My wife's mother grew up in East Germany (after surviving the bombing of Dresden as a child) and will not speak to us on the phone for more than a few minutes. She is certain the calls are tapped. Sometimes we like to think that she thinks this because she grew up in a country where the government always listened in on your phone calls. It is perhaps a 'necessary fiction' to believe that we do not live in such a country ourselves.

-- AndrewCase - 09 Feb 2009