Of Interest:

Think back to the first interesting comment you overheard from someone. It can be hard to remember, indeed, but if you think back, it was perhaps the most raw and truthful first impression of that person because it penetrated power, prestige, money, looks, clothes, accents, or any of that---and it connected you to that person on a different and new level.

So just for fun and for the sake of this Dandygram (plus, who doesn't like a new word?), let's call this interesting comment the "intrement" (interesting + comment, pronounced: EN'tre'ment).

An intrement might not work its way into the first, or even the second conversation, but it will certainly be spontaneous, unprompted, and will ultimately find its way into common conversation, such as the stories about someone's past, a previous job, their passion, how one might approach a problem, answer a question, or provide their genuine opinion.  These are just a few examples.

In DC, however, there are high expectations from others to be interesting because DC is an epicenter of the world.  DC is not a financial epicenter (h/t New York City), a fashion epicenter (h/t anywhere else, Earth) or even an emotional epicenter (h/t Middle East, India, et. al), but DC does possess worldly and legitimate recognition as an epicenter of the interesting and intellectual.

So perhaps, DC has a higher rate of intrement per capita than other cities in the United States, and one might argue this because of how Washingtonians engage with other intellectuals in the city in most initial conversations.  For instance, Washingtonians:

Fein for intrement of others. Draw intrements out from others. And naturally seek intrement in others.

Though DC is not financially rich (Congress is broke), fashionably inclined (read: "Ugly Hollywood"), or emotionally sound (these shortcomings abound!), DC will always have a lot of interesting people.

I'm not gushing, nor am I bragging about DC, but in my three years in DC, there have been numerous intrements around the following topics (I'm surely missing a few):

wars
murder
death
cancer
life
failure
birth
resurrection
survival
love
peril
loss
amazement
trauma
humor
serenity
epiphany
serenity
finality

At the end of the day, whatever the noun or adjective used, an intrement will strike when least expected. And when it does, you will hopefully find an unsolicited and unprompted interest in what was said, and a newfound interest in that person.