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What's the fascination with folks with the same name?

Not that I expect it to happen to me anytime soon, but I'm well aware as this interesting posting addresses (read all the comments, too) that we do tend to be fascinated with others who sport the same name:

The Aptronym and the Googlegängers

I once used this knowledge to help crack a case. I was trying to get the current contact info for a woman with a common name -- let's say Mary Murphy -- in a small town. Online directories showed two such women in the same town, but the contact info for the one I needed was out of date. So I deliberately called the wrong one and explained my reason for calling. She responded that she wasn't the person I wanted, but she knew of the other Mary Murphy because they both went to the same vet, both had chihuahuas, and their records were constantly getting mixed up. You can bet my next call was to the vet!

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 11, 2008 7:51 AM.

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