Dear Smiley: When my twin brother and I shared an office on the Vermilion River, we both bought pellet rifles to take care of trash floating by.
One Saturday, we set cans up on the opposite bank. We would shoot across the Vermilion, taking turns shooting or spotting with binoculars and listening for the "splat" in the mud by the pellet.
We were pretty good at nailing cans across the bayou. We both taught our sons to shoot. When my oldest was about 11, we went to a Scouting jamboree where there was a target shoot with BB guns.
The shooter would get five to six BBs to shoot, but the target was only about 10 feet away.
I watched as kids hit all over the targets, and thought there must be something wrong with those guns.
When my son took his turn he hit the bull's-eye every time.
The operator was amazed. I told him, “Back that target up to 50 or 60 yards and you’ll see some real shooting.”
TERRY PALMER
Lafayette
Modern gunslingers
Dear Smiley: About the item on BB gun training in the Vietnam era:
Before I was drafted, a friend who had joined the Army earlier told me to expect to undergo training with the M-1709 Daisy air rifle.
In basic training at Fort Polk, we went to a range for “quick kill” training, using BB guns to shoot at small metal targets that flipped over if hit.
The idea was to get us to fire at the target without taking time to aim the rifle. We were supposed to treat the rifle as an extension of our arm and hand, to point at it and shoot as the Old West gunslingers did.
JAMES MINTON
Denham Springs
'L' of a note
Dear Smiley: Tales of wrong words remind me of a paper I wrote in grad school about public relations.
Not to show my age, but it was one of the first papers I wrote using a computer and that wonderful new invention, spell check.
My LSU professor made me read my entire paper to the class, who snickered every time I mentioned "pubic relations."
I have never again trusted spell check in the many years that have ensued.
KAREN TATUM
Prairieville
'B' nice!
Dear Smiley: When I was in fourth grade at Hazel Park Elementary in River Ridge (Kenner when I lived there), I had a problem with my "Ds" and "Bs" when I wrote; I would interchange them.
That proved to be a slight problem when I was supposed to write about the ditches that early settlers used to store food.
TIM PALMER
Lafayette
Mexican version
Dear Smiley: The late John Prine could identify with malapropisms and music.
He wrote and sang a song entitled “That’s the Way the World Goes Round” which contains the lyrics “It’s a half an inch of water and you think you gonna drown."
He said he met a fan who really enjoyed his "Happy Enchilada" song.
After finally figuring out which song she was talking about, he told her how glad he was she got some meaning out of his music.
ALEX "SONNY" CHAPMAN
Ville Platte
Knowing too much
Dear Smiley: My dad, a paratrooper plane pilot in World War II, retold this often:
There was a need to repeat the correct password to two sentry guards in order to reenter the American base.
The standing password was "U.S. Presidents."
The soldier in front of Dad, trying to be a wise guy, stated “Franklin Pierce.”
The first sentry said, “Lucky for you, in college I majored in history. But beware, the next sentry has no advanced degrees!”
BILL HAYNIE
Slidell