Was pondering this while watching CSI (which is set in Las Vegas)…
Why does it sound ok when someone refers to Las Vegas as “Vegas” but not Los Angeles as “Angeles” or Las Cruces as “Cruces”?
Since I am not very familiar with the American West, I do not know many more examples of cities that begin with “Las” or “Los.” Anyone have any more examples that sound utterly wrong when the Las/Los is left off? Any examples of more names like “Vegas” that sound normal?
I am guessing the answer to the question of “why does Vegas by itself sound normal?” is just because it’s worked its way into the American lexicon that way. Is there a reason why?
My guess: 'cause “Vegas” is easer to say than “Ell Vee” - and the clipped name just sounds cool - but we don’t say “Angeles” 'cause it’s harder to say than “Ell A”. I don’t know what of if the folks in New Mexico have a for as local term for “The Crosses”.
[Hijack]You didn’t ask, and it’s pretty irrelevant, but I understand that “Las Vegas” is Spanish for “The Meadows.”[\Hijack]
Can any California Dopers tell me the correct pronounciation for La Canada CA? I presume it’s pronounced ca-NAD-a, rather than like the country to the north of the US. Am I correct?
Almost right, except there’s supposed to be. or originaly was, a tilde (~) over the n, which makes it “la Can-YAH-da”.
As for Los Angeles, I read somewhere that in the early years, Anglos did the opposite and called it “Los”. This seems to have been done mainly by wagon drivers in the 19th century, like Wyatt Earp.
Only partialy on topic, but one of my pet peeves is when somebody calls it “Las Lunas”, when it’s “Los Lunas”. In other words, subsituting the feminine for the masculine article. Drives me crazy!
The name of Los Angeles has alread been shortened from** El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula** to LA. Isn’t that enough?
If it’s the one near San Francisco, it should still have an en-yay instead of an en. It would reduce the number of road accidents. Driving along the freeway, I saw a sign for something like 'la Canada keep right" and almost wrecked until I saw the ‘la’ before ‘Canada’.
I believe the one they are talking about is SoCal, and the full name seems to be “La Cañada Flintridge”. SF Bay area has Cañada road and Cañada Community College, which you might have seen road signs for on 280, in particular. Cañada means “gorge”, BTW.
Because Vegas is a star and doesn’t need the full name - just like Cher, Madonna, Prince, Elvis - nobody ever asks, “Which Vegas do you mean?”
But quite seriously, that is a very good question. Even locals often call it Vegas (unlike people in SF who get a bit touchy about “Frisco”). But when it comes time to write your address, it would seem weird to just write, “Vegas, NV”…so I guess you can say the word “Vegas” is mostly used when speaking, or when you refer to the hoopla around The Strip.
Despite what the signs say, it is not the turnoff for the LA to Canada Freeway.
Flintridge is a community that is next door to La Cañada. They use the same freeway exit, so they are listed together on the sign.
Yes, it was Cañada Community College I saw the signs for.
280 is the freeway that runs inland down the peninsula, isn’t it? If so, I thought of it as the “Beautiful Rich-People Freeway”, as opposed to 101 along the bayshore, which was older and more congested, and which I though of as “The Older Working-Class Freeway”.
Not a bad impression. Both run down the Peninsula, actually, but 280 runs through the area up in the hills, 101 down next to the bay. 280, as you observed, runs through some very expensive real estate in communities like Woodside and Los Altos Hills. 101 is the main commute corridor, and runs mostly through commercial districts.
