The Slice: Potential partners’ pop quiz

Let’s start with some answers. The query was “What should be the first question on a compatibility quiz for prospective dating couples?” Here’s what a few Slice readers had to say.

“Do you like to camp?” wrote Melissa Sisich. “This should be asked and answered honestly and EARLY in a relationship. It seems innocuous but really covers many levels of compatibility.”

John Lodge said reading the S-R inspired his answer: “Have you ever filed a restraining order against anyone or had one filed against you?”

Marte Cliff suggested a cluster of initial questions that would fall under one heading. “One should NEVER go out with a person who holds opposing views on pets,” she wrote. “First, do you like dogs, cats, both, or neither? Even animal lovers should agree on basic questions: Indoors or out? On the furniture or off? Sleep on the bed or not?”

And Bill Ellis said awareness of certain alternative lifestyles suggests that the first question should be pretty basic. His proposal: “What sex are you?”

He also offered a follow-up question: “What sex do you wish you were?”

Two for Tuesday: 1. If you want to know if you deserve to consider yourself a gentleman when it comes to not staring at cleavage, the beach is certainly one place to test your manners. But riding down escalators can call for even greater restraint.

2. People who bruise like a peach tend to enjoy the looks of horror they can elicit by showing off their latest discolorations.

More Slice answers: What’s the story behind your personalized e-mail address?

After operating a backhoe for 40 years, Dave Hutchisson decided to incorporate “diggerdave” in his address.

Barb Farnsworth plays handbells and lives in Washington. So having “bellsinWA” as part of her address makes sense.

More than 40 years ago, Kreston McClure served on the brand new USS Long Beach. Original crew members are known as “plank owners,” a phrase dating back to the era of wooden decks. “So I have been “plankowner” on the net for years,” he wrote.

Dorothy Johnson’s use of “almostpenny” in her e-mail address is a reminder that her mother considered not naming her Dorothy.

Other readers told of online addresses inspired by literary figures, pet felines and mispronunciations of their own names.

Feats of falling asleep in public: Kathy Altieri’s sister, Jackie Nelson, dozed off at the Opera House during a recent performance of “STOMP.”

The secret to being organized: Slice reader Jeri McCormick said it’s not letting her husband get involved in her projects.

Warm-up question (for those who played dodgeball in school): Were you a hunter or prey?

Today’s Slice question: What’s something your parents tried to teach you that you later wished you had learned?