The Slice: We’ll have a motto to die for

I was paging through a copy of Yankee magazine and saw a travel promotion for the state of New Hampshire.

It incorporated the slogan “You’re Going to Love it Here.”

That sounds a lot like a tourism pitch Spokane used 15 or 20 years ago.

I’m not saying the folks back East stole it. I’m sure many of these promo lines get recycled, intentionally or not.

But fair’s fair. They owe us. So maybe we could reclaim that slogan and — as a sort of interest charge — tack on part of a famous New Hampshire motto. You know, the one that starts “Live free …”

The result: “Spokane: You’ll love it here or die.”

No? OK, how about “Near Nature/Near Perfect/Or Die”?

Let’s move on.

“Saturday Slice quiz: What top-tier 20th-century American industrialist lived in Spokane for a time?

One reader submitting the correct answer will win a coveted reporter’s notebook.

“Re: Spokane’s embarrassing litter problem: “I could not agree more,” wrote Tom Harding. “Just got back from a walk over to the South Perry area, and saw enough cans, bottles and plastics scattered everywhere to keep a recycler going for weeks. … It gets worse by the year.”

“A reasonable request: A reader named Joseph who suggested that I’ve been too negative lately asked that I cheer up before his bride-to-be gets to town in a few months. “I have been painting a positive picture of her new home-to-be,” he wrote.

OK, Joe. Anything to help a newcomer maintain a favorable impression of Spokane.

But did you warn her that sometimes monkeys run out from behind bushes and munch exchange students?

And did you alert your intended to the distinct possibility that a moose will show up in your backyard next winter?

“I’ll never understand: People who write on money or smudge computer screens with their fingertips.

“Warm-up questions: When someone tells a “We got burglarized while we were at a family funeral” story, what people-are-rotten tale can you share to top that? Do you ever suspect that certain front-desk staffers in medical offices have dealt with so many idiots over the years that they now assume every patient is a time-wasting chowderhead? What goes through your mind when reading a relentlessly upbeat airline magazine profile of Spokane? How’s your Clay Davis impression? (He’s a corrupt politician in HBO’s “The Wire” who managed to turn the most common vulgar expression into a stretched-out singular catchphrase.)

“Today’s Slice question: What’s your favorite story about your children’s first words?