The Slice: “Way back” is a relative concept

Would it be correct to assume Native Americans tend to be amused by those who make a big deal about tracing their ancestry back to the Mayflower and the pilgrims?

Let’s move on.

Slice answer: What do Spokane women want?

Slice reader Kathy Hickman thinks she knows. “Stylish snow boots that really work and won’t slip.”

Family joke: Judi Durfee and her husband lived in the same apartment in California for almost 30 years, before moving up here and becoming homeowners.

But when they need a plumber, electrician, lawn care, et cetera, they still sometimes say “Call the manager.”

Name game: “My wife is a retired teacher,” wrote Bruce Colquhoun. “As a bonus question on a test one time, she asked her high school students (in all her classes that day) to spell her last name. No one got it correct.”

Slice answers: The character in “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” that former airline employee Jeri Hershberger identifies with is the woman working at the car rental counter who succinctly assesses the Steve Martin character’s out-of-luck situation.

Linda Murray-Montague, recalling giving birth with zero pain medication, said she most identifies with the stoic wife of the sinus-snorting guy who arrives in the pickup to give Del and Neal a ride.

Slice answer: “Not a collector of Spokane-themed vintage postcards, but your query in (Saturday’s) S-R got me looking at the several we own,” wrote Hans Bynagle. “Only one has a legible note by the presumed though unidentified original owner (there’s no addressee, either; it was never mailed). It’s a view of the Catholic cathedral, Our Lady of Lourdes, dating I’d guess from the 1920s or so, judging by the postcard and handwriting styles. The note isn’t actually about Spokane, so doesn’t fit what you were asking for. But I thought you might enjoy it. This is what it says:

“ ‘Here is where I go while in Spokane. And repent of my sins for working every Sun. but two this year.’ ”

Today’s Slice question: If your TV watching habits were public information, would you be a bit more circumspect about what you viewed?

(I’m not thinking of porn or whatever. Rather, I’m wondering how many of us occasionally watch stuff that arguably qualifies as a complete waste of time. Call it guilty pleasures. Of course, that tends to be a subjective call.)

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman. How long after your party was it before you found the hors d’oeuvres stuck behind the couch cushions?