HE DROVE HER BUGGY
While steering a horse-and-buggy in Limerick, Ireland, the driver asked the passengers where they were from. “New Mexico,” replied CHRISTINE HYDE, of Las Cruces. “Oh,” he said, genuinely puzzled, “I didn’t know there was a New Mexico.” Hyde didn’t miss a beat. “Yes—it’s just north of Old Mexico.” Remember, though the name feels brand-new, we’ve been here a while too!
AN OLDIE AND A GOODIE
In the 1970s, when TONY MATTSON applied for graduate school at the University of Michigan, he received an application for international students. “I thought about applying as a foreign student,” the Albuquerque resident recalls, “but realized it would be embarrassing if I didn’t pass the English proficiency exam!” More recently, Mattson was Christmas shopping online and found a gift at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. After he selected the item and filled in all the required information—including choosing “New Mexico” from a drop-down menu of U.S. states—the form would go no further. While double-checking that everything was entered correctly, he noticed an alert asking for a valid U.S. state. “I decided to buy a present elsewhere!” Mattson says. Some things never change.
MOUNTAIN MIX-UP
Recently, a “Missing” moment popped up just steps from the Santa Fe Plaza. At the Chile House souvenir store, City Different resident CRAIG LAMB spotted a rack of stickers commemorating the Rocky Mountains of “Santa Fe, Colorado.” While the city does sit at the base of the Southern Rockies, it still remains part of New Mexico—no matter how often we’re mistakenly reassigned elsewhere.
have a “missing” moment?
Send it to fifty@nmmagazine.com, or Fifty, New Mexico Magazine, 495 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Include your name, hometown, and state. ¡Gracias!