The Slice: Near compliment, or near putdown?

I have a question.

How do you react to the expression, “Only in Spokane”?

Depending on context and perspective, you could consider it a compliment or a slam.

What does it usually mean to you?

“Strangers on a busy street: “I drove up behind a vehicle that had a military medal emblem in the back window,” wrote Spokane soap maker Sandy Tarbox. “I recognized it as the Combat Infantry Badge because that was the one medal my WWII dad was most proud of.

“When I pulled up left of that car into a turn lane I made eye contact with the driver, an older man. And thinking of my dad, I saluted him.”

As traffic crept forward at a light, Tarbox moved up and she is sure the fellow had an opportunity to check out the anti-war stickers on the back of her car.

He pulled up next to her before she turned. “We made eye contact again,” she wrote. “And he flashed me a peace sign.”

“Yes, it brands you as old and out of it: To be dumbfounded by fifth-grade seatmates text-messaging each other on a school bus.

“Dropping the gloves: Do some people who can tolerate fights during National Hockey League games between nominal grownups find that they simply cannot watch Spokane Chiefs games because they can’t abide the prospect of fisticuffs between kids?

“Calling in sick: Bridget Freeman Wamsley once had to take a day off with an “accordion related injury.”

Hmmm. Well, the answer turns out to be pretty tame.

“I bent sideways to pick up the instrument and I threw my back out,” she explained.

“Who has broken the most Christmas tree ornaments: “I would like to nominate my daughter’s kitten, Winston,” wrote Kris Martin of Newport. “He has mastered the art of climbing the trunk of our artificial tree.”

Martin said the cat has managed to destroy much of an ornament collection that took the better part of 25 years to accumulate. “I’m crying over my Super Glue,” she wrote.

The softer decorative pieces knocked from the tree often get chewed to smithereens by the family’s puppy.

“Good thing they’re cute,” said Martin.

“Warm-up question: When an occasionally insensitive acquaintance says something vaguely insulting, are you more likely to confront that person with your objection or pretend to ignore it because you do not want to let on that you might possibly care what he or she thinks about anything?

“Today’s Slice question: How much thought do you give to the way you sign-off your e-mails?