like one of those pods in "Aliens", man, and a "facehugger" might come out of the top of my head, man!!!

And who ever started the habit of ending every phrase with the word "man", man?
I mean, man, you know, man?

[FunkyMonkee]

I think I was asking about Delta numbers. If the record's older than July `54, don't worry about it.

[nolabels]

My 78s are from the 20s and 30s, I'm fairly sure.
The only one that I have from the 50s is my grandpa's personal recording, and it's a vinyl 78.

[FunkyMonkee]

Monarch pressed vinyl, too. Look in the run-out grooves for a hand-written triangle (the Greek letter, Delta or D) followed by a number from 1 to 6 digits although, if it was from the `50-'s, it won't have more than 4 or 5 digits. There should be one on each side.
The highest a 78 would go is about the 42,000 range but, if it's in the `50's, it shouldn't go much past 33,000.

[FunkyMonkee]

I was just thinking of this question a week or two ago. It's probably because everyone's too lazy to come up with a more up to date name for it. Like how every scandal that's come along since Watergate HAS to have the word Gate attached to it, as if, "gate" means, "scandal"!

[BetaBucks]

I don't know, but I'm going to blow my nose in a Kleenex and make some Xerox copies of my recent phone bill.

[nolabels]

You may, but probably won't, be interested to hear that I read your response while reposing upon the "Crapper". 🥸

[BetaBucks]

This guy gets it 🤝

[nolabels]

It's been nice to meet you, too!

Cheers to you!!!

[BetaBucks]

Cheers bro! 🍻

[rachel776]

When a name catches on you're going to have a hard time getting rid of it. They spent billions of dollars getting the name Twitter on everyone's mind and then Elon Musk comes along and changes it to X to match Space X and his other companies, but to people it's still Twitter. Even if people weren't already attached to 'Twitter,' X is a stupid name in and of itself.

HBO did a stupid thing spending all that money and 40 years establishing HBO and then changing their name to Max, especially because there's already a network named Cinemax which has nothing to do with HBO. Max on its own is also a stupid name.

[nolabels]

I can see that you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Just, yeah.

And there's VERY little that can be done about the situation.
Such is life.

Cheers to you!!! 👍😊🤪

[RebelinSteel]

There are a load of products and things that are still called after the original manufacturer / trademark owner.

Jacuzzi

Fibre glass

App as in Application is an Apple thing

Hoover, as in going to hoover the floor.

Jet ski

JCB

https://www.londonip.co.uk/part-1-top-50-brand-names-people-use-as-generic-terms/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56667/41-brand-names-people-use-generic-terms

We tend to use the name for something that is from the first marketing, then everyone else starts making one, however that first marketing name sticks.

[nolabels]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply, and I wholeheartedly agree with you, but the term "podcast" recently started bugging the daylights out of me.

I did mention in my question that I'm highly manic lately, I believe.
This is one way that mania manifests in myself, "Fun with Language"...
It's fun, but it's also time-consuming. 🤪

I'm having lots of fun with the subject but having a serious comment drawing attention to the relationship of terms to their origins is welcome, as well as somewhat calming to me.

So, thank you.

But yeah, "podcast".
It's been bugging me.

I'm seeing all kinds of fun to be had with some of the other examples that you've been kind enough to supply, as well.

I'd better not get going on them right now.
"Podcasts" is enough for me to deal with at the present time.

Cheers to you!!! 👍😊

[FunkyMonkee]

Kleenex.
A decade ago, I was working at the print shop and one of the guys was asking me if I had a copy of a song called, "Red Solo Cup". I never heard of it or a red solo cup an he had to tell me what it was. A day or so later, he brought one in and it hit me that I DID know what he was talking about, I just never heard it called that! I'm used to them being called, Dixie cups!
Most people cal pretty much ANY kind of cola, "Coke".
Quite often, any brand of tampon is called a Tampax or a Kotex, although Kotex is usually reserved for the napkins.
Condoms are often called, "Trojans".

[FunkyMonkee]

What about Walkman? Anything you can carry around with you that plays music through headphones, no matter who makes the device, is called, a "Walkman".

[nolabels]

@FunkyMonkee
What's a Red Solo Cup?

Cola is cola, Coke is Coke, RC is RC, Pepsi is Pepsi.
Surely you wouldn't allow all individual root beer brands to be called IBC, would you?

