June Casagrande

2 weeks ago | latimes.com | June Casagrande

Not long ago in this column, I talked a bit about the expression “step foot,” as in “I wouldn’t step foot in that store.” The first time I heard it, I was embarrassed for the speaker who, I was sure, meant “set foot.” The second, third and fourth times I heard it, I sensed a change was underway — and I’m not a fan of change (that’s an understatement). Eventually, I looked it up and learned that “step foot” is slowly gaining on “set foot,” whether I like it or not.

3 weeks ago | latimes.com | June Casagrande

There’s film on Netflix that piqued my interest. Here’s how “Mid90s” is described on the streaming service: “A lonely boy escapes his troubled home life by latching on to a group of older, skater kids.”I’m intrigued. How did the older kids get so skate? And is one of them skater than the others — you know, the skatest of the bunch? English is weird. Punctuation is weird. And if you’re not careful with both, you can write something weird when you don’t mean to.

3 weeks ago | polkio.com | June Casagrande

At a time when people refuse to believe doctors, journalists and anyone who says we went to the moon, everyone accepts the AI industry’s claims about AI. It’s genius. It’s going to revolutionize life as we know it. It’s going to render all us workers obsolete so we’ll be unemployed and homeless but at least we’ll be wowed by TikToks of Jennifer Lawrence talking through Steve Buscemi’s face. First on the chopping block, they say: editors and writers. Like me.

1 month ago | newportnewstimes.com | June Casagrande

The dictionary is gaslighting me. I know I sound crazy, but that’s just proof of gaslighting, right? Let me explain. For years I’ve been telling people that they never have to agonize over whether to use “swam” or “swum,” “laid” or “lain,” “drank” or “drunk,” or “dreamed” or “dreamt” because the answers are in the dictionary. But only if you know how to find them. Most dictionaries contain instructions on how to use the dictionary.

1 month ago | theworldlink.com | June Casagrande

Not long ago in this column, I talked a bit about the expression “step foot,” as in “I wouldn’t step foot in that store.” The first time I heard it, I was embarrassed for the speaker who, I was sure, meant “set foot.” The second, third and fourth times I heard it, I sensed a change was underway — and I’m not a fan of change (that’s an understatement). Eventually, I looked it up and learned that “step foot” is slowly gaining on “set foot,” whether I like it or not.