Three Men Dressed as Nuns Jumping on a Trampoline? Must Be Lagunatics
Is it any wonder that residents of one beach city in Orange County are called Lagunatics? The police log of the Coastline Pilot of Laguna Beach reported that “a citizen flagged down an officer after allegedly witnessing three men dressed as nuns bouncing on a trampoline.” That’s as specific as the witness could be.
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Now for a solved mystery: I mentioned that, while visiting the Caribbean island of Aruba, Si Frumkin of Studio City was puzzled by a sign that said, “No Tira Sushi.” Several readers provided an explanation, including Peter Manasantivongs of Cypress. The sign did not refer to throwing sushi (or to bouncing nun impersonators, for that matter). It’s an anti-littering reminder.
Manasantivongs explained that Aruba is a colony of the Netherlands, and the local language is Papiamento, which “has its roots in the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch languages. Sushi, which means trash or filth in Papiamento, most likely has its origins in the Portugese word sujo or the Spanish word sucio, which mean dirty.”
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A second helping: Anthony Saidy of L.A., who calls himself “the leading Caribbean expert on my block in Koreatown,” observes that “50% of talk shows can thus be called ‘sushi.’ ”
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Still on the road: David Scully of L.A., who lived in the Latvian capital of Riga while in the Peace Corps, snapped a shot of a nearby town that seemed to ban evil folks (see photo).
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Fowl offer: Diana Donner of Sherman Oaks discovered a company that services animate and inanimate objects (see accompanying).
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Items of a feather stick together: In this era of cloning, some advertisers must feel it necessary to specify when they’re serving authentic chicken (see accompanying). Jerry Wilkes of Fountain Valley found the ad.
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A protest movement that could take off: Harry Hultine of La Canada Flintridge spotted a construction sign on which someone had attempted to add the word “please” (see photo).
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A confession: After months of fulminating against cell phones I must admit that I crashed into a sign on Bellflower Boulevard in Long Beach the other day while trying to make a call. Fortunately I only cut my forehead.
The fact that I was walking down the street, not driving, makes my lapse no less unforgivable, at least in my own mind.
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miscelLAny: Buzz Tuck says he’s heard that the state’s finances are in such bad shape that Gov. Davis plans to combine the California Department of Fish and Game and the California Highway Patrol. The merged agency would be called the California Department of Fish and ChiPs.
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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.