Thursday, July 16, 2009

A Day Late and a Dollar (or More) Short

Guess what. I've been scooped again.

Annette Lyon, a Utah writer, just published a book: Their, There, They're, a grammar guide.

I went on Amazon and looked at her chapters. It's definitely got a Utah slant (she has one section on Supposedly/Supposably, and it's only in Utah that I have ever heard this error. That is also the only place I've heard the remark, "He was bein' really ignernt to me." People use the term "ignorant" to mean "rude."). She has a lot of the same things I have on Mrs. Clark's Grammar Rant, which has yet to see the Internet light of day, mostly because I do not know how to set up a website.

Oh, well.

I know I could not hold a candle to Eats Shoots and Leaves, the wonderful grammar book written by Lynne Truss, an Englishwoman and therefore a higher authority than I, but I was trying to make my little light shine.

Move on, dear. Move on.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

No County for Old Women

So, a friend of mine wants me to attend the Relief Society Book Group. The book this month is Emma, by Jane Austen. A classic, right? You'd think the regional (meaning bigger than most of the others) library in my town would have several copies, right?

You'd be wrong.

Not finding the book in the stacks, I went to the online card catalog. I typed in the word "Emma" as the book title. Simple, huh?

Ninety-eight different titles came up. Beginning with "The Wonderful Adventures of Emma," or something like that.

WHAT THE?

I scrolled through five pages of book titles, none of which was simply Emma, to the last page. Then came the videos. FINALLY, there it was: my library was in possession of ONE large-print copy. No others. And it was checked out.

This library does, however, have available copies of Hello!, People, and InStyle.

I had to order the book to be sent from another library.

Now, keep in mind that in the county where I live, the median household income is $105,000 per year, the highest in the nation. And we pay the taxes to show for it.

Yes, this is a cranky post, and I really do try not to be cranky for various reasons, not the least of which is that I believe in purging one's life of crankiness, but this really dumbfounded me. It shows I'm getting old. I should've gone to Borders and shelled out the $15 for the book. It would have been easier on my blood pressure.