My mother ran into an old friend in the checkout line the other day. The woman had relatives visiting with her, and they alternated between chatting in English with my mother, and in Navajo with each other.
When they left, the cashier wondered out loud what dialect of Spanish that was.
"I think they were speaking Navajo," my mother replied.
Pause.
(Mom again) "They are Native American."
(Cashier) "Oh! They have their own language?"
Thud, thud, thud....(this, if you can't tell, would be my head hitting the nearest wall.)
OMG .... and it just never ends does it Ami?
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not just in NM either ... but we seemed to get more of our share of stupid comments while there.
One of the best was at Walmart in S Albuquerque off of Coors .... Checker asks me while paying "Is she half?" referring to my daughter. HUH? I replied. And he asked again. "Is she half?"
I responded: "Half what? She looks complete to me". His turn to pause confused.
Finally I asked him: Are you trying to ask me if she's bi-racial? And he stammered "yes" ... So I said - Well - look at her daddy behind me. Look at me. Now look at her. What do you think?
ROFL .... She still hasn't forgotten that one either! ;)