April 08, 2006

Boona Vista

I was down in Columbus, Georgia, early this week. Had been there once before many years ago. But as I drove down the main highway through town, an exit sign loomed above with the name of the street, "Buena Vista".

And I remembered an encounter with a retired man, during my previous visit. I'd gone to the public library and had gotten inito a conversation with the fellow. I asked him how the street came to have a Spanish name. (I didn't think the Spaniards had explored or claimed this far north on the east coast hundreds of years ago.)

I don't think he knew where the name came from, but he empasized that the local pronunciation was "Boona Vista", not the more Spanish pronunciation of "bwayna vista" as I was saying.

Oh well, when in Rome...

(speaking of which, there is a Rome, Georgia... I wonder how people, there, would pronounce the name... And how soon will there come a time, when the number of Latinos in Columbus will overwhelm the local yokels' resistance to the proper pronunciation? We've already lost control of our borders. You guys better learn Spanish, pronto!)

Posted by raacluse at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)