I was recently convinced that as a resident and registered voter in Edmonds I was required to take a position on Skippers.  

It has been debated ad nauseum by the city council, chronicled in The Beacon and a member of my church even sent me an e-mail concerning the former business site adjoining the ferry landing.  

So I assume there is also an ecumenical implication to the debate, which may or may not have been settled when Cascade Bank walked away from any deal.

Did bank officials issue a definite no?

Or did they issue a hesitant "Meh?"  Which is an entirely different response.

You say "Meh!" isn't an answer?

I looked it up on Google and learned that there are 259 definitions for "meh."

My research was prompted by a review of Skippers by a Shoreline resident shortly before the eatery closed.

"It's fairly fast and one of the few "seafood like" restaurants that still have 'all you can eat.'   Not to my liking but, meh, I'm sure some still like this stuff.  This was once a pretty good local company" the critic noted, "but they attempted to upscale. It was a mistake. 

"The product is frozen. A typical cornmeal breading, it's piled on thick, which makes for a very crunchy tid-bit. The 'fish' fillets are pre-cut and seem formed since they are all the same shape. Shrimp are shrimpy and clams are fried to death. Fries are gross because they are usually served luke warm. Cole slaw is forgettable. The tarter sauce is a bit too sweet for me; the chowder is watery but not bad when served hot. Local management tried to do the best they could with product that's just meh."

By contrast another critic who gave Skippers a four-star rating recalled, "Everybody loved Skippers, in a great location just across from the ferry dock.  In the summers I used to hang out on the beach all day and then we'd walk over to Skippers for dinner.  Two favorites, their tarter sauce and their chowder."

You didn't hear this second critic emit a single "meh."

My research revealed that according to the Urban Dictionary, "Meh" is a word you use when you aren't OK, but you aren't too bad either and you don't really care to talk about it cus you ain't I."

In one classic Simpson's episode Homer asks Bart and Lisa where they want to eat dinner.  "Meh," they reply and become irritable when Homer repeats the question.

"M   E   H!" they shout in unison, irritated at a parent who didn't understand a simple answer like "Meh."

Why should I be concerned about a restaurant that no longer operates in Edmonds?  

As for Homer Simpson's question, I'll take my fish and chips appetite up to Ivar's on Edmonds Way.  As the founder of the franchise, the late Ivar Haglund advised one and all to "Keep Clam."

"It's a response like Meh, which is also defined in the Urban Dictionary as "a random word when people don't know what to say, don't care, can't answer a question or are too drunk to form a coherent English phrase."

What part of "Meh" don't you understand?