The Slice: A slogan you can bank on

IT UNDOUBTEDLY HAS been fixed by now. But just recently an illuminated sign atop a downtown building had some letters missing in action. The building is the big white box that used to be the Farm Credit Bank and then was the Met Mortgage building and now is the Wells Fargo center or plaza or something.

Anyway, for a while, one of the high-rise’s prominent signs read “WELLGO.”

I’m sure this was just a wiring glitch. But if you think about it, that’s not a bad civic exhortation.

Consider…

“I think I’m moving to Seattle. I don’t want to stick around and do any of the heavy lifting necessary to help Spokane live up to its potential.”

“Well, go.”

“You know, instead of sitting here on my butt and saying rude things to Charles Rowe, I ought to head over to the gym and work out.”

“Well, go.”

“It’s a lot of fun standing here listening to you complain about your boss. But I think I’m going to walk over to that beguiling creature in the Whitworth shirt and extract her phone number.”

“Well, go.”

I like it. Nike’s got “Just do it.” Spokane can have “Well, go.”

“ Ironic fruit: Charlie Lee passed a produce stand in Spokane Valley sporting a sign that read “Huckleberries” — the quote marks were included on the sign.

He wondered just what that meant. Were the berries in question actually impostors, but — wink, wink — the sellers were going to call them huckleberries anyway? Was this some mystery fruit that the stand operators decided to playfully exalt? Were these berries not even berries?

Fair questions. But it was probably a case of the sign-maker having no grasp of the idea that punctuation marks have specific purposes and aren’t just decorations.

I blame society.

“ Slice answer: Maxine Proper reported that she has 55 swimsuits.

How did she acquire so many?

“One after another,” she said.

“ Another problem with school prayer: “Fifty-eight years ago, when I began first grade, we all stood and, after the Pledge of Allegiance, we had a morning prayer we recited,” wrote Frances Schenck.

That prayer began, “Father we thank thee….”

At home that evening, Schenck told her folks about “Father Bedanke.”

“ Warm-up questions: Do people still try to sell those old metal ice trays at yard sales? What little kid has earned and saved the most money this summer? When weighing the urge to mow the lawn while it’s still cool outside with the desire to not wake up your whole neighborhood, how do you decide when it’s OK to start? Would anyone take a look at your career track and call you fast-rising?

“Today’s Slice question: Is it possible to attend a social occasion and not talk about real estate?