The Slice: How do you react when badgered?

If The Slice polled people who know you well, what animal would be mentioned most often when they described what you are like when cornered?

Badger? Opossum? Marmot?

Imperfect pronunciations: “When our son was in preschool, he had a hard time saying the ‘ch’ sound,” wrote Nancy Kiehn. “It was kind of cute listening to him talk about going to ‘shurch’ and hearing that he loved ‘shicken.’ ”

Naturally, his favorite movie was “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

When he was just learning to talk, Barb Beck’s son was into trucks. Except he would say “fruck.”

“I was sure glad when …

If The Slice polled people who know you well, what animal would be mentioned most often when they described what you are like when cornered?

Badger? Opossum? Marmot?

Imperfect pronunciations: “When our son was in preschool, he had a hard time saying the ‘ch’ sound,” wrote Nancy Kiehn. “It was kind of cute listening to him talk about going to ‘shurch’ and hearing that he loved ‘shicken.’ ”

Naturally, his favorite movie was “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

When he was just learning to talk, Barb Beck’s son was into trucks. Except he would say “fruck.”

“I was sure glad when he learned it was TRUCK,” Beck recalled.

Speaking of inappropriate “f” sounds, Deborah and George Hale’s son, Morgan, had trouble making the “cl” sound. “He liked to point at the clock and call out its name with glee,” said his mom.

When referring to “bocce ball,” Sue Kelly’s young grandson seems to be saying “bitchy ball.” “Rather fitting since our family is a bit competitive,” she said.

Jackie Siebers’ young son would ask for popcorn and sound like he was saying “porn.”

Today’s sunburn story: Lyn Erickson’s family lived in Mexico in the late ’50s. It was there, when she was about 12, that she got her worst sunburn. “Raised blisters all across my shoulders and back,” she wrote.

It got worse.

“My little sister, about 5 at the time, came over to tell me a big secret.”

And as the little girl leaned up close to her big sister to whisper in her ear, she draped an arm across her back – effectively scraping off the tops of multiple blisters.

Ouch.

Today’s joke from a Slice reader: “A South Hill woman walks into a psychiatrist’s office. She had a coupon from Trader Joe’s.” – Nick Suksdorf

Inflating one’s accomplishments politician-style: “In the early ’70s I started the great exodus northward out of California, bringing millions of dollars in real estate profits into the Inland Northwest,” wrote Gary Polser.

Today’s Slice question: When will it not be too early for “back to school” conversations?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Your Native American name would be …