# "-----Vegas"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 30, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196 "2003-04-30T17:36:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/1 "2003-04-30T17:36:29Z")
I’ve noticed a number of people in different places referring to those places as “-----Vegas.” People in Nashville call it “NashVegas,” **Broken Doll** (with whom I’ve corresponded briefly about this) calls her hometown of Brisbane “BrisVegas,” and there are other examples I can’t think of right now; I’m sure you can supply your own.
So what’s the deal? What is one saying about a city if they compare it in some way to Las Vegas? I’ve been seeing this for years, and maybe I’m dense, but I just don’t get it. Enlightenment, please?
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### Author:  [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/2 "2003-04-30T17:39:23Z")
That it’s gaudy and has lots of casinos?
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### Author:  [@panache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/3 "2003-04-30T17:43:16Z")
I went to school in the illustrious FredVegas, located on the I-95 corridor 'twixt DC and Richmond…
It was casually referred to as such to highlight the glaring lack of things to do…a sort of affectionate petname for our home away from home…
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/4 "2003-04-30T18:02:55Z")
A vegas is a gaudy showplace full of glittering lights and shallow entertainment, often supported by heroic underlying engineering efforts to maintain facilities in an area otherwise unsuited for them. Vegases usually look better at night. Visitors are encouraged to forget about any underlying problems, whether in the vegas or in their own lives, even if their partaking of the entertainment makes the problems worse.
As **panache** said, sometimes the name can be applied ironically.
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/5 "2003-04-30T19:00:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sunspace \*
> **A vegas is a gaudy showplace full of glittering lights and shallow entertainment, often supported by heroic underlying engineering efforts to maintain facilities in an area otherwise unsuited for them. Vegases usually look better at night. Visitors are encouraged to forget about any underlying problems, whether in the vegas or in their own lives, even if their partaking of the entertainment makes the problems worse.**
I dated a woman like that once.
FWIW the original meaning in Spanish is “the medows.”
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### Author:  [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/6 "2003-04-30T19:02:43Z")
Nashvegas is a derogatory reference to how bad the Nashville music scene has become. Today’s Nashvegas country music is over-produced, over-hyped and soulless. It’s “Murder on Music Row”.
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/7 "2003-04-30T20:12:18Z")
Good answers, folks; thanks. I’m not sure why I didn’t figure this out before.
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### Author:  [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/8 "2003-04-30T20:23:44Z")
I wrote a game called ChrisVegas in Pascal a long time ago. You could play slots and poker.
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/9 "2003-04-30T20:31:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sunspace \*
> **A vegas is a gaudy showplace full of glittering lights and shallow entertainment, often supported by heroic underlying engineering efforts to maintain facilities in an area otherwise unsuited for them. Vegases usually look better at night. Visitors are encouraged to forget about any underlying problems, whether in the vegas or in their own lives, even if their partaking of the entertainment makes the problems worse.**
I dated a woman like that once.
FWIW the original meaning in Spanish is “the medows.”
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/10 "2003-04-30T20:39:14Z")
Padeye, that’s hilarious 🙂 !!
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### Author:  [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/11 "2003-04-30T22:04:15Z")
A newspaper looked into it last year and found Brisvegas actually stole the name a long time ago from Rockhampton (Rock Vegas), who got it from the Flintstones. Brisvegas seems to have kept custody because, as impressively ignorable as Brisbane is, Rockhampton is even more so.
And yes, it’s ironic.
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### Author:  [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegas/172196/12 "2003-05-01T06:05:29Z")
You rang? 😉