The Slice: Reactions to salute of special month are quite revealing

One of my favorite things about Black History Month is how its very existence upsets certain people.

Let’s move on.

Family Phrases Department: Joan Williams used to dress her kids in flannel shirts. One son referred to just such a garment as his “final shirt.”

That name stuck.

And in Sue McDowell’s family, her son Shane inexplicably called baloney “dead meat” when he was quite young. That expression would live on.

Just wondering here on Groundhog Day Eve: Will the mild winter make pets’ shedding season arrive earlier?

Nice Receptionists Department: “Nadine Joubert of our office threatened if someone in this ‘blasted town’ doesn’t nominate her as the nicest receptionist in Spokane she will start answering our phone with ‘Whaddya want’ and then promptly tell everyone to ‘never call here again!’ ” wrote Diana Lynn Rehn, a paralegal at Workland &Witherspoon.

“So, in order to calm the savage beast in Nadine I would like to nominate Nadine Joubert as the nicest receptionist in Spokane.

“In actuality, Nadine Joubert is one of the nicest, friendliest, calmest, most elegant, demure, dependable, and organized receptionists in Spokane and just what this office needed.”

Suggested Spokane band name: Earnest Twentysomethings at a Meeting.

Slice answer: Jerry Bishop defined “Spokane suburb” as “Everything north of Spangle, south of Canada, west of Montana and east of Ritzville.”

Warm-up question: What person in the Inland Northwest most disdains the Super Bowl and everything for which it stands?

Today’s Slice question: Is it a good idea to go ahead and explain why the tooth fairy blew it and forgot to cough up some coins or is it better to let the child in question come up with a theory?