A newcomer’s guide to being accepted as an Arizonan

From Jan. 8, 2006:

Today we’re going to wrap up the Valley 101 Newcomers Study by discussing what newcomers should do or shouldn’t do to be accepted as Arizonans. This was prompted by a note from a newcomer who said she found people here unwelcoming and wondered what it took to be considered an Arizonan. The response from you people was huge.

First, if you moved here from California, don’t tell anybody. Newcomers from no other state or region were singled out for as much abuse as Californians.

A lady from Prescott wrote that she was enraged when she heard a newcomer say she wished that town’s fabled Gurley Street “looked more like Santa Monica.”

Next, get your Arizona license plates and driver’s license. It really irks your co-workers or neighbors to see you driving with out-of-state plates months or even years after you got here.

Also, you have to learn how to pronounce Mogollon, Gila, cholla, saguaro and stuff like that, although your mispronunciations do provide comic relief.

Many, many people suggested you can’t be a real desert-dwelling Arizonan unless you have stayed here through at least two summers without bailing out. A few extremists suggested terms as long as 25 years.

There is one grievous sin, one howling outrage, that will brand you as a newcomer no matter how long you live here. This was the most commonly cited newcomer error in all the responses.

It’s this: Do not tell us how much better things were back home. If you thought things were so much better back there, you should have stayed there.

A reader named Gary wrote that newcomers become Arizonans when they “stop telling people how things were done in Minnesota, New York, Seattle, etc., and start saying, ‘Well, here in Arizona ...’ ”

I especially liked this from Dave who said you’re an Arizonan “when you stop saying, ‘You people should...’ and start saying, ‘We should...’ ”