Yesterday I had the following conversation with the American guy at the photo desk:
him: Are you from the Northern Hemisphere?
me: Yes. Yes I am.
him: You're not . . . Canadian.
me: Nope. I'm not Mexican either.
him: Well, that kind of narrows it down.
me: Indeed.
him: Northwest?
me: No. Not at all.
him: Northeast?
me: Well, east anyway.
him: I was thinking . . . north of South Carolina . . .
me: Yes.
him: But not necessarily North Carolina . . .
me: No, farther north still.
him: But not Jersey . . .
me: No . . . south of Jersey.
him: Ah. (makes no effort to narrow it down further)
me: Maryland, to be really specific!
him: Are you from Washington DC?
me: Um. No. Maryland. They are close.
him: It's all the same, right?
me: Well, except that DC isn't in a state . . .
Is it just me or is that an odd conversation? If you're gonna start a guessing game, you should at least carry it through to the end. Especially after taking all the effort to narrow my place of origin to the Mid-Atlantic region. And if you're American, you should know that DC and Maryland are not the same. I would think. But then, maybe I'm just thinking about it too much. That's entirely possible.
