Last week I quoted Jill Calvert referring to the local women’s hockey team as “spanky” in reference to their energy and attitude. After the newspaper went to press, I wondered if perhaps Jill had meant “spunky,” but her auto-correct had somehow substituted “spanky.” I didn’t bother to verify with Jill because as a gossip columnist I am not held to the same high journalistic standards for accuracy as the real reporters at the Methow Valley News.
And besides, whether they’re spanky or spunky, the local women are indisputably enthusiastic players. But the main reason I didn’t do any fact checking was that the possible auto-correct situation provides me with an excellent segue for describing my own most frequent voice texting hiccup, which has negligible relevance to anything. But bear with me — I’m going to make a connection, albeit a tangential one.
I’ve had a close personal relationship with Siri, my robotic iPhone personal assistant, for several years now and despite the fact that he/she knows quite well that my younger daughter is named “Leki” (rhymes with Becky), when I voice text into my phone, Siri inevitably changes “Leki” into “lucky.” Usually I catch the error and fix it manually. But if I’m in a hurry and forget to proofread, my texts go out with “lucky” in them instead of my daughter’s name.
This would not be a problem, except for the fact that my most common reason to text about my daughter is to arrange her transportation to and from school, friends’ houses, and sports. So, I am forever texting parents of Leki’s friends asking things like “What time should I come get lucky?” or telling them “I’ll be there to get lucky in about an hour.” My husband doesn’t mind a whit when I text him to ask, “Do you have time to get lucky on your way home from work?” but for some reason he gets all bent out of shape if I tell him “I’ll be a little late for dinner since I need to get lucky first.”
Now all of this would be completely irrelevant were it not for the fact that it’s Valentine’s Day this week. And nothing says “Valentine’s Day” like having a more generous application of “spanky,” “spunky” and “get lucky” in one’s vocabulary.
So, I’ll leave it up to you all to decide for yourselves whether “spanky” or “spunky” best describes your Valentine’s Day approach. But go ahead and spread love and luck this week, in whatever way best suits your style.
