Passing by the desk of a colleague, I noticed his usual carefree blond locks were more closely - and more creatively - trimmed, in a style that seemed to reflect the handiwork of a less-than-holy union of Dirk the Marines' barber and a 25-horsepower weed whacker.
"Um, new haircut?"
He grinned. "Yup. From a Pakistani man in Barcelona."
And with that he had practiced a subtle and often unnoticed art form: place-dropping.
Lesser known than its popular cousin, name-dropping, place-dropping shares many of the same elements and goals, but focuses on experiences with places - often exotic or far-flung corners of the map - instead of people for the purpose of raising one's status within a social hierarchy (even if the hierarchy is anyone within earshot at the pub).
And while it once was enough to offer up the place alone and the fact that you were there, an increasingly well-traveled population makes it necessary to add a wild-card element (sometimes as mundane as getting a haircut) to capture the attention of listeners.
Often, effective place-drops (not "place droppings," for obvious reasons) are a short phrase casually blended into a conversation that accomplishes five goals:
1. Conveys that you were there.
2. Explains that you did something interesting. (Because, again, just being there isn't enough.)
3. Invites requests for further explanation. (Having a larger story is a requirement.)
4. Invites others to briefly share their stories, comparable or not. Again, briefly.
5. Inspires the glowing envy of those for whom "exotic and far-flung" is Epcot Center.
The art form can be at its most brilliant - and brutal - among large groups of longtime travel agents, tour guides or guidebook editors, inflaming a level of one-upmanship that makes beauty pageant contestants look like ganja-smoking slackers. (One of my colleagues usually breaks stalemates with a passing reference to being given a receipt from Maoist rebels in Nepal for having "donated" money at gunpoint.)
Some basics of place-dropping etiquette to consider:
-- You shouldn't need to say what country. Better to leave it out and open the door for someone to ask about it. Example: "Shopping for ice cream bars in Nizwa (Oman)."
-- A good wild-card element should seem out of place. My colleague's Pakistani barber in Barcelona (Spain), for example, just begs for further explanation.
