By Ann St. Martin Stout
When I’m busy with my hands, sewing or crafting, I often listen to podcasts. The topics available are endless.
The term podcast was coined by a British journalist and columnist in 2004. It is the combination of “iPod” and “broadcast.” At first it was called an “audio blogpost” (blog originated from “web-log.”)
Early on I listened to Saint of the Day, and blogs about creative writing, followed by “Serial,” a true crime blog seeking through investigation to exonerate a man imprisoned for murder. After weeks of listening (it aired once a week) the investigation proved inconclusive. Big let-down.
“The Splendid Table” was on my listening list for quite a while. As the title suggests, it is about cooking and related topics. Matt Tommey Mentoring, a creativity mentoring blog from a biblical perspective, was another.
Right now, the two blogs that have our attention are “A Way With Words” and “The Midnight Library of Baseball.”
“A Way with Words” has two hosts who talk about sayings, idioms, adages, and who also answer questions from call-in listeners about new or old sayings they’ve heard, things their parents used to say, etc. The hosts are very personable and steeped in the English language and some foreign languages, and share the history of word use, and how pronunciations and meaning have changes over the decades, and in some cases over the centuries.
A recent conversation was of a family who were at odds of how to pronounce “buoy.” We call the floating marker to warn boats a “BOO-ee.” Some places pronounce it “BOY.” The conclusion is that the “boy” pronunciation is British, but we all use it when we refer to the soap LifeBuoy. When we New Englanders are at a lake or the ocean we call the floating marker a BOO-ee.
OK, so some of my readers may think “what a nerd” listening to a podcast about words! But I say, give it a try by going to the website waywordradio.org. The hosts are fun, interesting and make it applicable to life.
Now, for “The Midnight Library of Baseball.” The host digs pretty deep and does a lot of research to present a very specific topic in each episode. It first caught my attention when I saw that he covered movie details and story-line truths about “Field of Dreams,” one of our family’s favorite movies.
I listened to an episode about the knuckle ball and pitchers who threw it; and another about when certain equipment came into use, for example the glove and the helmet. The very first episode is titled, “Did Lou Gehrig have Lou Gehrig’s disease?”
I am interested in baseball (and in general I can understand it and follow it), but am not super knowledgeable, nor do I have a head for stats. Yet I find this podcast of storytelling, the whys and the unlikely events, very engaging.
When I googled “list of all podcast topics” so I could share it with you all, I was given hundreds, if not thousands. Here is one grouping: True Crime, Fashion and Beauty, Reviews (books, movies, products), Paranormal, Entrepreneurship, History, Comedy, Travel, Celebrities, Food, Animals and pets, Storytelling, Health and Wellness, Technology, and lots more.
Now, just in case you need to know, there is also a podcast on how to create a podcast and present it to the world. It’s just the ticket for you if you enjoy talking and want to share your own passion.
