Fans of Q&Q‘s Finer Points column may want to check out a new CBC Radio summer program, And Sometimes Y. The half-hour show, which premiered last night and runs over the next two months, is devoted to language and grammar issues. The host is author and erstwhile Globe and Mail arts columnist Russell Smith, and also on the producing team are author Andrew Kaufman (All My Best Friends Are Superheroes); Tom Howell, a former Oxford University Press Canada lexicographer; and veteran broadcasting producer Nicola Luksic.

Last night’s premiere discussed basic issues of grammatical standards (and featured such guests as McClelland & Stewart editor Doug Gibson and freelance editor and Ryerson publishing program co-ordinator Stephanie Fysh). Next week’s show promises to look at “former words” — once-popular words that are no longer in use. Which, come to think of it, was also the subject of a Finer Points column a while back.

And Sometimes Y airs on Radio One at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

Related links:
Click here for the And Sometimes Y website
Click here for Ian Coutts’ Finer Points column on once-popular words that are no longer in use