Tribes

Seth Godin is sort of obsessed with tribes and since finishing his new book I've started to find them everywhere.

The UK stand-up comedy scene is especially tribal and membership comes with a definite code of conduct. When circuit comics socialise they spend most of the time talking about all the out-of-London venues they've played. The room is usually described as either 'hard' or 'easy' depending on layout and the crowd as 'really nice' or 'neanderthal' depending on how the gig went last time.

It's easy to see why: out-of-town gigs are almost always paid so it's a way of staking your claim as a professional comic.

Consultants talk about the various airline lounges for exactly the same reason.