The Slice: There’s a good reason for copy editors

I’ve told this story a couple of times, first in 2011.

But I just don’t get tired of it. And today is the perfect day to recycle it.

A Spokane woman editing an academic text earlier that year came upon a reference to the Christopher Columbus ships, “the Nina, the Pinto and Santa Maria.”

Though she likes beans as much as the next person, she suggested changing Pinto to Pinta.

You won’t get this if you don’t know your Dr. Seuss: Spokane Valley’s Edward Sawatzki saw the question about things seen while out taking a walk.

“My granddaughter, Annabelle Sawatzki, and I were out for a walk several years ago and we saw a high school student driving by, spread-eagled atop a sedan. I quickly looked at the street sign, but alas, it was Longfellow, not Mulberry Street.”

So what about things seen on a bike ride: My friends and former colleagues Jeff Jordan and Dave Trimmer were riding their bikes in Spokane Valley’s Ponderosa neighborhood when a large dog got their attention. It was up on the roof of a two-story house, barking.

It reminded Jeff of a great old song by the Drifters.

Perhaps you know it. I’ll start and you can feel free to join in.

When this old world starts getting me down

And people are just too much for me to face

I climb way up to the top of the stairs

And all my cares just drift right into space

Happy Thanksgiving (in Canada): Yes, it’s today.

I was thinking it might be nice if all Americans who got married in Canada were awarded a free turkey today.

But you know, on second thought, maybe that’s not a great idea. Did I ever tell you about the Christmas bonus at my first newspaper job about 90 years ago? It was a frozen turkey.

The thing is, the birds were distributed in the newsroom one morning. So my frozen turkey spent the day under my desk, getting inadvertently kicked as I swiveled from typewriter to phone, et cetera.

Though, as I recall, a young woman I knew cooked it on Thanksgiving (American) and no one at that day’s holiday gathering seemed to notice it had served time as a hard soccer ball.

Today’s Slice questions: Have you ever been referred to as someone’s “fishing buddy”? And if not that, have you ever been referred to as some other recreational activity related “buddy”?

I would prefer answers that are suitable for printing.

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Some people can trace the origin of their nickname back to being called the wrong name once.