When you first heard of the Civil War era underground railroad, did you think it was some sort of big subway system?

An express-lane cashier looked up and said “How are you two doing today?”

Then, immediately, she realized the man and woman next in line were not together. Each had a shopping basket.

No one was troubled, of course.

But it would have been the perfect moment for the checker to ask, “Did you find everything you were looking for?”

The woman in line could have said to the cashier, “Well, apparently I found this guy here — do you have a coupon I can use?”

A Spokane friend who has a place over at Bayview told me this.

Apparently the advanced smart-phones with the Siri voice technology have been known to misunderstand spoken references to the North Idaho town of Athol.

“Now, now,” the computer responded on at least one occasion.

They might assume you are less than super-smart.

Say, for instance, you enjoy quoting lines from the 2000 Christopher Guest movie “Best in Show.”

And let's further suppose that a co-worker or casual acquaintance overhears you telling someone on the phone, “If you get hungry, eat something.”

A person overhearing that might well wonder if you or the individual to whom you were speaking inhabit a land of absurd obviousness.

When, in fact, it's just your grand sense of humor. Or at least Christopher Guest's.

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