The Slice: Spokane: It is what it is

The Slice asked readers what comes to mind when they hear “It’s a Spokane thing.”

When Jim Clanton arrived here 43 years ago, he discovered residents had their own way of writing addresses. Instead of the usual number/direction/street name, people here wrote addresses with the direction first. As in West 999 Riverside. Just about everybody did it.

“It struck me as odd when I first heard it. But soon, in order to be accepted by the locals. I lapsed into the same pattern, even when addressing things to be mailed outside the area.”

That changed.

“My recollection is that the post office put an end to this sometime in the ’80s by returning stuff addressed ‘incorrectly.’ But, I still find myself, when giving addresses for landmarks downtown, lapsing into ancient Spokane speak.”

Lew Schrawyer shared this. “Since my return to Spokane three years ago, I have had to learn to let go of my belief that cars should have two working tail lights and brake lights.”

Mary Ann Murphy (Lewis and Clark High, class of 1960) said life in Spokane is all about where you went to high school.

Walt Lindgren mentioned persistent confusion about what does or does not constitute “the coast.”

And Walt Jakubowski also thought of something that might qualify as a Spokane thing. “Submitting items to The Slice in the hope of getting a coveted reporter’s notebook – whatever the hell that is.”

“One Adam-12, see Gladys Kravitz”: Mike Wirt fears he has an uncharitable attitude about what qualifies someone as a suspicious person on Spokane neighborhood-watch online community forums. It seems to him more than a few such reports are based on the observed individual’s appearance, not his or her supposedly shady activities.

Today’s tantrum tale: “I was 5 or 6 when I threw my first and last tantrum,” wrote Mike Altman. “I was kicking and screaming on the kitchen floor under a table. My maternal grandmother, who lived with us, threw a pan of ice cold water in my face.

“After I got my breath back I decided that having a tantrum wasn’t such a good idea.”

Warm-up question for transplants: Before you moved to this area and became familiar with Washington State University, did you consider the “wazzu” to be a somewhat indeterminate bodily orifice?

Today’s Slice question: Can you remember being psyched about new shows looming on the fall TV lineup when you were a kid?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Kathryn Hartley is beginning to suspect Spokane mattress stores having sales is not really all that unusual.