Vista de Nada

[Rudolph C Troike]

I agree with Rima that this was probably an in-house joke, fictional but,
given the way developers run roughshod over the Spanish language in the
Southwest and California, an entirely possible label. Jane Hill has
written eloquently about the ethnocentrism inherent therein. We have
a-grammatical atrocities all over Tucson, where until not long ago, the
majority of the population was Spanish-speaking, and Mexico is only 75
miles away (but might as well be 1,000).
        Occasionally there is a bit of deliberate whimsy. A "ranch" owned
by the magnate Averill Harriman had no cows (or water) on it, so it was
named "Rancho Sin Vacas" (Ranch Without Cows). When it was turned into a
development, all of the streets were named "Calle Sin ___" (Street Without
___), including such things as "Verguenza" (Shame), "Envidia" (Envy), etc.
        Near our house is a development called "Rancho Arboleda", which
doesn't compute very well. "Arboleda" is a grove of trees. "Grove
Ranch" sounds odd, but to boot there isn't a tree on the spread (there
were none to start with, and what brush and cactus there was, was
bulldozed to create an upscale future ghetto). So fiction is not far from
fact.

        Rudy