The Slice: Problem lost in translation

So it turns out that Americans don’t always have the answer. A choral group from Gonzaga University recently returned from France. By all accounts, the trip was a success.

But one misunderstanding still makes choral director Ed Schaefer smile.

After singing at an abbey church, the GU folks listened to a short talk from one of the abbey’s administrators. “He reminded us that it was a small, struggling community and they really needed help with vacations from America,” said Schaefer.

The music professor had an idea. “I caught his attention at the end and asked if he would be interested in time-shares in the abbey, say in the month of August,” said Schaefer. “That way he would get all the vacationers from America that he could handle and the abbey would once again prosper.

“It was only then that I realized he was asking for vocations.”

Oh. Never mind.

“I guess it’s back to prayer and fasting for the monks,” said Schaefer.

“Feedback: “The kid who makes his soapbox derby car in the shape of a Hummer is not cheating,” wrote Davenport’s Morlan Hutchens, referring to a question in Tuesday’s Slice about a certain car commercial. “The rules only state, ‘First one down wins.’ This kid is a shining example of good old-fashioned American ingenuity.”

Several other readers also noted this.

In the commercial, a boy who has built a racer that resembles a Hummer cuts across a winding downhill path to win a race. The Who’s “Happy Jack” is the soundtrack.

“Of course, we know that these humongous, gas-guzzling SUVs are a scourge on our highways,” Hutchens continued. “We should be thinking of ways to conserve fuel. But the kid’s Hummer is strictly gravity-powered, so I guess he scores well in that department, too.”

“Something in the air: Longtime Slice reader Kathy Beaver moved to Florida. But she keeps up with the column on www.spokesmanreview.com. And she wanted to weigh in on a subject she now knows something about.

“Trust me on this, Paul,” she e-mailed. “There is no downside to the lack of humidity in Spokane.”

“Slice answer: Veradale’s Jill Marron couldn’t do a decent cartwheel. “But my good friend Jodi Clutter can,” she wrote. “Just ask her. She’ll show you.”

Apparently Clutter, a 1983 East Valley High graduate, is one former cheerleader who’s still got it. Said Marron, “At a small neighborhood gathering, she proved us naysayers wrong by showing us that she could, in fact, still do a decent cartwheel.”

“If you miss Virginia Kerr: Check out www.kmov.com.

“Today’s Slice question: How high up in your business or organization do people have to rise before they get to spout opinion as if it were unassailable fact?