Where's the Point?

I've got a nifty little bit of trivia but, like everything else I tell you, there's a backstory first.

So, people really think they're clever sometimes. Mostly, though, what they're trying to pass off as "clever" during a conversation is really just typical responses that you've heard a bunch of times while on a similar topic. Need an example? Take this exchange between two people at work:

Steve: I won tickets to Jersey Boys, so we're doing that on Saturday.

Gene: Where's it playing?

Steve: In Baltimore. At the Hippodrome.

Gene: (chuckling) Don't get shot.

See? Totally clever. 

Now, I hear that sort of brilliance almost every day but there's another sort of "clever" where someone says something less cliche but nevertheless still makes you roll your eyes. See, you can tell when they're doing it because as soon as they see that flash of puzzlement on your face, they smile and lift their chin up as if to say, "A-ha. Now, see, I made you think."

These same sort of people tend to go to Mark Twain conventions and half-ass their cosplay.

Last week, I was sitting in a bar, minding my own business, when some guy came in and started talking to whoever would listen and, eventually, began quizzing me about what I was looking at on my phone all this time. Believe it or not, this wasn't my first go-round with this question: some people just hate when other people are on their phone, never taking in account that maybe I'm reading something for school or, like right now, I'm writing a blog.

OMG, Ben, I'm looking at an app that monitors my arc-reactor. Give it a rest.

I just said, "Reading," giving him the chance to stop talking to me, which he wisely accepted; although, he was so obnoxious, commenting to no one in particular about everything from beer labels to whatever was on TV, that I pretty much had to sit and listen to him anyway.

Then he said to the bartender out of the blue, "What's the point?"

"The point of what?" she asked.

"What is the point?" he asked again, purposefully clearing nothing up. Pause. Then:

"If this is Fell's Point, what, or should I say, where, is the point?" His expression told of decades of well-practiced self-satisfaction. The bartender and I wore rehearsed expressions also but ours were of complete indifference.

"Well yeah," said the bartender, "You should have said that."

Putting into action Stage 2 of Operation: Being Clever, the guy pursues the question, "So, where is it?" The bartender shrugged and said something like, "It's probably just, you know, the whole area. I don't know." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guy's head starting to tilt back as if he'd "made us think".

Well, it so happens that I knew not only what the Point was but also where. So, I'm going to share it with you like I shared it with him except without the irritated tone of voice.

Here's a map of Fell's Point. It's newer but based on one from the late 1800s. See that little peninsula? That's Fell's Point.

And here's a blow up of the original map, clearly labeling it as such.

The point doesn't really exist anymore: the basin to the north was filled in when they built the Allied Chemical plant. Here's a recent map.

Thanks for listening to me Rage. Made me feel better, anyway.

So, how's that working out for you? Being clever.