With the increased number of Californians migrating to Arizona these days, the State of Arizona has endeavored to help by translating certain terms from those used in California to those better understood in Arizona. It doesn't take long for most Californians to learn to speak Arizonan almost like a native.

Here's a few phrases that need proper conversion:

Arsenal of Weapons – Gun Collection
Delicate Wetlands – Swamp
Undocumented Worker – Illegal Alien
Cruelty-Free Materials – Synthetic Fiber
Assault and Battery – Attitude Adjustment
Heavily Armed – Well Protected
Narrow-Minded – Righteous
Taxes or Your Fair Share – Coerced Theft
Commonsense Gun Control – Gun Confiscation Plot
Illegal Hazardous Explosives – Fireworks for Stump removal
Equal Access to Opportunity – Socialism
Multicultural Community – High Crime Area
Fairness or Social Progress – Marxism
Upper Class or “The Rich” – Self-Employed
Progressive, Change – Big Government Scheme
Homeless or Disadvantaged – Bums or Welfare Leeches
Sniper Rifle – Scoped Deer Rifle
Investment For The Future – Higher Taxes
Heathcare Reform – Socialized Medicine
Truants – Homeschoolers
Victim or Oppressed – Criminal or Lazy Do-For-Nothing
High Capacity Magazine – Standard Capacity Magazine
Religious Zealot – Church-Going
Reintroduced Wolves – Sheep and Deer Killers
Fair Trade Coffee – Overpriced Yuppie Coffee
Exploiters or “The Rich” – Employed or Land Owner
The Gun Lobby – NRA Members
Assault Weapons – Semi-Auto rifles
Mandated Eco-Friendly Lighting – Chinese Mercury-Laden Light Bulbs
Stricter regulation badly needed - you've got to be kidding
Illegal concealed carry - Constitutional or discrete carry

Arizonans, by and large, are an independent lot who tend to call 'em like they see 'em, and so these terms might take some getting used to if you're fresh from California!

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Your so right. The adjustment in ones thinking after leaving The Peoples Republic of Kalifornia is, to say the least, daunting.

Don't let them in! We in Oregon learned too late. They will instantly start trying to turn Arizona into a replica PRK. They are infiltraters not refugees

Arsenal of Weapons – Begginer
Delicate Wetlands – Mud Bogging!
Undocumented Worker – Filibertos Employee
Cruelty-Free Materials – Melts in the sun
Assault and Battery – Saturday night at the bar
Heavily Armed – Rookie
Narrow-Minded – Right minded
Taxes or Your Fair Share – Pay the poor to stay home
Commonsense Gun Control – My unprotected neighbor
Illegal Hazardous Explosives – That all ya got?
Equal Access to Opportunity – We steal from everyone
Multicultural Community – One old couple too poor to move
Fairness or Social Progress – Free handouts
Upper Class or “The Rich” – Self-Employed (agree)
Progressive, Change – Grand Theft
Homeless or Disadvantaged – Own better truck than I do
Sniper Rifle – anything bigger than a .22
Investment For The Future – Higher Taxes (yup, another tax for a new stadium)
Heathcare Reform – Changing brands of beer
Truants – In prison
Victim or Oppressed – Drives an uglier truck than mine
High Capacity Magazine – We use them for hunting
Religious Zealot – Thanks God for a good life
Reintroduced Wolves – Target rich enviorment
Fair Trade Coffee – Whut?
Exploiters or “The Rich” – (See "Upper Class or “The Rich”)
The Gun Lobby – Anyone who isn't scared of guns
Assault Weapons – anything over a .22 (see Sniper Rifle)
Mandated Eco-Friendly Lighting – Fireflys for reading
Stricter regulation badly needed - I'm not getting MY share!
Illegal concealed carry - No such a thing in AZ!

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Hold my beer and watch this!

Here's one for the Iowans who stray into California: (Both of them, and they were obviously lost).

Country-Bumpkin-Politically-Incorrect-Overall Wearing-Hick......The guy who feeds you and your family.
Jim

When I left California for the last time, thank goodness. There would have been no need for for any "proper conversion." It's still amazing how much a place can change in less than 20 years.

Over the years I have visited or lived in 49 of these Great United States. Most appealed to me for one reason or another, some more than others. I can honestly say that Arizona is among my favorites for a whole host of reasons (climate, cost of living, community attitudes & mores, topography, VERY friendly gun laws, etc). It's not perfect but at the moment I wouldn't choose to reside anywhere else (I have to reserve final judgement for State #50

Come check Arizona out; many who do often end up staying here...

A lot of folks have screwed up the state that they live in so much that they want to leave and move to another state. They've helped bankrupt their old state with their unions and taxes and political correctness and don't even realize that they caused the problems. When they get to the "new" more reasonable state they want to make things just like they were at home and that's when the problems start. I'm somewhat educated. I don't have an advanced degree but at this stage in my life I don't care. I live somewhere that hasn't yet been discovered by the overlearned and hope I can spend the rest of my life here before it gets messed up by a bunch of overeducated morons who don't really realize all the collateral damage they've caused because they can't distinguish between what they found in a book written by someone else who hasn't lived in the real world either and the way things actually work. I am a firm beleiver that the human mind can only hold so much information. Fill it up with too much useless stuff and it makes you want to make silly laws that really screw everything up. Bottom line: We need educated people. Somebody needs to do research and teach the rest of us to read and write. Stick with that and you're fine. Start dabbling around in common sense, much as our politicians do, and you're out of your league. We also need the not too highly educated so that the educated can eat and use the things the rest of us make and do for them.

Off-topic, but the translation for "homeless" reminds me of a couple of things I've seen on citations issued by cops. Typically, on the address line the officers will write "transient" when citing homeless people. But because everybody's a comedian, I've seen "outdoorsman" and "residentially-challenged."

I moved to Oregon 9 years ago from Calif. Came here to become an Oregonian. I vote & enjoy this beautiful state. But I didn't bring any of California's problems with me.Because I don't want them here. The politicians screwed up that state so that nobody can fix it.

Same with Washington. At least, Western Washington. King (Cities of Seattle & Bellevue), Pierce (Tacoma), Snohomish (Everett), Thurston (Olympia - State Capital), Kitsap (Bremerton) and Clark (Vancouver) counties in Western Washington total more people than all the others combined. That's how it ends up a blue state.

If you look at a map of the USA you will notice that on the far left is California. Is this a coincidence? I think not.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed