Maybe L.A. Should Get Winter Olympics

Walt Costa of Downey spotted a California license plate that said AH UTAH and thought it odd (see photo). But I think the driver was celebrating the cold weather here.

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HEY, JUST BECAUSE SOME CATS ARE FINICKY EATERS . . . Wes and Lyn Hoffmaster of Whittier saw an ad for an exterminator who seems to specialize in the larger class of household creatures (see accompanying).

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SPEAKING OF TYPOS IN ADS: Lawyer Kent Bridwell of West L.A. recalled the time he was in charge of recruiting for a firm and dictated a pitch for a litigation attorney that would appear in a legal newspaper.

“In order to catch the eye of qualified candidates,” he said, “I specified in dictation that the word ‘litigator’ was to be printed in bold typeface. Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to proofread the ad copy before it was submitted.”

When the ad was published, it said that the firm was looking for “a boldface litigator.”

You can guess what happened. “I received a number of resumes from applicants who claimed to have very bold faces,” Bridwell said.

Interesting to think what would have happened if the ad had asked for italicized litigators.

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SOME PUBLICITY L.A. DOESN’T NEED: The new book “We Interrupt This Broadcast” presents what it calls the biggest news stories of the century and includes four that occurred in L.A.: the death of Marilyn Monroe, the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the Rodney G. King and O.J. Simpson cases. There are only 38 events discussed, meaning more than 10% took place here.

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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: On Dec. 23, 1989, The Times reported the unusual steps taken by Lawndale City Councilwoman Carol Norman, who was angry over delays in fixing the desk-top electronic system she used to signal the mayor when she wanted to speak. Norman substituted a whistle in one meeting, then showed up at another session in a red firefighter’s hat with a revolving red light on top. Her colleagues passed an ordinance that outlawed “ringing bells, blowing whistles, displaying banners, flashing lights and . . . other auditory or visual distractions” during council sessions. But the city also fixed her electronic signaling system.

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DECLINING REVENUES BARBIE: You may have read that sales of Barbie dolls are down more than 10% What to do? Well, Barbie should open her beautiful eyes and take note of the trend toward mergers in the business world.

She should merge with G.I. Joe. Five years ago, you may recall, a group calling itself the Barbie Liberation Organization did just that, secretly switching the voice boxes of some Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls in San Diego and other cities. The transformed Barbie growled, “Dead men tell no lies.” The sweet-voiced G.I. Joe chirped, “Want to go shopping?” The merger would go a long way toward eliminating gender stereotypes too. It’s time for mass production of Barracks Barbie and G.I. Josephina.

miscelLAny:

Ah, the SigAlerts of the season. Radio station K-Traffic (AM 1650) reported Tuesday that a driver in a Santa outfit was stalled on the shoulder of the Santa Monica Freeway. That’ll teach the Old Elf to trade in his sleigh for a pickup.

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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, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.