yoknow-so-and-so game. My panicked silent search continued. I think its
named after Christopher Columbus... but Im not sure, so I better keep my
mouth shut on that one. Four or five other possibilities raced through my
mind but I rejected them all as too obvious, too adolescent, or too off-the-
wall.
I realized by now that seconds had passed, and Mrs. Devlin was still
standing there with a slowly dissipating smile on her face. She was waiting
for me (the expert who, within the hour, was expected to teach her trade
association lessons on scintillating coversation) to spew forth words of wit
or wisdom.
Oh, Columbus, gee, I mumbled in desperation, watching her face fall
into the worried expression of a patient being asked by the surgeon, knife
poised in hand, Wheres your appendix?
How to Make Where Are You From? Sound Exciting 65
I never came up with stimulating conversation on Columbus. But, just
then, under the knife, I created the following technique for posterity. I call it
Never the Naked City.
Different Bait for Shrimp or Sharks
A fisherman uses different bait to bag bass or bluefish. And you will
obviously throw out different conversational bait to snag siple shrimp or
sophisticated sharks. Your hook should relate to the type of person youre
speaking with. Im originally from Wasington, D.C. If someone at, say, an
art gallery asked me where I was from, I might answer Washington,
D.C.designed, you know, by the same city planner who designed Paris. This
opens the conversational possibilities to the artistry of city planning, Paris,
other cities plans, European travel, and so forth.
At a social party of singles Id opt for another answer. Im from
Washington, D.C. The reason I left is there were seven women to every man
when I was growing up. Now the convesation can turn to the ecstasy or
agony of being single, the peceived lack of desirable men everywhere, or
even flirtatious possibilities.
Technique #15
Never the Naked City
Whenever someone asks you the inevitable, And where are you from?
never, ever, unfairly challenge their powers of imagination with a one-word
answer.
ooja
(Ooja)
#1