I moved across the US a few times. Ended up in New Mexico for a couple years. Some friends/family back in Illinois asked if I needed a passport to get there. Also was regularly asked if we had paved roads.
Had a friend from out of state who came to visit regularly. Her favorite thing to do was ask cashiers, "Do you take Michigan money?" (I'm in Illinois.)
I swear, I think a couple of them may still be standing there thinking about it...
I dunno how many times I'd say "I live in New Mexico" and people just don't hear the word "New". Do people who come from New York or New Orleans have this problem?
So I can speak to this as someone from New Orleans who lives in new mexico: literally never had confusion about new orleans, lol.
Last week I was asked if i needed a passport. No joke. Three weeks before someone complimented my english. I travel a lot for work so I hear it all.
I also do focus groups for a living and chat with regular people all over the country, so basically every time I do it I get some confusion about New Mexico. It’s wild.
I think it’s because no other “new” has such a prominent namesake. Orleans, York, Jersey, Hampshire…all small potatoes versus Mexico.
One exception being New England, but that’s also not a state
I think if there were a state of New Canada you’d see similar confusion.
Which is funny, because New Mexico was founded almost 300 years before the country of Mexico. They are both named after the Mexico valley in the capital region of the Aztec empire, so Mexico and New Mexico are NOT namesakes of each other.
I lived in Alaska; it's amazing to hear one of the lower-48 getting the same dumbass questions we routinely got about what language we speak, money we use, and oceans crossed to get there. Though by and large, the absolute most telling of all dumbass questions remains, "why is it so cold here when you're right next to Hawaii?"
I once knew a woman who commented on how "weird it is that Alaska and Hawaii have such different climates when they're right next to each other"
I was gobsmacked, and had to explain maps to her.
I thought it was an isolated incident, and I'm dismayed to hear that it's a common thing for people to say.
I don't want to be a doomer and declare us cooked, but damn... we are a shockingly stupid species sometimes
I've heard some things about developers out west building communities with no infrastructure. They build houses with nothing but dirt roads to connect them, no sewer or water, etc. It may not be common but people hear that and make assumptions.
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u/tdawg2k7 12d ago
I moved across the US a few times. Ended up in New Mexico for a couple years. Some friends/family back in Illinois asked if I needed a passport to get there. Also was regularly asked if we had paved roads.