The Slice: Now that’s a cute pickup line

The Slice never tires of family phrases.

Hope you feel the same way.

When Maggi Robertson’s grandson Ben was 3, he enjoyed visiting his grandparents’ place out in the country. One thing in particular caught his eye. “He was fascinated with our farm pickup,” said Robertson.

Only he called the truck a “hiccup.”

And, of course, after that, so did everyone else.

The good old hiccup truck.

Wrong numbers: “Our optometric office phone number has all but one number in common with another business,” wrote Shelley Davis. “Where ours has a 0, their phone number has an 8. On more than one occasion, I have said (with a smile in my voice) that perhaps the caller would like to schedule an eye exam.”

Just wondering: With six weeks until Thanksgiving, have you figured out what to do about your angry relative who would be a toxic presence, especially if things don’t go his or her way on Election Day?

Putting a note in with the lunch: “My wife of many years still includes notes in lunches,” wrote Forrest Schuck. “Some of the themes, while not suitable for publication in a family newspaper, certainly serve to whet the appetite.”

Then there was this.

“I don’t know about notes,” wrote Alice Spray. “But my neighbor puts fake tattoos on the bananas in her kids’ lunches. She says it brightens their day.”

Here’s what reader Denice Lucas said after The Slice asked if there should be yet another fall leaves photo contest: “Why? What color do pine needles come in in your neighborhood? We’re baling ours here in Camelot.”

The last time you got a busy signal: “I call my cousin every morning at 7 o’clock,” wrote Karen Meye. “Last Sunday she thought she would surprise me and call me. We dialed each other at the same exact time and both got a busy signal.”

Warm-up question: What is the typical Spokane area high school dropout’s skill set?

Today’s Slice question: When you lend someone a book, do you expect to ever see it again?