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The Slice: A gentle answer turns away wrath
Karen Buck leans down and coos, “Lookit you, you’re almost a dog.”
Dana Morrill channels a certain classic TV show. “What’s the matter, Lassie, is Timmy in trouble?”
Phil Georgariou shared this. “As the owners of three ‘real’ dogs (basset hounds, all 50 pounds or more with deep voices), yapping dogs are particularly unnatural to us. When I hear one going off, I can’t help but wonder (sometimes out loud), ‘If we water the little things, will they grow into dogs?’ ”
And Holly Bickford told about life with Sarge, a highly vocal Chihuahua mix that apparently thinks he is an intimidating presence.
“He has taken it upon himself to protect us from the UPS truck, the mailman and any other thing that happens to go down our street, including people who have the nerve to walk by. I’m happy to say that most people tolerate or ignore Sarge.”
K vs. W: “Although I moved to Spokane 35 years ago, I remember my call-letter orientation very well because I was a radio announcer,” wrote Rusty Nelson. “For someone from the East, I had an easy transition after working for both W and K stations in Minneapolis. What I remember noticing on the air is which announcers had never worked east of the Mississippi. They said ‘dubya’ when pronouncing the letter I had been carefully instructed to call ‘double u’ at my first radio gig in Georgia.”
For the sake of clarity: “In our blended family we have a Kurt and a Curt,” wrote Curt Olsen. “When calling a family member I simply say, ‘This is old Curt.’ ”
What do you say when you share a name? Or do you let caller ID do the job?
Inconceivable response: If you are unfamiliar with the movie “The Princess Bride,” that is.
In Monday’s Slice, in the ender line down below my contact information, I had, “Have fun storming the castle.”
Steve Wilder responded with an email saying, “I will, even though I’ve been mostly dead all day.”
Today’s Slice question: What Olympic event would you eliminate because you do not consider it a sport?
Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Several responding readers said most people hereabouts would rather have twice as much money than twice as much free time because if they had more money they could pay people to do certain tasks and that would give them more free time.