For some of our co-workers, the euphemism could seem just like the reality

Slice-meister Paul Turner is taking some time off this month, but don’t despair: In his absence, we’re rerunning some of the tastier tidbits from this date in Slice history. Today’s sampling:

FROM 2003:

Reader challenge: Create a locally flavored euphemism for goofing off at work.

Sorry, “Writing The Slice” has already been offered.

FROM 2000:

Just wondering: Do people who work at the Europa restaurant ever refer to themselves as having careers on Wall Street?

FROM 1997:

It has been widely observed that many of us don’t know our neighbors as well as people did years ago.

Fine. We’re not here to cry about that. But we would like to point out one troubling implication of this trend. It’s this: Adults remaining strangers makes it harder for kids to produce neighborhood newspapers.

If you’ve never even spoken to the folks next door, 9-year-old Justin isn’t likely to approach and ask if you have any news to report for the Adams Street Bugle.

And if neighborhood newspapers written by children disappear, well, we don’t even want to think about it.