Which, if either, is most correct?

Pedometer.

-R

A pedometer measures how many steps you take.

A podometer measures how many feet you have.

Three...

Thanks all. I'd seen it both ways in the forums. Didn't think to check a dictionary or web search before asking. I'm just an anal-retentive old spelling bee champ from a distant yesteryear. So when I woke up and used my ---ometer this morning, the thought just stuck: there are pedestrians...and then, there are podiatrists...

Thanks all. I'd seen it both ways in the forums. Didn't think to check a dictionary or web search before asking. I'm just an anal-retentive old spelling bee champ from a distant yesteryear. So when I woke up and used my ---ometer this morning, the thought just stuck: there are pedestrians...and then, there are podiatrists...


www.dictionary.com... great site :p hehe

"Ped" is from the Latin. "Pod" is from the Greek. For some reason, we use the Latin particle to mean walking and the Greek particle to mean the structure of the body part itself.

Othopedists study walking. Podiatrists study feet.

Pedestrians walk, and when you stop them from walking, you impede their progress.

It gets tricky when you get into animal names - Quadrupeds, Centipedes, and Millipedes are defined by their number of feet, true, but also the number of feet they use for walking, whereas arthropods, gastropods, and the like are defined by their feet, but in the structure of the foot itself, not in how they use it to get around.

Actually, a podometer might measure the size or quality of your foot rather than their number.

Even I get confused by "podium" and "pedestal," however.
Thanks all. I'd seen it both ways in the forums. Didn't think to check a dictionary or web search before asking. I'm just an anal-retentive old spelling bee champ from a distant yesteryear. So when I woke up and used my ---ometer this morning, the thought just stuck: there are pedestrians...and then, there are podiatrists...

"Ped" is from the Latin. "Pod" is from the Greek.

What a great post! I love linguistics, and few others do. This is a very helpful distinction that I never thought about. Thanks so much.

EDIT: As I read this now, it sounds somewhat sarcastic -- I don't mean that at all. I have studied ancient (Koine, not Classical) Greek and Hebrew (original languages of the Christian Bible) and I'm now studying Spanish. I really do love linguistics.

I find linguistics fascinating too. But I could never be a linguist...

So I guess there are not really any things called podometers, although podometrics is possibly a real term (of the past, present or future) used by those delving deeply inside the field of podiatry.

I'll go with pedometer, and shall remain a pedapod instead of a manopod, at least until my lifting results in adequate upper body strength...and just stay away from any personalized notion related to a cephalopod, unless I'm eating calamari...

pedometer!!