Let's look at my "town" Massapequa Park (MP), New York (NY).

If I am talking to an out-of-towner (or if an out-of-tower was looking for info about this area) I say MP, Long Island (LI), NY, so they know my town is located in south-east NY (well, it's really south of New England and east of New Jersey and only has a little physical connection to the bulk of NY state, but that's another discussion for another day).

But if I know about this area and want to search for something nearby, how else might I search?

MP is an incorporated village - one of the 18 that make up the 3-plus dozen "towns" that make up my Town - The Town of Oyster Bay ("TOBAY") (of Billy Joel fame). The non-incorporated villages that comprise TOBAY are really hamlets - but they call themselves "towns," anyway - go figure.

My Town, TOBAY, is part of my county, Nassau. Nassau is comprised of three Towns (not to be confused with "towns" which are (mostly) hamlets) and two incorporated Cities (sort of like incorporated villages, but with a capital "C").

My County, Nassau, is one of four counties that comprise LI - going west to east they are: Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk (by the way Suffolk makes up about half of Long Island's 110 miles).

Now, things start getting confusing...

You see, New York City (NYC) is comprised of five boroughs (really counties) two of which are Kings and Queens and are on LI. But, when referred to as a borough of NYC, Kings is more commonly known as Brooklyn and Queens is also referred to by its "towns" (hamlets) such as Forrest Hills (of tennis fame).

And if we are talking about the NY (or NYC) Metro area, we include Nassau County, and, parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, and some other southern NYS counties. But, we do not include Suffolk!

So, to "fully" identify my home of MP, I would be correct in saying:

The Incorporated Village of Massapequa Park, Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, Long Island, New York, and part of the greater (don't ask) New York (City) Metro Area.

At this point while I hesitate to mention local election districts (which include one legislative, two assembly, two senate, and at least four others), I do feel I should mention our school district, as that is another way to search for things in this area (and especially real estate).

MP is in the Massapequa School District ("MSD"). In addition to MP, MSD includes (the hamlets of) North Massapequa, Massapequa, East Massapequa, and a few Estates ("M... et al"). All of which have the zip code of 11758, except for MP (remember, we are an incorporated village) which has its very own zip code - 11762.

There is just one more thing about my school district (which I mention because of the apparent "importance" of buying a home in a good school district). Not all of M... et al are in MSD.

To include all of M... et al, in addition to MSD, you would need to "talk about" Amityville, Farmingdale and Plainedge School Districts.

And, should you want to look up a phone number, you can use the Massapequa phone book, which includes: East Massapequa, Massapequa, Nassau Shores, North Massapequa, West Amityville (?!?) and Massapequa Park.

I am told - with some other states - it can be even more complex...