The Slice: Hat can say a lot about a person

Wearing a Santa hat in November makes a person look like he or she …

A) Is fun, festive and full of good cheer. B) Is full of something. C) Wants to be seen as Spokane’s Mariah Carey. D) Is a free-spirited nonconformist or unemployable twit. E) Lost his or her ballcap. F) Thought it would be the same as having an actual personality. G) Must think Santa smokes Camels. H) Other.

Sticky notes: Pam DeCounter still has the one her eventual husband stuck on her car in the summer of 1982, asking for a date. They lived in the same apartment complex.

On their date, they went to Henny’s restaurant.

Slice answer: “Are the senders of Christmas cards arriving in mailboxes today (last Friday) obsessive or just organized?”

“There’s a difference?” wrote John Simanton.

Warm-up question: If “North Idaho” makes sense for some reason other than lingering separatist sentiment, why don’t people say “East Washington”?

Today’s Slice question: You never know what you might learn about Spokane when you go online and read about our fair city. For instance, I noticed the other day that a certain website unambiguously declared that a resident of Spokane is referred to as a “Spokanite.”

That’s true enough, I suppose. But I wasn’t aware that this had been made official.

The Slice has dealt with this subject more than a few times over the years. And once, back in 2004, “Spokanians” outpolled “Spokanites” in a free and fair election. (Some are of the opinion that “Spokanite” sounds like a not particularly valuable mineral.)

All I’m saying is different people have different opinions about what you call someone from Spokane.

Here are just a few additional names that have been mentioned at one time or another: Spose, Spokes, Spokaners, S’kanners, Spokanoids, Spokadians, Spokaneers and several spinoffs of the not-to-be-encouraged “Spokaloo.”

So what do you say when you want to label someone from Spokane, or do you find ways to avoid using any such word?