Illustration by Chris Philpot

You Could Drive It in a Cah

Mike Benavides was visiting Boston and popped into a seafood shop, hoping to bring shrimp home to his mom in Albuquerque. How might he carry them frozen on a six-hour plane trip? he asked. “Buy your shrimp on the Gulf Coast,” the fishmonger barked. “I told him that I live in New Mexico, not Mexico, and it’s not on the Gulf.” The man insisted: New Mexico is on the Gulf Coast. “No,” Benavides said, “the state of Texas is between New Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico.” No luck. Despite the seller’s scowl, Benavides went ahead and bought the shrimp, packed it in blue ice, and brought it home, safe and cold.

Even Mexico Isn’t Overseas

Years ago, Gus Philpott moved to Albuquerque and called a customer service line about a subscription to one of his magazines (not this one!) to change his address. “I knew I’d have to spell Albuquerque, and I did,” he says. “The clerk then asked what state that was in, and I told her ‘New Mexico.’ She asked, ‘Is that overseas?’” Philpott, who now lives in Columbia, South Carolina, told her that some people would say so, but it isn’t. Nonetheless, the clerk warned him that his subscription price was going up because of the higher mailing costs … overseas.

‘NM’ Is Actually Easier to Type

Last February, the National Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show at the Sandia Resort and Casino, in Albuquerque, featured products from all over the nation. Eagle-eyed reader Rick Trent, though, noticed that a hometown fave, La Vina Food Products, was listed in the official show program as being from “Albuquerque, NY.”

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One of Our 50 Is Missing: July 2020

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