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Grammar Snufus by Karla Stover

Okay, here's the deal. When did people become "that" instead of "who?" I hear this on the radio on the TV ( and shouldn't news reporters know better )? and unless my memory is wrong, have even read it in places. Why? How hard is it to remember that people require a "who"? And here's another--myself instead of me. My boss did this all this time and it drove me crazy. Are we so afraid to  be in the spotlight that we have to say, "So-and-so and myself did such-and-so?"

The Secret

Website Woes by Renee Duke








I’m sure everyone here knows how important author websites are for getting an author’s name ‘out-there’ and so, like many a modern-day writer, I have a website to encourage readers to learn more about me and my books.

Unlike many such writers, I am non-tekky, and therefore didn’t even try to set one up myself. I got my son to do it for me but, being some three hundred and eighty-nine miles away, he did the tweaking of it with me over speaker phone when he was ready to activate it.

The conversation went something like this:

SON: Are you on the site now?
MUM: Yes.
SON: Then log in.
MUM: There isn’t anything that says ‘Log-in’.
SON: There has to be. You did use the link I sent you, right?
MUM: It presented me with several options. The one I picked doesn’t say anything about logging in.
SON (after audible sigh): Try another.
MUM: Oh, yes, this one has a log-in button…It says the password isn’t valid.
SON: Itis valid. You didn’t put it in right.
MUM: Spell it out for me as I type.
MUM (after he did so): That isn’t how that word is spelled. That word only has one ‘n’. How many times have I told you SPELLING IS IMPORTANT?
(I’ve personally lost count, having been doing so since he was in kindergarten.)
SON: Well, that’s how I’ve got it set up, so that’s what we have to go with.
MUM: But it’s not right.
SON: Just log in, Mother.
MUM: Oh, very well. There. A bunch of little coloured things just started jumping around.
SON: Good. That means it’s loading.
(Once it had loaded, I viewed the Home page and whined because it did not showcase all of my books.)
SON: That’s because I wanted call attention to the latest one (shown). There’s a ‘Books’ page for showcasing all of them. You want to entice people to explore your site, don’t you?
MUM: Yes. I’ll take a look at the Bio page now, then…Hmm. I hit ‘Bio’. Nothing happened.
SON: Hit it from where?
MUM: The tool bar.
SON: That isn’t active yet. You have to do it from the Menu button. When you hit that, it should say ‘Pages’, and after you hit ‘Pages’, a drop down list will appear with ‘Bio’.
MUM: Oh, yes! That worked.
SON: Now you go to…DAMN IT, CAT!
MUM: Jumped on your lap did she?
SON: No, the laptop.
MUM: Oh. Well, anyway, I’m there now.
(Some wrangling back & forth regarding bio photos. I wanted more, he wanted less. He won.                                                                                                                                                     We then moved on to tweaking the text. He told me how to change it, but…well…)
MUM: Okay, I’m back in the text box. Oh, wait, no, I’m not.
(Interval during which I managed to find the section I wanted and typed in the additional text.)
MUM: Okay, now I just…DAMN, IT CAT!
(From whom did you think he learned the expression?)
SON: What did she do?
MUM: Stepped on the keyboard…Uh, there’s something popped up here about having made changes in two windows, and which one do I want to save.
SON: (Pause) Well, that’s never happened before.
MUM: You weren’t on here with me before.
SON: True. Don’t bother about it. E-mail me what changes you want. I’ll take care of it.
MUM:  No, no, I can handle this.
(We then proceeded to undo whatever it was I did, with him ‘guiding’ me.)
SON & MUM (simultaneously): DAMN IT, CAT!
(It was like the two wretched felines sensed each other and were co-ordinating their sabotage.)  
MUM: I’m afraid that startled me so much I hit something that made the screen go away.
SON: Go away?
MUM: Yes. How should we go about getting it back?
SON: Weshouldn’t. I think it would be better if you just let me do this, Mum.
MUM: It’s all yours, dear.


The end result is at: https://www.renee-duke.com/.



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Grammar Snufus by Karla Stover

Okay, here's the deal. When did people become "that" instead of "who?" I hear this on the radio on the TV ( and shouldn't news reporters know better )? and unless my memory is wrong, have even read it in places. Why? How hard is it to remember that people require a "who"? And here's another--myself instead of me. My boss did this all this time and it drove me crazy. Are we so afraid to  be in the spotlight that we have to say, "So-and-so and myself did such-and-so?"

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