Border Patrol Stories
Sardinese
I may or may not have invented this phrase. I think I did.
One morning I was checking the loading docks in Nogales, AZ. They were famous for using wet labor and today was no different. I was patrolling around, looking for potential customers. I spotted a group of four or five on the far side of the buildings. They did not see me and continued walking to the warehouse where they were going to work. As I rounded the building, I ran into another group and grabbed them. By the time I caught up with the original bunch, I had picked up enough to fill my Ramcharger. When I arrested them, I opened the back of the unit and the wets looked at me quizzically. I'm like, "WHAT?" One guy says, "No quepo." (I don't fit.). I looked at him like he was a complete idiot and told him, "SARDINESE."
He hunched his shoulders as if to say, "What do I do now?" The other wets in the car laughed at him and almost in unison, they all said, "SARDINESE." And like sardines in a tin, we all went back to NGL station for processing.
Since I was fortunate enough to have a web site, the term spread rapidly throughout the Patrol. So, yeah, I think I can honestly say I invented it. If anyone can verify its use prior to 1983, I will relinquish the claim.
Ray Harris
One morning I was checking the loading docks in Nogales, AZ. They were famous for using wet labor and today was no different. I was patrolling around, looking for potential customers. I spotted a group of four or five on the far side of the buildings. They did not see me and continued walking to the warehouse where they were going to work. As I rounded the building, I ran into another group and grabbed them. By the time I caught up with the original bunch, I had picked up enough to fill my Ramcharger. When I arrested them, I opened the back of the unit and the wets looked at me quizzically. I'm like, "WHAT?" One guy says, "No quepo." (I don't fit.). I looked at him like he was a complete idiot and told him, "SARDINESE."
He hunched his shoulders as if to say, "What do I do now?" The other wets in the car laughed at him and almost in unison, they all said, "SARDINESE." And like sardines in a tin, we all went back to NGL station for processing.
Since I was fortunate enough to have a web site, the term spread rapidly throughout the Patrol. So, yeah, I think I can honestly say I invented it. If anyone can verify its use prior to 1983, I will relinquish the claim.
Ray Harris
Sardinese
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