A Case of Culture Shock or a Polish Joke Gone Awry?

Marcos Baxter, age 3, was invited to a birthday party for two Polish youngsters who live down the street in a culturally diverse section of Sylmar. The other guests included Mexicans, Nicaraguans and Russians.

The birthday boy’s mom produced what she called a “baseball pole”--more commonly known as a baseball bat--and pointed the party-goers to a pinata. The kids flailed away at it and at last the colorful container broke, releasing . . .

Nothing.

The revelers found themselves diving for air.

“I didn’t know you were supposed to put candy inside,” the mom explained later. “That’s the last time I try to adapt to another culture.”

MA BELL, JOKESTER: Under the heading “Fur Dealers--Whsle & Mfrs.” in Pacific Bell’s South Bay directory, Colette Meyer of Redondo Beach found a listing for a funeral chapel (see excerpt). If it had been a pet cemetery, I’d really be suspicious.

URBAN YARN ROUNDUP: As I warned in my disclaimer the other day, the story of the thief who steals a shopping bag containing a dead cat does appear to be an urban folk tale. Several readers pointed out that it is mentioned in a book by Jan Harold Brunvand, the author of several books on such legends.

David Mikkelson of the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society observed that it seems to be one of several “stupid person”-type stories going around. Others, he said, include:

* The woman who spreads contraceptive jelly on toast and eats it; then sues the pharmacy for stocking contraceptives too close to the food items.

* The men who light a stick of dynamite and set it out on an ice-covered lake so they can get in some fishing, only to have their dog retrieve the stick and race under their truck. Both dog and truck are blown to pieces.

* A man who hooks a jet-assisted takeoff unit to his car (a rocket assembly similar to one favored by Wyle E. Coyote)--and blasts off in the desert; his remains are later found embedded in a cliff face.

A different category of whopper concerns the scuba diver who is found in full gear in the remains of a forest fire. He was supposedly picked up by a super scooper aircraft gathering ocean water to fight the flames, then dropped to his death. The myth, however, refuses to die.

PANHANDLING CAN BE HARD WORK: Journalist Angela Fox Dunn of L.A. was leaving a supermarket when a street person asked her for change. She knows how to handle this situation.

“Sorry,” she said, “I can’t hear.” (This was a bit of a fib--she has a hearing problem but is not deaf.)

The quick-thinking panhandler slowly mouthed the question: “Do--you--read--lips?”

“About a quarter to 6,” Dunn responded.

The panhandler shook his head and walked off.

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A company called Body-Solid is marketing CounterSTRIKE ($19.95), a set of hand weights that can shoot out streams of pepper spray to deter dogs, attackers or thieves trying to take your dead cat (see photo).

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.