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The Slice: Believe it or not, it seems to work

Paul Turner is taking some time off this summer. In his absence, we’re diving into the archives here at Slice Central. Today, we revisit Aug. 1, 2006. New columns will resume this month.

Seeing as how next month is September, let’s start with a back-to-school item. Spokane grade-school teacher David Rolando likes to make a deal with parents.

He won’t believe everything he hears about what goes on at home if the moms and dads agree to not believe everything they hear about what goes on at school.

Language study: Sue Donaldson studied French in high school. She doesn’t remember much of it. But then, almost 40 years ago, she got married. And reactions to her name demonstrated that a lot of people know at least a little Spanish.

Her married moniker? Sue Kassa.Yes, though spelled differently, that sounds like “Mi casa, su casa” (my house is your house). And lots of self-styled humorists took delight in pointing this out.

But after a few million times, that sort of thing gets old.

So Kassa developed a strategy. When asked for her last name, she just goes ahead and spells it out.

High and dry: “My mother, Lu Tilson, has been going to Priest Lake since the 1930s,” wrote Howard Martinson of Coeur d’Alene. “She and Dad built the old cabin in the summer of 1953.” She was up there last week. “It’s safe to say she’s never, not even once, been in the lake.”

Meeting the new sibling: “When our daughter was 3, we had our son Nick,” wrote Connie Schrader. “The first couple of days were great.” But then the little girl decided enough was enough. So the kid asked her mom when she was going to be taking the baby back to the hospital.

Then there was this from Robin Kohler.

“Our eldest, a girl, was 18 months old when I brought her new sibling home from the hospital. I had tried to prepare her for the possibility that ‘it’ might be a ‘he’ – even the hint of which upset her greatly. When I presented the baby for her inspection, she toddled over and slapped her new brother square in the face. That set the scene for the next 32 years.”

Little-known Northwest feline holidays: St. Mittens Day (Jan. 15), Feast of the Blessed Tuna (Feb. 3), Orange Cat Recognition Day (May 17), Festival of Nine Lives (June 1-Aug. 31), Furst Night (Dec. 31).

Today’s Slice question: Did vacationing with friends turn out to be a bad idea?

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