Red Pen: A Grammar Podcast

Columbia Journalism Review•www.cjr.org

Welcome to the weird, wild, scintillatingly stylish, and syntactically sound world of RED PEN—the grammar podcast that won't put you to sleep.Brought to you by the Columbia Journalism Review and hosted by old buds Ryan Davis and Mike Laws, RED PEN plucks examples from the news (as well as from novels, music, movies—wherever!) to answer all those questions you were too afraid to ask in English class.Digressions may include: Green Day's early work, the oppressive atmosphere of latter-day Batman movies, and, of course, cats. Lots of cats.

Last refreshed: July 6th, 2025 at 3:46 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

Dangler Untangler: Make those modifiers sing

As a grammar podcast, our aim is to edify as well as entertain. <---If you didn't see anything wrong with that sentence, you need this episode in your life. (If you did, hang around for some hockey locker room talk about vegans, libertarians, what Wednesday Addams got unforgivably wrong about Edgar Allan Poe, and how Mike once managed to weird out… John Waters?!) Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you. Thing 1: Ryan Davis Thing 2: Mike Laws Producer: Amanda Darrach Fin...

Jan 11, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 5

'Fewer': One less thing to worry about

The grocery store is where good grammar goes to die. But you needn't be afeard of "less" versus "fewer." It ain't that complicated. Except when it is. Digressions include Paraguayan beef, tightly tucked duvets, streaming services' subtitles, and how young Mike got hoodwinked by those 12-CDs-for-a-penny scams. Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you. Thing 1: Ryan Davis Thing 2: Mike Laws Producer: Amanda Darrach Find all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Offi...

Jan 04, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Misused and Abused, II: Compliments on a full complement

Homing in on honing our vocab, we effect various affects, gibing and jiving about words that don't jibe. Stick around for tangents on Bush v. Trump malapropisms, the dubious staying power of Stephen Colbert's "truthiness," and whether A Clockwork Orange can teach English-speakers conversational Russian. Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you. Thing 1: Ryan Davis Thing 2: Mike Laws Producer: Amanda Darrach Find all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official P...

Dec 21, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 3

Misused and Abused, I: Shimmying, jiving, possibly some words that have nothing to do with dancing

"Bet," "based," "goated": we're in a brave new world of hyperfast coinage. But does this phase faze you? Are you nonplussed? Episode 2 provides the answers to help elegantly shimmy (or perhaps shinny) your way out of these uncomfortable questions. Divagations include: the merits of Goodfellas v. Casino, the shenanigans of Norman Mailer and other literary bad boys, and various ways to break out of jail. Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you. Thing 1: Ryan Davis Thing 2: M...

Dec 13, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Who or Whom? One weird trick melts away YEARS of confusion

To whom or not to whom, that is the question. The word's going the way of the northern white rhino, but is it ever wrong to use "who" in its place? Will your fancy dinner party guests think you're a troglodyte? And what if you overcorrect and stick a "whom" where it doesn't belong? All this, plus digressions on red being the real warmest color, why it's maybe not the best idea to deputize 14-year-olds as camp counselors, and that time Ryan got perma-banned from day trading. Questions/comments/id...

Dec 08, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 1

Trailer

Welcome to the weird, wild, scintillatingly stylish, and syntactically sound world of RED PEN—the grammar podcast that won't put you to sleep. Brought to you by the Columbia Journalism Review and hosted by old buds Ryan Davis and Mike Laws, RED PEN plucks examples from the news (as well as from novels, music, movies—wherever!) to answer all those questions you were too afraid to ask in English class. Digressions may include: Green Day's early work, the oppressive atmosphere of latter-day Batman ...

Dec 06, 2022•3 min

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