The place-dropper

No one could have missed coming across name-droppers but now there are also 8216;place-droppers8217;.

No one could have missed coming across name-droppers but now there are also 8216;place-droppers8217;. When an acquaintance at a Page 3 party recently threw half a dozen names of some vague places and sites in Europe which I 8220;just had to visit8221;, I had no idea where they were located. Nor did I bother to remember their names. I don8217;t think I8217;ll ever visit them. It seemed as if these places had a symbolic meaning, which had to be shared by a certain class of people or exchanged like a gift which would impact our social ties. Their representational logic screamed at me as the speaker went on, 8220;Oh! You didn8217;t see Lago d8217; Garda! Not even Lecco on Lake Como?!8221;

In her exclamation was the underlying obsession with holiday resorts, which like new food products, new sartorial fashions and trendy places, just had to be 8220;consumed8221;. They represented good fortune and 8216;exclusive8217; taste and citing them in a competitive spewing of 8216;fashionable information8217;, seemed to provide my friend the security of a social location somewhere in the stratosphere.

But my friend8217;s attempt to pull me down a peg or two met with success. I later realised that although I had lived for two months on Lake Como, stayed for a week at Innsbruck, and driven along the French and Italian Riviera. However, all these experiences had not helped me hold my own before a determined place-dropper.

There was another time when a cousin and I were making do with my small rubber dingy on an unsuccessful fishing holiday when suddenly his mobile phone disturbed the peaceful environs of the mighty Beas: 8220;Oh, we are having the time of our life! We are on Shelley8217;s yacht.8221; Suffice it to say, we chuckled at the prospect of the friend at the other end going green with envy.

There are some who cannot stop talking about the more exotic restaurants they have visited, while I can seldom remember where I was at last night8217;s dinner. That is when it sunk in. Some people can flaunt their choice of clothes, or visits to places abroad as desirables while others cannot. I, unfortunately, belong to the latter group 8212; even though I did spend two months on Lake Como!