We started March by celebrating Texas’ Septaquintaquinquecentennial, so let’s say hello to April the same way.

Texas turned 175 years old on March 2. Since then we’ve had some fun with the readership on the question of what to call a 175th birthday. There are several different ways to do it in Latin, with the $10 word above being the biggest mouthful.

Online contest

The Waco Tribune-Herald sponsored an online contest, asking our readers to suggest some more drawl-friendly alternatives. You played along and a good time was had by all. And the winner is . . .

Susan Smith of Waco, who submitted “Texas Proud 175.”

Susan said her husband, Ed, is really going to enjoy the custom hat she won from Waco’s own Standard Hat Works.

Susan works in accounting at Insurers of Texas. Ed is an insurance claims adjuster. If you see him sporting a fancy new lid, now you know why.

Runners-up were Jim Spence and Mark Conius.

Famous Texans

For the past month, we’ve also been posting unlabeled photos of famous Texans on our website at www.wacotrib.com and challenging our readers to identify them.

Here are the winners of that competition:

*  Week one — Scott McClain, Linda Painter and Ted Talbert.

*  Week two — James Morgan, Larry Kohler and Pete Commander.

*  Week three — Greg Smith, Tony Dudik and Pam Harrison.

*  Week four — Brad Harrison, Dave Westenbarger and Minnie Simcik.

*  Week five — Kathleen Ensey, James Morgan and Jerry Lynch.

Pet peeves

While we’re celebrating our readers’ intelligence, let’s review your homework assignment. Last Sunday I asked you to share your supermarket pet peeves. Here’s what some of you had to say:

*  “I was standing in the checkout line when this woman in front of me was on a cellphone trying to dig in her purse for a checkbook. She never got off the cellphone. It took her five to 10 minutes to finally get checked out.” — William Clark

*  “It is not so much talking on a cellphone while shopping with a cart as much as it is TEXTING on a cellphone while shopping with a cart that tends to plaster the polite smile on my face because I left my gun at home locked in the safe. And does anybody besides me notice that most family reunions are held on Aisle Six?” — Mary Carla Patton

*  “You have bought $150 to $200 worth of groceries. The person sacking the groceries disappears about halfway through the checkout process. You have to sack your own groceries. The sack person returns and asks, ‘Do you want help with that?’ ” — Jimmie McGaugh

*  “Maybe people don’t realize that if they change their mind on buying something, all they have to do is hand it to the checker and tell them you don’t want it anymore. Instead, it seems most people just stash the unwanted items somewhere around the conveyer belt, sometimes at the edge of it, so the next shopper has to deal with it.” — Heather McKee

*  “Shoppers who go to a supermarket to buy one pack of gum or a six-pack of beer to drink on the way home, or to buy 12 items or less, instead of going to a convenience store where they won’t be in everybody’s way.” — James Baron

And, finally, the award for the most thought-provoking response goes to “tiptop254,” who forgot to share his or her actual name. In its unedited entirety, here it is:

*  “Mr Baggett I Cannot believe u get paid for your lame who gives a #@%$ opinion of your shopping experience man send me your toic let me write it and u pay me save yourself the embarrassment wow ur picture 2 I not being mean trrying 2 help cause u suck at wat u do have a nice day and put the pen down”

I believe I’ll do that. For this week, at least.

Donnis Baggett is publisher of the Waco Tribune-Herald . Email him at dbaggett@wacotrib.com.