The Slice: Groom needs a little help selling Idaho

It’s nice when readers regard The Slice as a public service.

“I am hoping that you could help me out with my wedding,” began an e-mail from Greg Thorhaug, a Bureau of Land Management employee in Coeur d’Alene. “I grew up in St. Maries and I am marrying a beautiful young woman from Buffalo, N.Y. To try to break the ice with her family (the wedding is going to be in Buffalo in September) I would like to give a little presentation on fun facts of Idaho. Things like: ‘No, it’s not Iowa, or Ohio’ and ‘Not everyone here grows potatoes.’

“I would assume you have a lot of this type of material and I was hoping that you could share some of it with me.”

Stand by, Greg. I can hear the distant sound of Slice readers riding to your rescue.

I’ll send coveted reporter’s notebooks to those offering him the best suggestions.

“She knows how to put a guy on the spot: I heard from a local woman who regards it as unsafe for drivers to wear flip-flops. Well, one day she asked her 19-year-old daughter’s new boyfriend, “Does Jessica wear her thongs when she’s driving?”

The flustered lad misunderstood the question. After a few tense moments, he answered that he really didn’t know what sort of underwear she wore while driving.

“Made-for-Spokane drive-in movies: Mike Storms offered a list that included “North Central Story,” “The Bells of St. John’s,” “Breakfast at Dick’s,” “Valley of the Soccer Moms,” “Sometimes a Bad Notion,” “North to the Y,” “A River Runs Through It,” and “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming.”

“Slice answer: “Your Idaho shirt question prompted much discussion,” wrote Alyssa Swartz of Coeur d’Alene.

She said a sleeveless flannel shirt was rejected as “too Arkansas.” There was some support, though, for a sleeveless T-shirt worn with a farmer tan.

“Whatever it may be, it would be nice and comfortable and not too expensive.”

“”Dead End Residents Only”: A caller noted that reading those two signs as if they were one message probably isn’t what people in that neighborhood had in mind.

“Terms of endearment: “One of my biggest pet peeves is when a cashier or waitress/waiter calls me ‘Dear,’ ” wrote Judy Long, who is in her 50s.

She would rather be called a rhymes-with-witch. “I don’t care for ‘Honey’ or ‘Sweetie’ either,” she said.

Long could live with “Babe.”

“I realize I am not a babe, but wouldn’t mind if someone were to humor me by pretending.”

“Today’s Slice question: Do people up in Metaline Falls, Wash., still talk about the filming of “The Postman” 10 years ago?