“Serving up object lessons on syntax and style with style, and in a way that won’t put you to sleep”: Red Pen is a new podcast about grammar from Columbia Journalism Review.
The first episode (forty-four minutes) is ostensibly about who and whom, but it’s really two friends talking, and their talking goes all over the place: Christopher Columbus, bad reviews of the Sistine Chapel, commercialism at Egypt’s pyramids, a Geocities fan page for Rage Against the Machine, Jay McInerney’s tweets, and looting at Duane Reade stores, with none of those topics touching upon who or whom.
For me, the noise to signal ratio makes this podcast a slog (even at 1.5 speed). You could learn much more in a fraction of the time by reading the entry about who and whom in Garner’s Modern English Usage. Then spend the time left over talking with a friend of your own.
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Red Pen
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comments: 2
At 1.5 speed?
Is this a secret trick for listening to podcasts? They're a slog sometimes, but it didn't occur to me to play them faster--does that not distort the voices?
I think most podcast apps can do it. (I use Overcast.) I know that in the past iTunes couldn’t, though you could open a file and speed it up in VLC or a similar app. (I don’t know if iTunes can do it now, as I gave up on it when it became hugely cumbersome.)
The speed goes up but the pitch stays about the same. The only downside is that you might begin to wish that people spoke as fast in real life. : )
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