>Other New Yorkers will recognize the "Where in New York" game that we play whenever we run into somebody else from "The City." "You're from New York? I'm from New York." "Oh, where in New York?" The game usually ends after drilling down only one (borough) or two (section) levels. I once had an assignment in Fairfield, Iowa. It's a small city of around 10,000 people. One of the people working there found out I was Jewish and decided to have a Passover seder for the out-of-towner. I started plaing the "Where in New York" game with one of the other people there. After about 10 "where in's" we discovered that, as children, we had lived right across the street from each other. While I didn't know her, my older brother told me that he remembered playing with her younger brother. Small world.

I have lots like this, but this is my favorite. My husband has a fairly obscure medical condition. When we were still trying to figure out what it was, we found a Yahoo group for it. He got into a conversation with an Englishman named David that went something like:

David: You're from Pennsylvania. Where?
Husband: Just outside Philadelphia.
David: Where outside Philadelphia?
Husband: In Cheltenham township
David: Where?
Husband (feeling a little concerned that someone in English is asking this): It's called Elkins Park
David: Where?
Husband: Why?

Turned out that David's mother (in her 70's) had met a man from Elkins Park on the Internet and was spending about half the year living with him--half a mile from us and about 10 doors down the street from my sister.

Tamar