Car Dealer Went Down Wrong Road
As long as car owners are required to obtain Smog Check certificates, car dealers should at least be required to obtain spellcheck certificates.
Daniel Dobrin of Pomona, who formerly had a post office box on E. Mission Boulevard, received a note from Toyota that gave his address as “Emission” Boulevard. (see accompanying).
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NO PLACE FOR JOGGERS: No, there’s no Emission Boulevard in L.A. County. In Venice and Santa Monica, however, there is an Ozone Avenue.
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CITY WITH A LONG REACH: As I’ve said before, every big story has a Long Beach angle of some sort (Clinton accuser Paula Jones is a resident, etc.)
Further evidence--slugger Mark McGwire has been spotted at some news conferences wearing a T-shirt from the Long Beach Fire Department.
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IT HAS ME STUMPED: Jessica Levy of Sherman Oaks noticed that a booth on the Venice Boardwalk offers “fresh cut hands” (see photo). No, she didn’t ask.
“A” to “F”: I mentioned that as a student at USC I heard a story about a philosophy student whose final exam consisted of one question: “Why?” And he received an “A” for his response: “Why not?”
There’s more to the yarn. “The word spread to all future students, so the next term resulted in a plethora of identical answers,” said Paul Shepard, a philosophy professor at El Camino College.
But they received an “F” for that answer.
“Indignant students wanted to know why their answers were rejected,” Shepard said. “The explanation was that the answer had changed to ‘Because.’ ”
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INITIAL REACTION: When I observed that the initials UCSB had fallen into obscurity since the days when they stood for UC Southern Branch (now UCLA), several readers howled that I had made a stupid error. (Can’t blame ‘em since I’ve made a few.)
Bob and Esther Rowntree of San Luis Obispo, however, weren’t fooled. They wrote, “You got a quick response to your ‘jacksmith’ about UCSB.”
I’m not sure if this term has been used before but what a great tribute to the Times’ late beloved writer, who did in fact commit a jacksmith every once in a while. The tactic could be defined as “an intentional oversight by a columnist who hopes it will prompt several letters from readers, thereby helping him fill space in the future.”
As it did for me today.
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BACK TO UCSB: The Rowntrees note that someone should have pointed out that UCSB “ain’t in SB and should really be UCG.” Actually, John Nelson said, it should be UCGO--the University of California at the Goleta Offramp.
miscelLAny:
Thoroughfares that would be more appropriate sites for next year’s L.A. Street Race: Motor Avenue (Culver City, West L.A.), Driver Avenue (Agoura Hills), Pass Avenue(Burbank), Battery Street (San Pedro), Studebaker Road (Downey), Cadillac Avenue (L.A.), Speedway (Venice), Auto Drive (Compton), Lookout Drive (Pomona) and Carfax Avenue in Lakewood. Actually, Ozone would also qualify.
