The Slice: Baby talk isn’t always what you think it is

It’s kind of fun to see a lone adult talking while pushing a baby stroller.

At first, you think the parent is addressing the young strollee, which is sort of sweet.

My advice? Look away before you get close enough to realize the stroller-pusher is really on the phone.

Being a female with a male-sounding name: Kelly Scott once received a stern letter from Uncle Sam noting that she had failed to register with the Selective Service within 30 days of her 18th birthday.

She wound up having to send in a copy of her birth certificate to show that she was a woman, not a draft dodger.

When 55-year-old Dale McPherson was a kid, people recognized her first name as potentially feminine because of cowgirl actress/singer Dale Evans.

Nowadays? Not so much.

Store clerks think she is trying to use her husband’s credit cards. Bank tellers ask if her husband is around to sign. And so on.

One more.

“We named our daughter ‘Erin,’ ” wrote Arlene Collins. “In eighth grade, she came home saying she hated her name, that several boys were named ‘Aaron’ and they pronounced it the same way.”

Collins thought her daughter eventually got over it.

But after turning 21, Erin notified her folks that she had legally changed her first name to “Ireland.”

Just wondering: Ear protection notwithstanding, do loud occupations still produce loud talkers?

Slice answer: Forget color TVs. Mary Ann Barney remembers when the first TV of any kind arrived in her childhood Seattle neighborhood.

“I was in third grade back in 1949 and Marney, my chubby classmate, suddenly became the most popular kid in the vicinity when she announced that her parents had bought a TV.”

Suddenly it was “Howdy Doody” time.

“On any given afternoon, Monday through Friday, you would find upwards of 15 kids, ages 3-12, packed into Marney’s family room.”

Barney remembers wondering why Marney’s mother didn’t serve snacks.

Great moments in show and tell: A little girl in Gail Hilton’s preschool class was showing off her new cowboy boots. Innocent as could be, the kid noted that in her family they were known as “kickers.” (Though what she actually said was the same word with one more syllable at the beginning.)

Then there was the little boy about to have his testicles removed. It turned out it was actually his tonsils.

Warm-up question: A note from a Sandpoint reader referred to the “Bonner County Daily ‘Killer’ Bee.” So are there other nicknames for Inland Northwest publications?

Today’s Slice question: What do you suppose people think of your handshake?