You Know You're From New Mexico If...

If you're from New Mexico you've probably seen this list floating around for years. If not you may find some of these items on the list enlightening. :) I find some of them very true for myself, and know many people who would agree with them all.


1. You can correctly pronounce words like Tesuque, Cerrillos, and Pojoaque.

2. You have been told by at least one out-of-state vendor that they are going to charge you extra for international shipping.

3. You know what "T or C" stands for, and where it got that name.

4. You can order your Big Mac with green chile.

5. You buy salsa by the half-gallon.

6. You know what it means when they say it's from Hatch.

7. Your Christmas decorations include "red Chiles, a half-ton of sand and 200 paper bags."

8. Most restaurants you go to begin with "El" or "Los."

9. You price shop for tortillas.

10. You have an extra freezer just for green Chile.

11. You can't control your car on wet pavement.

12. You've had the skull of some kind of animal in your yard or garden as a decoration.

13. You think the biggest perk to running for state legislature is that you could speed legally.

14. You iron your jeans to "dress up".

15. You see boots and a cowboy hat as something totally appropriate to wear to a formal occasion.

16. Your swamp cooler got knocked off your roof by a Dust Devil.

17. Someone from out of state is surprised that you speak English so well.

18. You can actually hear the Taos hum.

19. All your out-of-state friends and relatives ask if they can drink the water when they come to visit.

20. When someone says "Las Vegas" you think of a small New Mexico town in the northeastern part of the state.

21. You iron your jeans to "dress up."

22. Tumbleweeds and various cacti in your yard are not weeds. They are your lawn.

23. Your other vehicle is also a pick-up truck.

24. Your city cousins from out of state come and visit you and don't get it when "going to do something" to you means to go hunting, fishing, hiking and theirs is hanging out at the mall.

25. You spent your 4 years of High School saying you were leaving this hell hole and never coming back; and when you left, you realized that there's no place like New Mexico, and will probably decide to retire back home.

26. You're relieved when the pavement ends because the dirt road has fewer potholes.

27. You see nothing odd when, in the conversations of the people in line around you at the grocery store, every other word of each sentence alternates between Spanish and English.

28. You've seen the bat flight at Carlsbad Caverns and have a t-shirt that says "Bats need friends, too!"

29. You could totally win on Survivor, because you've been doing all that hunting, fishing, hiking survival technique stuff since you were 5 out in your own back yard.

30. You've had Forts out in the desert or forest, which is also your back yard, so to speak.

31. You know what the night sky looks like full of stars and not pollution.

32. You've swam in an arroyo or an acequia..as a child or an ADULT!! LOL!

33. You love the smell of rain in the desert.

34. You know what a horny toad is.

35. You can identify a quail, peacock, coyote, roadrunner, cricket, etc...by the sound they make.

36. You've been to Mexico just to party.

37. Your Walmart sells snow sleds in the summer for the White Sands...but you can hardly find them in the winter.

38. You know that Christmas and weddings would not be the same without biscochitos.

39. You know what bartering is, and how to do it in at least 2 different languages.

40. You've had enchiladas for breakfast.

41. You know they don't skate at the Ice House and the Newsstand doesn't sell newspapers.

42. You expect to pay more if your house is made of mud.

43. A rattlesnake is an occasional hiking hazard. No need to freak out.

44. You think six tons of crushed rock makes a beautiful front lawn.

45. You own or have owned at least one piece of jewelry with turquoise in it.