Another Sign of Ignorance in County

The Feb. 11 edition carried the story about the misspelled street sign in Irvine--Milliken instead of Millikan (“City Ponders Fixing Street Name Error”). An even more glaring and embarrassing error exists a little south of there.

El Morro Mobile Home Park has been there for many years, probably predating El Morro School, which dates from the early ‘60s. El morro means the bluff, or headland, which topographical feature is plainly on display. When the state acquired the park there, the job of designing the highway sign was apparently delegated to a semi-literate bureaucrat. The sign reads “El Moro.” El Moro means the Moor, Moorish, of which there are very few in adjacent Laguna Beach.

Sensing the chuckles this must generate among our many Spanish-speaking citizens, I contacted Sen. Marian Bergeson’s office. They were, as usual, most helpful and thorough despite the relatively insignificant nature of the matter. Their final report to me was that Caltrans would change the sign “when it needed to be replaced.” I suspect that by that time every atlas publisher and map maker in the country will have repeated the error.

So I suggest that the letter N simply be added to the existing sign and dedicate it to the moron who ordered the original spelling.

DEANE BOTTORF, Corona del Mar