The Slice: It’s become her chief complaint

Elizabeth McConnell’s husband is a Native American.

For some reason, this compels strangers to volunteer things like “My great-grandmother was a Cherokee princess.”

Happens over and over.

This has led McConnell to a conclusion. “The entire Cherokee tribe consisted of princesses,” she wrote. “No chiefs, no Indians. Just princesses.”

“Still hoping to be bowled over: “Now that March Madness is upon us, my attention has naturally turned to cricket,” wrote David Townsend of Coeur d’Alene.

As the adult leader of a Scout troop, he recently tried to interest his charges in the international sport. They used a homemade cricket bat, wicket and a tennis ball.

“It turned into a less than satisfying baseballization of the game,” he said.

He blamed the equipment. So Townsend had a request. “Would you ask your readers where one can purchase cricket gear in the greater Spokane area?”

He knows he can order the stuff online, but would prefer to be able to examine it first.

“Just wondering: “Who around here has made the most embarrassing typo?” asked Kimberly Middleton.

OK, I’ll open the bidding with the newspaper’s own “honey-fried children” and “pubic education.”

Then there was the time one wrong letter turned a local woman’s full name into something phonetically pornographic.

Middleton has one of her own.

“Several years ago I worked at a hotel in the catering sales department. There was a client I was working with who was extremely difficult. When I typed her banquet event contract, I typed ‘Banana But Bread’ instead of ‘Banana Nut Bread.’ “

The difficult client thought this was a personal dig and threw a fit.

“Seasonal reminder: It might look like your lunch partner is literally bored to tears. Chances are, though, allergies are to blame for those wet eyes.

“Roadside attractions: There’s a helpful sign on Interstate 82 between Ellensburg and Yakima that indicates, with arrows, which is Mount Adams and which is Mount Rainier.

If there were a similar sign in our part of the Northwest, where would it be and what would it clarify?

“Four indicators that will tip you off before the next Great Missoula Flood:

1. News accounts from Montana about a modern Ice Age.

2. Plummeting North Idaho real estate values.

3. Instead of lemonade, Spokane kids start selling inflatable rafts.

4. Co-worker saying, “What’s that roaring sound?”

“Today’s Slice question: Who is the Inland Northwest’s biggest cheapskate?