The Slice: One smile deserves another

Let’s revisit one of last Saturday’s themes – directing strangers to smile.

Sandpoint’s Doug Kimball said that can sound like a demand or an order. “You will likely get a better response from me if you can invite me to smile,” he wrote. “Best way is nonverbal – smile at me. Smile with your mouth and smile with your eyes and show me that you are pleased by my presence. Quite likely, I will smile back and perhaps say ‘Hello.’ ”

Coeur d’Alene’s Diana Oswald shared this. “Asking someone to smile is akin to verbal harassment, particularly when said by a man to a woman. … Men have no idea how this makes a woman feel and women have no idea if the man means harm or insult or is just being ‘friendly.’ ”

Slice answer: In the matter of what helps you make a decision about whether to host a Super Bowl party or not, North Idaho’s Darrell Hirte and Donna Wilson listed a couple of considerations.

“1) Paucity of suitable friends.

“2) Lack of television reception. (Can you imagine inviting folks to listen to the game on radio?)”

Today’s lutefisk memories: “I grew up with a Swedish mom and aunt in a small town in Montana,” wrote Gail Kegley of Spokane. “Every Sunday they would boil lutefisk. You could not stand to be in the house. My cousins and I stayed out no matter the weather. Awk! They never made me eat it though.”

Nancy Lokken once competed in a lutefisk eating contest in the Seattle area. She came in third, but might have finished higher if another contestant, the King County assessor, had not made her laugh by declaring an intention to tax lutefisk.

A proposal: “How about a Best Cartoon of the Week poll?” wrote Tom Frisque. “Readers could vote and you could have some slave tally them and publish the results with a few choice comments each week. Just a thought.”

OK, let’s see a show of hands. If such a poll existed, would you vote?

Today’s Slice question: How do those who are color-blind go about the process of selecting apparel when getting dressed?