“What’s your account number?” he asks. But it’s not my account number, it’s theirs; I have a name. Admittedly, we do have rich associations with names of bare sequence – Louis XIV, 5th Avenue, Cinco de Mayo. So why am I complaining about it, about being just a number? “It isn’t ‘just’ a number,” he’s saying; “it’s your number, buddy; it’s you. Get over it. Now, what’s your account number?”
The breakthrough will come when people start to address each other by number rather than name. Already it’s become a joke. And the jokes are numbered, too.
[“Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people.” (2 Samuel 24:2, AV)]
Memorable Fancies 
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