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"Podcast" - Oxford Dictionary word of the year

Doctor Q

Doctor Q

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Sep 19, 2002
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The word "podcast" is the New Oxford American Dictionary word of the year for 2005.

Their definition: A digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.

The word had been about long before Apple added a podcast directory to its iTunes online music store in June. "Podcast was considered for inclusion last year, but we found that not enough people were using it, or were even familiar with the concept," Erin McKean, editor-in-chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary, was quoted as saying in a media report. Some have criticized the term for giving too much credit to Apple, and have offered more accurate--but marginally less catchy--terms such as "blogcasting" or "audioblogging".
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Congratulations, Apple!

iLounge story about it from the other day.
 
Counterfit said:
I think we should congratulate whoever coined the term, rather than a company whose product it was based on, and then latched onto.
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I think there is a bit of a scramble over who did coin the word. Fiddle around on Google with the topic, and there are a couple of folks claiming to have coined it... my first thought was Adam Curry ( i'm not proud that Adam Curry was my first thought...)
 
~Shard~ said:
Even though Apple didn't invent podcasts themselves, I still gotta say congrats Apple! ;)
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Very generous to include Apple on the congratulations, surely the word podcast would have become widely used without Apple..... for instance: "Last week I saw a 're podcast' of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' - it was great!" :D
 
ibook30 said:
Very generous to include Apple on the congratulations, surely the word podcast would have become widely used without Apple..... for instance: "Last week I saw a 're podcast' of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' - it was great!" :D
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Oh yeah, I know it's generous... ;) But hey, people probably relate podcast to iPod, so it's all good for Apple! ;)
 
~Shard~ said:
Oh yeah, I know it's generous... ;) But hey, people probably relate podcast to iPod, so it's all good for Apple! ;)
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Exactly. By using the word in conjunction with their similarly named product, Apple reaped the benefits of all the magazine articles, web sites, etc. using the word. Coining a word alone doesn't get it into the dictionary. The widespread use of "podcast" is Apple's accomplishment.
 
Doctor Q said:
Exactly. By using the word in conjunction with their similarly named product, Apple reaped the benefits of all the magazine articles, web sites, etc. using the word. Coining a word alone doesn't get it into the dictionary. The widespread use of "podcast" is Apple's accomplishment.
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Well said, good Doctor - association is huge when it comes to marketing and brand awareness. :cool:
 
I think the word "giggidy" has caught fire recently, but "podcast" it is, then.

And yep, it's Apple's word. I don't know or care who invented it, because the only reason the word "pod" is in there is because of the iPod, hence MS's insistence that they be called something else. Of course, when people want to make a slide presentation on their computer and refer to it simply as "PowerPoint" rather than "slide presentation," Microsoft doesn't seem to be complaining about that association.
 
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