'Podium', 'rostrum', or 'soapbox'?

[Mehrgan]

Hi all,
Would anyone please tell me which one, in case they refer to the same thing, has the most common usage in everyday English?


Thanks!

 

[5jj]

British National Corpus figures are:

rostrum - 141
Podium-114
soapbox 44

I did not read through them all to check that they were referring to the same thing.

 

[BobK]

Note that this doesn't mean: 'Use 'rostrum; - that way you're fairly sure to be right'. Corpora are good things - irreplaceable, I think. But they are only an indication of what has been used in a particular corpus, not what it is appropriate to use. nfire: OK, I'll get down off my soapbox.*

b
PS * See what I did there? This is an idiom: when you 'get down off your soapbox' you stop ranting about something you often say. 'I'll get down off my rostrum/podium' is not an option. 'Soapbox' is a metaphor; public speakers used to stand on them. Today, I'm not sure if they exist - and if they do they wouldn't be sturdy enough to take a speaker's weight.

 

[5jj]

Note that this doesn't mean: 'Use 'rostrum; - that way you're fairly sure to be right'. Corpora are good things - irreplaceable, I think. But they are only an indication of what has been used in a particular corpus, not what it is appropriate to use.

I agree. :up:

I meant to suggest this with my, "I did not read through them all to check that they were referring to the same thing," but I was not explicit enough.

 

[Mehrgan]

Thanks to you both for the very helpful comments!

Wish you best!