[nolabels]

@FunkyMonkee
Why didn't they call them "WalkKids"?
Think about who mainly used them.
I'll be awaiting your response with bated breath.

[RebelinSteel]

If I am driving and at the pub, I will have a coke, it might end up being Pepsi or some random draught stuff. Even though it’s a Pepsi and they said we only do Pepsi is that okay, the barmaid may say ‘here’s your Coke’

[nolabels]

I find that "Coke thing" to be interesting, in that it to some extent indicates whereabouts one is from.

But the term "podcast" just drives me bonkers lately.
That's not a very long trip these days, either.

Cheers to you!!!

[FunkyMonkee]

It's just a plastic drinking cup made by the Solo company instead of the Dixie company. They usually come in long sleeves of 50 or 100 and are nearly always red on the outside and white on the inside.
See the cups on this table? Those are red Solo cups.
https://youtu.be/IQ1UKc5BnPQ?si=tjsOIvvimfnrBbo2

I've seen quite a few people any type of cola, "Coke". some even call them, "Pepsi". Doesn't matter what they are.
No I wouldn't and don't call me Shirley! Besides, I drink A&W but I still just call it, root beer.
If I go up to the counter and ask for a root beer, most likely, they'll just give me whatever brand of root beer they sell. (At Vincent's, they only sell Barq's because they only sell Pepsi products.) But, if I say, I'll have a cola, which almost NO ONE says, they'd ask what kind I want, RC, Pepsi, Coke, etc..

[FunkyMonkee]

I don't know why they called them, walk ANYTHING! THEY don't walk and most people would use them while running!

[FunkyMonkee]

Personally, I'd HAVE to know what I'm getting. They put some kind of toxic garbage in coke products that REALLY fucks up my stomach so, I can't drink ANYTHING they make. It's almost like drinking Buzzz cola except that it's only my stomach that goes psych after drinking it!! Pepsi, I can handle but that stuff CAN fuck up my stomach, too just nowhere near as bad as Coke shit!

[Rosexøxø]

Public Oral Demonstration casts?

Public Oral Display? Nope

Publicity of Demographics/ Demonstrators/ dilemmas / diversity/ dialogue/ direct message/ discussion! /

Publicity of Discussion lol I don't know

publicity of daily (events/ discussions)

Im DONE with this lol

could go on but I can’t. Too dragged out. 😂 👍

[Rosexøxø]

But I never know this about podcasts. I did think at one point why not call it something similar to radio hosting or something other / similar to this.

[Rosexøxø]

Phone casts

Phone over discussion casts

Phone over dialogue

Phone over discussing events

I don't know 🤷‍♀️

[FunkyMonkee]

Psonic Orating Device.

[nolabels]

Thanks for trying, anyway.
I appreciate your efforts.

I'll give you a grade of "EEE", for Excellent Effort Extended!

Cheers to you!!! 😊👍

[Guacamole409]

Why not? Why do we refer to horse power in cars? I'm against it, because it makes the horses feel bad.

[nolabels]

@guacamole409 @FunkyMonkee
Now see, that's exactly what I'm talking about here.
Horsepower was on the tip of my tongue when I wrote my question, to use as another example of outmoded terminology, but I couldn't get it past whatever it is that you have to get past when typing.

"Lips" would not be the proper term to use there.

Fingertips, maybe?

Aww, man.

Here I thought I was gonna get one conundrum settled.
All I've succeeded in doing is opening a can of worms.

A CAN OF WORMS!!!

Good grief!!!

I need a tranquilizer over here.

[Guacamole409]

I like tradition. In San Fran they're trying to ban the words chief and master, because they're racist and offend 1% of the population. So no more masters golf or police chiefs. And Manhattan clam chowder has to go. That's very offensive. It should be ThemHattan or TheyHattan.

[nolabels]

LMAO!

You're 'a-preachin' to the choir there, Reverend, you're a-preachin' to the choir!

Cheers to ya!!!

[FunkyMonkee]

Why do they call it, "rush hour" when your car doesn't move?
Why do they call it, "fast food" when it takes so long to get it?
Why is easy listening music so hard to listen to?

[nolabels]

@FunkyMonkee

Yeah, why?

Podcasts, though?
That one bugs me.

