1. Oven Mitts
What it means everywhere else: Something you use to take hot pans out of the oven.
What it means in Arizona: Something smart people wear driving because that steering wheel is hotter than all your ovens.
2. Cheese Crisps
What it means everywhere else: A snack like Cheez-Its.
What it means in Arizona: A heavenly Mexican favorite, an open-faced quesadilla topped with all kinds of cheeses.
3. Winter
What it means everywhere else: The best time to stay inside.
What it means in Arizona: The best time to be outside.
4. Hot Dog
What it means everywhere else: A boiled or grilled frank in a bun.
What it means in Arizona: Sonoran hot dogs sit in a dense bun, but that’s just so it can hold all the mayo, mustard, bacon, jalapeno, beans, tomatoes, and other toppings.
5. Cactus
What it means everywhere else: The prickly plant your parents warned you not to touch.
What it means in Arizona: Something you eat and drink.
6. Four Peaks
What it means everywhere else: Literally four mountain peaks.
What it means in Arizona: The best brewery in the country.
7. Leather Interior
What it means everywhere else: A sign that you’re pretty swanky
What it means in Arizona: Tourists. A sign that you’re looking for third-degree burns.
8. Monsoon
What it means everywhere else: A natural disaster.
What it means in Arizona: A welcome relief from the desert heat that people watch like fireworks in the sky.
9. Flip Flops
What it means everywhere else: Casual beachwear.
What it means in Arizona: Completely appropriate work attire.
10. Pool Parties
What it means everywhere else: The best daytime activity in the summer
What it means in Arizona: The best nighttime activity when it doesn’t feel like you’re melting outside.
11. Umbrella
What it means everywhere else: A device to protect you from the rain.
What it means in Arizona: A device to protect you from the oppressive desert sun.
12. Cowboy
What it means everywhere else: Gunslingers seen in the old Western movies.
What it means in Arizona: Cowboys are the real deal, working hard and getting their hands dirty to make a living.
13. Cool
What it means everywhere else: When the weather dips below 60 degrees.
What it means in Arizona: Can you believe it’s going to dip below 95 this weekend?!
14. Thanksgiving
What it means everywhere else: A holiday where you have a family meal in your sweater and stuff your face with turkey and cranberry sauce.
What it means in Arizona: A holiday where you have a family cookout in your shorts and t-shirt and stuff your face with green chile corn bread and chipotle sweet potatoes.
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15. Chicken
What it means everywhere else: Something you eat.
What it means in Arizona: A pet you keep around to keep the scorpions away.
16. Grand Canyon
What it means everywhere else: A wonder of the world that you must visit in your lifetime.
What it means in Arizona: Yeah, it’s incredible, but that doesn’t mean you need to take a thousand pictures.
17. Diamondback
What it means everywhere else: A rattlesnake that you don’t want to step on.
What it means in Arizona: The D-backs, a team to be feared by everyone in the National League.
18. Dust
What it means everywhere else: A bit of dirt that can make a nuisance.
What it means in Arizona: Take cover, because haboobs or dust storms look like the apocalypse is coming.
19. Snow
What it means everywhere else: That white fluffy stuff that falls from the sky and messes up commutes.
What it means in Arizona: Armageddon—unless you’re from Flagstaff.
20. Why
What it means everywhere else: A question.
What it means in Arizona: Why, Arizona. Population: 116.
21. Sweater Weather
What it means everywhere else: That time in fall when the weather dips just enough to need more layers.
What it means in Arizona: That time when the weather gets so scorching hot every business and office blasts the A/C so cold you have to bring a sweater to go inside.
22. Devils
What it means everywhere else: Pitchfork-wielding, red-bodied, hell dwellers.
What it means in Arizona: One half of the most blood-boiling rivalry in existence: The University of Arizona Wildcats and Arizona State University Sun Devils.
23. Dry Heat
What it means everywhere else: When the temperature is hot but the humidity is low.
What it means in Arizona: Arizona’s state motto.
24. Galaxy
What it means everywhere else: The Milky Way
What it means in Arizona: An iconic Route 66 diner that has the best breakfast in the entire state.
25. Daylight Savings Time
What it means everywhere else: Whether you’re springing ahead or falling behind, you’re changing your clocks.
What it means in Arizona: What?
What other words mean something completely different in Arizona? Tell us in the comments below!
