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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Slice

Just in time for Mutha’s Day

Do you have stories you never get tired of telling?

Sure. Well, this is one of mine.

Back in the late 1970s, I worked for an afternoon newspaper that was covering a murder trial involving a biker gang.

The reporter attending the trial wanted to use a zesty quote in which a witness testified about plans to "Kill that mother." (Or something to that effect.)

Only the witness didn't really pronounce it that way. He said "mutha," as in "Kill that mutha."

The reporter wanted to reflect that. So, with the deadline for the first edition looming, there was a hasty discussion about the proper way to spell that phonetically.

M-u-t-h-a prevailed.

And so, when the first copies rolled off the presses, there it was: "Kill that mutah."

I don't really remember the details of the shouting and hair-pulling that ensued. But the word was not supposed to have been spelled "mutah."

"Kill that mutah."

M-u-t-a-h.

It got fixed before the next edition.

But a few of us delighted, for the longest time, in feigning umbrage about this or that and addressing the supposedly offending colleague as a "mutah."

I don't remember how the trial turned out.



The Slice

The online home for Paul Turner's musings and interactions with disciples of The Slice.