[MrGSpotHer]

Why's water still water and all them words for the by gone days before TV I mean it's like they name something and it just stays that name not to confuse people. I think water should be called translucent mass maybe 🤔

[nolabels]

Lol.

I long ago began referring to water as Di hydroxide, just to keep people on their toes.

"Podcast" just happens to bug me.
It reeks of connotations of "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" to me.
Lol.

Cheers to you!

[MrGSpotHer]

I overthink things i get it 😂

[Danisa]

Podcast has nothing to do with ipod. You've wasted your time with your diatribe.

[nolabels]

Au contraire.

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

or

podnews.net/article/history-of-word-podcast

or many other etymologies of the word "podcast".

Now, regarding the use of language, certainly to my amusement, see the definition of the word "diatribe" here:

dictionary.cambridge.org/.../diatribe

Cheers to you!

[gorydetails]

I’m glad your life is so good this is your biggest worry.

[nolabels]

Oh, it's not, believe me.
This is where my mind has gone in view of the turmoil in most other areas of my life.
In other words, I'm probably a step or two away from the loony bin.
But I'm sure having fun with this subject while it lasts.

Thanks for chiming in.

Cheers to you!!!

[BarryLiverstone]

Just became part of the popular lexicon. People still call “X” Twitter right?

[nolabels]

@BarryLiverstone

It was kind of you to offer such a nice simple response, and it does occur, all of the time, but, boy, this "podcast" one really has had me on my soapbox lately.

Speaking of X or Twitter, or whatever, this next subject comes to mind.

I wonder if and when they'll ever include a keyboard symbol for the artist formerly known as Prince.

I'm just wondering, you know.

[BarryLiverstone]

No worries bro. Well Elon does like to shorten things. See what he named his kids.

Podcasts are content so maybe a hip 10 year old will get high and coin the gen Alpha term for them in ‘25

[nolabels]

Oh boy, I can't wait... 😊👍🤷‍♂️

[FunkyMonkee]

They will at least call the messages posted on X, "Tweets".

[FunkyMonkee]

It's not on a keyboard but they DID provide a computer program that'd let you type it.

[FunkyMonkee]

But, it's not, "coin" it's, "quoin".

[msc545]

You may have too much time on your hands if this is the sort of thing you worry about.

[nolabels]

You may have a point there, but I actually attribute it to my being near a total nervous breakdown.
You'd probably have to know me a little better in order to fully grasp the meaning of my previous sentence.

Thanks for your opinion.

Cheers to you!!!

[msc545]

I understand exactly what you said. What is all the anxiety really about? Surely not podcasts.

[nolabels]

I get that you got me.
Get it?
Got it?
Good.
lol

No, the anxiety is far from being caused by the term "podcasts".
Thanks for asking about it.
It's an extremely long story.

I'm just having some fun here, although the connotations of the term "podcast" do make me think of the movies, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Aliens" more than say, the term Kleenex may make me think of anything other than a tissue.

Cheers!!!

[msc545]

Interesting associations - the word "pod" makes me thnk of peas... as in peas in a pod..

[nolabels]

Well now, hmmmm.

You do have a point there, and I am a lover of peas.

I guess maybe I could discuss my word associations with my therapist.
This could actually possibly provide a massive breakthrough for my mental health.

Pods - Simply flavorful legumes or fictitious alien larvae?

If I stick with thinking about what's real, instead of that which Hollywood has created, maybe the term "podcast" won't be quite as bothersome to me as it has been of late.

Thanks for providing an alternative view of things for me.
It's much appreciated, let me tell you.

But, still, remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get ya!

lol

Cheers!!! 👍😊

[NathanDavis]

why are seconds called seconds?

[nolabels]

Why are seconds called seconds?
Here you go.
Enjoy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_face

Thanks for chiming in.

Cheers to you!!!

[NathanDavis]

" The term “second” for a unit of time traces back to ancient Rome. When Romans adopted the Babylonian base-60 time system, they divided each hour into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds. The word “second” comes from the Latin “secundus,” meaning “following” or “second in order.” So, seconds are called “seconds” because they are the second division of an hour1 "

[Dongie]

😅😅🤣🤣

Ok, give'em hell.

[nolabels]

Hellfire and damnation are what's comin' to 'em if I have my way about it! 🤪🤪🤪🤪