EEK! The Curmudgeon Escaped! Cast vs Casted

by Marsha Ward @Marsha Ward

It's a little known fact that I have a curmudgeon side to my personality that I keep locked in the basement. Occasionally, he, and yes, the Curmudgeon is male, defeats my lock and escapes, usually to make a scathing comment on misuse of the English Language. He's out! Sheesh! Well, we might as well find out what the Curmudgeon has to say.

Listen up, you Readers and Writers, too. Recently, that lady up there ^ (who cannot be said to be my "mistress," because she ain't, and she wouldn't allow any mud thrown on her character anyway) saw a report that a person of high standing used the term, "he was casted well" in regards to an actor portraying a character in a large production.

If you could only imagine the terrible tantrum this caused me to throw! I think she sensed my turmoil, because she came down here and checked the lock on the door. But she doesn't know that I've figured out a way to escape, heh-heh. Here I am!

Before that lady ^ comes over here to the computer and wrestles me back down to my lonely chamber, I've got something to say about the verb "to cast."

If you remember your lessons in English classes from elementary school— What! Nobody deigned to teach you English, you miserable little insect?

Ahem! Where are my manners? Ahem.

The verb "to cast" is an irregular verb. That means, you inse— ahem. That means the conjugations don't follow the regular path of the verbs that play nice. Conjugation. You don't— Conjugate, you worm! Conjugate means "to give in order the inflectional forms of a verb." YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT INFLECTIONAL MEANS? "The change of form, in a word, to indicate number, case, tense, etc." Get a dictionary, you little—

Never mind.

Anyway, as I was saying, "to cast" is an irregular verb. It doesn't get "d" or "ed" added to it to make the past tense. Here's the present tense:

I cast
you cast
he casts
we cast
you cast
they cast

Here's the preterite, or past tense:

I cast
you cast
he cast
we cast
you cast
they cast

Do you see that? The past tense is virtually the same as the present tense. The only difference is that in past tense, he cast [the first stone yesterday]. But he casts [that miserable little stone today].

There's no d or ed in sight.

ARGH!

sight - site - cite

Next time I escape—SHE'S COMING! She has a new lock in her hand! HELP!