There are rules for punctuation, but we don’t always agree on them episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 20, 2025 · 50 MIN

There are rules for punctuation, but we don’t always agree on them

from The Colin McEnroe Show · host Connecticut Public Radio

Should people use the Oxford comma? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that mean they’re mad at you? This hour: punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of punctuation marks, timeless punctuation debates, and how writing for texts and emails has changed the way we use punctuation. GUESTS: RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places Claire Cock-Starkey: Author of Hyphens and Hashtags: The Stories Behind the Symbols on Our Keyboard Julia Pistell: Founding member of Sea Tea Improv and one of the hosts of the Literary Disco podcast The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 3, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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There are rules for punctuation, but we don’t always agree on them

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Should people use the Oxford comma? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that mean they’re mad at you? This hour: punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of...

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