# British Parliament Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149 "2007-10-18T07:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/1 "2007-10-18T07:16:37Z")
In the British Parliament the Prime Minister and the opposition leader raise to speak, not on podiums, but over yellow chests about the size of suitcases. What is the significance of these two boxes? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/2 "2007-10-18T07:20:06Z")
There’s some information here: [Dispatch boxes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispatch_box) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/3 "2007-10-18T07:25:54Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] There’s some information here: [Dispatch boxes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispatch_box) [/QUOTE] You rock, thanks. Kinda funny the Australian Parliament’s Dispatch boxes are from the UK and later the UK’s came from New Zealand…I wonder if they did it to take the piss. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/4 "2007-10-18T07:32:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam] Kinda funny the Australian Parliament’s Dispatch boxes are from the UK and later the UK’s came from New Zealand…I wonder if they did it to take the piss. [/QUOTE] I think they were simply gifts from one country to the other. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/5 "2007-10-18T11:04:03Z")
We ought to check there aren’t soldiers hiding inside. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/6 "2007-10-18T12:21:36Z")
I found the way this question was asked to be confusing. The dispatch boxes are not equivalent to podiums. They are equivalent to lecterns. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/7 "2007-10-18T12:44:59Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] The dispatch boxes are not equivalent to podiums. They are equivalent to lecterns. [/QUOTE] Not being snotty, but in the spirit of fighting ignorance, what’s the difference? My Webster’s gives the fourth definition of a podium to be a lectern. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/8 "2007-10-18T12:58:25Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Not being snotty, but in the spirit of fighting ignorance, what’s the difference? My Webster’s gives the fourth definition of a podium to be a lectern. [/QUOTE] I’d never thought about it, but from a statistical sample of one (me), I’d say a podium is raised, larger, generally “more important”, and not necessarily used for speeches. A lectern is well… for lecturing. More of a convenience than a stage. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/9 "2007-10-18T12:58:32Z")
You stand _on_ a podium, _at_ (or behind )a lectern. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/10 "2007-10-18T13:10:26Z")
[QUOTE=hawthorne] You stand _on_ a podium, _at_ (or behind )a lectern. [/QUOTE] Perhaps it’s one of those British/American [definitions.](http://www.bestlecterns.com/lecterns.htm?src=google&gclid=CKuKu4rBmI8CFSasGgodzneefg) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/11 "2007-10-18T19:24:20Z")
A lectern is a stand for something from which you read to people. A podium is a thing you stand on. Improper usage has resulted in many people using the term podium to describe a cabinet like stand behind which the speaker stands, which usually has a shelf on which to place reading materials, glass of water, etc. (in other words, a form of lectern) This would only be even marginally accurate if there was also a raised platform on which it stood. Note podium comes from the Greek word for foot, via Latin, while lectern comes from the latin word for the verb “to read.” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-parliament-question/423149/12 "2007-10-18T19:36:12Z")
While we’re on weird things in Parliament, how about that [woolsack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolsack), eh?! I am privileged to have sat on the real one in the Lords. It’s not very comfortable.