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For example, on the Internet, there's a podcast for ESL learners called Culips (they are based in Montreal, Canada). They have two kinds of podcasts there—one is called Catchword and the other one Chatterbox. When they begin their podcasts, they usually say something like this, "Hello, English learners and we're back with another Chatterbox episode for you." I've recently started downloading their podcasts and now I want to give the files that I've downloaded proper titles (in so-called MP3 tags). I was just wondering what would be the right way (grammatically, semantically or whatever) to name a particular episode of the podcast. For instance:

Catchword Episode 156: Movers and Shakers

Does that sound alright to you? Or maybe this one is better (with the pound sign):

Catchword Episode #156: Movers and Shakers

And how would you say that now? "catchword episode number one hundred fifty-six"?

Please feel free to chime in with your suggestions.

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  • It is unclear whether you are asking 1 how to title the episodes as mp3 files, 2 how to refer to episodes already given an mp3 title, or 3 how to refer to the episodes in general.
    – user6951
    Dec 14, 2014 at 23:12

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Either way is fine. The concept of a podcast "episode number" is similar to the concept of a magazine "issue number". Similarly, the concept of a podcast "season number" is similar to the concept of a magazine "volume number".

Abbreviation or Omission of "Number":

Including "Number" (abbreviated to "#") is more formal. The "#" abbreviation is about as informal as omitting "Number". It is OK to omit the "Number" (or "#"), because the episode number (such as "156") is obviously a number. Some computerized databases have trouble storing (or displaying) the "#" sign.

Other abbreviations for "Number" are "num." and "no." I recommend avoiding the "no." abbreviation, because it is easy to confuse it with the English word "no".

Pronunciation:

"Catchword Episode 156" could be pronounced as either "Catchword Episode one fifty-six" or "Catchword Episode number one fifty-six".

"Catchword Episode #156" would be pronounced as "Catchword Episode number one fifty-six".

If the reader is being very formal, the reader would say "one hundred fifty-six" instead of "one fifty-six".

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