Once Again, L.A. Produces a Noteworthy Contribution to Popular Culture

It’s just another of L.A.’s many cultural contributions. The online version of the Oxford English Dictionary offers this entry: three-peat, n. Chiefly N. Amer. (orig. U.S. Sport). A third win or success, as of a contest or championship; esp. the third of three consecutive wins.

The dictionary traces the term back to Laker Coach Pat Riley, who spoke of that goal in 1988 after the team had won two straight titles. Alas, Riley met defeat instead of three-peat.

Current Laker Coach Phil Jackson did record a three-peat with the Lakers, but the team’s collapse this year forestalled the need for a term to define four straight titles.

Talk about a Big Mac Attack! In Prague, Carol Marsh found a juxtaposition of signs that McDonald’s might find distasteful (see photo).

Wouldn’t jail sentences be enough? Kurt Bronner of Sun Valley spotted a medical clinic’s sign that was missing a letter at the end, giving it a foreboding quality (see photo).

Brave freeway tricks: When the passengers of a car in the next lane began waving at her on the Pasadena Freeway, Connie Bennett thought “they were simply being friendly and sharing the experience of rush-hour traffic.” Then she saw that her trunk was open. She shouted to her temporary neighbors that she couldn’t get out of the car to close it.

“Before I could catch my breath a young man came flying out of the back seat to my rescue,” she said. He slammed the trunk shut, jumped back into his car and was gone before Bennett got a chance to thank him.

I like the concept: Drive-by Samaritans.

Nothing to it: Wendy Mollett of Studio City spotted a street with a sort of no-name sign in Temecula (see photo).

Speaking of catchy street names: Driving through Santa Ana, Mike Skinner of Ventura couldn’t help but notice a sign that read, “Major Road Construction on Memory Lane.” Observed Skinner: “I think I’m engaged in a similar project myself.”

MiscelLAny: I’ve been tending to my own Memory Lane lately, inasmuch as my high school reunion is coming up. It’s my 40th, if memory serves right.

What I find irritating is that, while my body has altered in ways I wish it hadn’t, one thing hasn’t changed: the dream where I’m taking the final exam for a class I never attended (and, what’s worse, I’m in the nude).

Can’t tell you how many three-peats of that nightmare I’ve had.

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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.