Linguistic Accuracy Spells Cultural Pride

Re “Some Street Signs Get a Little Squiggle of Linguistic Respect,” Aug. 21: I think Santiago Pozo misses the historical point of the Anglicized Spanish street names in that they perfectly reflect the mixed history of Los Angeles. They show the adoption of the Spanish language and its aura by an English-speaking population that really hadn’t the grasp of the language to include the tilde--well-intentioned people, not fully informed, who went ahead with full self-confidence and little self-awareness and did what they wanted. This does sound like a very L.A. thing, no? And isn’t adoption usually a sign of flattery, anyhow?

The signs are so perfectly ridiculous that sometimes they’re charming. It’s another element found “only in L.A.” that garners a second look, or a shake of the head in disbelief, and one I think we should keep, if only to remind ourselves of a past not to repeat.

Anna D’Onlin

Los Angeles

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As a lifelong Spanish teacher (38 years) and the son of Mexican immigrants, I am pleased to see that Los Angeles is adding the tilde to street signs. I hope it will also happen here in Orange County. It’s time that we start having more respect for the Spanish language, especially here in Southern California.

Kenneth Fish

Huntington Beach

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I guess it’s OK to add the tildes to a few hundred street signs in Studio City. Heck, what can that cost? And while they’re at it, I’ve noticed that my relatives apparently spelled our last name, Denker, with a “c” (Dencker). And there is a Denker Street in L.A. I think a change there might be considered.

I just hope that some of the original Indian settlers of the L.A. area (such as the Uto-Aztecan-speaking folk from the nearby village of Yang-Na) don’t insist upon changing our city’s name to Yang-Na just because they were here first.

Joseph Denker

Studio City

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Re Pat Morrison’s intelligent and entertaining column (“Waltzing the Tilde Back Into Sign Language,” Aug. 22): Viva la tilde! Maybe now we can start on the use of accent marks where appropriate.

Lucy Powell

Valley Glen