WILLIAMSBURG — A man in Williamsburg conducted an entire conversation on Thursday without mentioning his podcast, an event witnesses immediately described as genuinely historic.

The exchange lasted eleven minutes and covered the weather, a mutual friend, and whether the place on the corner had always been there. At no point did he say “we just recorded,” “it’s kind of a limited series,” or “you’d actually be a really good guest,” the three phrases sociologists use to confirm a sighting.

Experts caution that the episode may not be repeatable. A wine bar had opened across the street that afternoon, and the man appeared distracted by a sandwich board and the question of whether he knew the owner, which in this neighborhood is its own dialect.

“He asked how I was,” said the other participant, still visibly moved. “And then he waited.”

By evening the man had recovered. He was heard, near the bar’s first toast, telling a stranger that the conversation would “probably be a bonus episode.” Historians have agreed to count Thursday anyway. ◆