Ranting is fun. This time I’m looking at the apparent incredible ignorance of folk, Americans in particular, when dealing with geography. – I was driving in Santa Fe and stopped at a stoplight when the penny dropped. I must be true! Everyone thinks New Mexico is a “foreign” country. Why? Well, of all the states only New Mexico is forced [?] to add the letters “USA” after the state name on the license plate. – I realize that NM has only been a state for 95 years. It was even admitted prior to Arizona. One might think, one might learn the names of the states, besides the state one lives in, in something called a “civics” or “history” class, but apparently this is not taught in American schools any more. I guess, it isn’t “relevant.” – I had heard apocryphal stories about the chap from NM wanting to buy Olympic tickets and told to get them thru his Embassy or, even better, the NM Senator being told by the IRS to submit a certain form as he was living in a foreign country. I guess, all those stories are all true. So sad!
September 19, 2007 at 3:02 am |
When I was talking to Pat Smith at the Clinton Museum, she mentioned that some friends were on a trip to Old Mexico. I asked, “Is that what you call Mexico?” She said, “Yes, it was.” I asked why, and she said, “She guessed that they did it, to distinguish it from the state, New Mexcio.” I thought that was charming.
September 19, 2007 at 3:21 am |
That is great. At least someone outside of New Mexico knows it is a state.
October 27, 2008 at 5:14 am |
We lived in Alamogordo for about five years. During that time, on several occasions we got mail back stamped “Foreign Postage Due”. – jwrit
October 27, 2008 at 4:33 pm |
G’day, — This is so sad. Now granted, I’m an exception in that I love maps and do have a decent grasp of where places are. — I even had an idea of where in Germany I was when I lived there. — This isn’t limited to the US. I was in Australia, out near Broken Hill, real Bush and desert country. I overheard some Aussies, yes, they were, commenting on the fact that there was desert out there. D’oh! Have they ever looked at a map of Oz? — Part of my reason for being out that way was to incorporate the locales for the novels by Arthur Upfield into my driveabout. Great fun. Upfield was spot on! — If all goes well, I can visit that “foreign country” next summer when I drive out west.