The Slice: Some pronunciations must be kicked to the curb

Paul Turner is taking some time off this summer. In his absence, we dive into the archives at Slice Central. Today, we revisit July 13, 2006.

Some people around here really like the name of their street.

Some don’t.

“What’s not to love about living on Silver Avenue in Kellogg – heart of the Silver Valley,” wrote Sharron Schueman.

It’s different for Liberty Lake’s Kathy Hansen. “Nothing drives me crazier than folks who can’t spell or pronounce my street: Lindeblad, just like it sounds. Lin-de-blad. I get a lot of ‘Linda-BALD.’ Nobody gets the ‘BLAD.’ Phonics, anyone?”

Then there was this from Dick and Sherry Morton: “How do we feel about the name of our street? Confused. We live on Northwest Boulevard in Spokane. But not the arterial Northwest Boulevard, the side street Northwest Boulevard. “Everyone thinks that Northwest Boulevard turns into Assembly at Wellesley, but it doesn’t. In order to stay on Northwest Boulevard, if you are going north, you have to turn left off of Northwest Boulevard onto Northwest Boulevard just south of Wellesley.”

Clear?

“We seldom get guests,” said the Mortons.

Just wondering: Do you cringe when you remember the nickname you had back when you were a camp counselor?

Slice answers: “I find the best way to handle unwanted credit card offers with fake cards is to cut the cards up into small pieces and mail them back in the return envelopes,” wrote Sharon Seitz of Coeur d’Alene. “If everyone did this, the companies might have to reconsider mailing costs.”

Lynn Everson of Spokane not only returns the cards but also stuffs every scrap of paper (including the original outside envelope) into the return envelope. And she inserts a note: “Don’t ever send me anything again.”

She said it appears to be working.

Adjust for inflation: “When my mom graduated from high school in 1952, her parents gave her $100,” wrote Leslie Jaqua. “I wonder what that would be worth in today’s dollars.”

Speaking to crows: Jeana Allison is a fan of crows. She passed along the transcript of an exchange she had with one of the black birds.

Crow: “Caw!”

Me: “Caw!”

Crow: “Caw!” (followed by a giggling sound)

Me: “Caw!”

Then Allison cawed again and the bird cocked its head and stared right at her.

Lan Hellie reported another kind of interspecies dialogue: “Our cat goes out and makes the crows shut up each morning, like it’s her job.”