- By Dan Veaner
- Opinions
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I use Google Calendar to keep my appointments straight, and one of the nifty features is that if you put the full address of your appointment in the designated field the next time you look at the details of your appointment you will see a Google Map showing your destination. I've used this many times to figure out where to go to interview someone. It's very handy.But when the interview is coming to my office I just type 'Here' in the location field. I did that a few weeks ago and imagine my surprise when I found a Google map pointing to Here! It turns out that Here is in France. Southwest France, to be exact.
At first I thought this was another example of French arrogance. (No I can't get over that incident in Paris many years ago when I tried to ask where the bathroom was -- I was in some distress -- and the Consierge replied in an arrogant tone of voice, 'Ou est le what?!') Claiming here for their own would be a pretty arrogant act, negating everywhere else that people are at in the present. No longer could you come home, exclaiming, 'Hi, Honey, I'm here!' You'd have to say, 'Hi, Honey, I'm at 126 Main Street!' That is much too cumbersome, and your honey would think you are nuts.
ThereToHere.jpgA map from There to Here. Click map to see full size.
But as I zoomed in on the map I saw that Here was actually Héré, probably pronounced something like err-ay (roll your Rs when you say that -- the French like to roll their Rs, and the rolls in their bakeries aren't bad, either).
Is it possible that France has the only town called Here in the world? I found a Here in Kansas, but I think it may be fictional -- it's hard to tell. When I search Google Maps for other Heres I get businesses like 'Here's To you,' 'Here To Help,' and 'Here We grow Daycare.'
So it looks like Google is genuinely finding the only Here it can. It's hard to blame Google for that. It can only find places that exist. So I'm back to French arrogance. Because on further investigation it turns out that There is also in France. There is 122 km northwest of Here, an hour and 26 minutes away by car.
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