His Pledge? To Side With Handyman in Dust-Up

John H. Scott of Sherman Oaks has risen to the defense of the handyman, mentioned here, who offered to “undust” surfaces.

“Interesting word, ‘dust,’ ” Scott noted. “It is one of those words that means something and its opposite at the same time. When you are dusting your cake with powdered sugar, or the hills are dusted with snow, it means to put dust ON.

“When you take your duster and dust the house, it means to take dust OFF.

“To use ‘undust’ to refer to dust removal is a really good way to resolve this ambiguity, and I think we should start a movement to introduce the word to the language.” Undeniably.

Dog’s life: “Finally, truth in advertising,” wrote S. Moore of Long Beach about a classified ad’s reference to an irresponsible male (see accompanying).

Driving - away “oops!” events: Retired LAPD officer Chuck Teague recalled the time he signaled a woman in a Dodge station wagon to pull over on the Hollywood Freeway.

“She continued on,” he said, “finally stopping a few miles later. The windows were down, and when I approached, she said, ‘Officer, I didn’t do anything wrong. Why did you stop me?’ I replied: ‘Lady, do you always drive with your purse wedged in your rear window wind deflector?’

“She got a startled look on her face, jumped out of the car and ran to the rear. She grabbed her purse, opened it and removed a thick bank envelope that contained $4,000 in cash. With a big sigh of relief, she said she had just withdrawn the money from a bank in Hollywood.

“She drove off without so much as a thank-you or a have-a-nice-day. Perhaps she was just overwhelmed.”

Another spacey driver: Anne Chaikowsky La Voie of Chatsworth found a “Rubes” greeting card by Leigh Rubin that sees no end in sight for the “oops!” phenomenon (see accompanying).

Mystery singer? “Who’s this Al guy?” a reader wanted to know after seeing one nitery’s ad (see accompanying).

Readin’, ritin’, reunitin’: Hamilton High’s summer and winter classes of 1963 are holding 40th anniversary bashes months apart, but at the same location, which is causing some grads to experience senior moments.

Several summer class grads have made airline reservations to attend the April 26 winter class reunion, after misreading a listing on the classmates.com Web site. The summer class is actually gathering June 28 (roll will be taken!).

I was asked to clear this up because I myself am a graduate of Hamilton’s 1963 summer class. (Or was it the winter class?)

miscelLAny: I have so many memories of Hamilton ... like being chased across the athletic field by a shot-putter who was offended by something I wrote. Seems like only yesterday (perhaps because I had a nightmarish dream about the shot-putter again yesterday).

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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.