One of these stories happens every year or so.
Being a NM native, yes, they are true.
How do you speak english so well is one I have heard a bit.
Not only that, people believe New Mexico is a desert. Flat as a pancake.
.
They haven’t taught History or Geography in schools for 40 years!
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Back in the day, I was wearing Navy dress blues in O”Hare airport, when an elderly engaged me in conversation, asking where I was from. After I replied “New Mexico”, she was confused that a foreigner could become a Navy officer. Yup, happens waaaay too often.
The late English military historian John Keegan was traveling in the US for the first time with friends as a young man. Somewhere in the South they were eating in a diner and were asked how long they had been in the US. When they said, “about six weeks,” they were complimented on speaking English so well.