What's In A Name

Las Vegas is a Spanish for "The Meadows." Our oldest shopping mall is called The Meadows Mall. Back when the Valley got this name in the 1800s, there was wild grass growing and a water supply.

I think I speak for most Las Vegans when I say "it's Las Vegas, NOT Vegas!" A telltale sign that you're a tourist/outsider is if you say "I've been all over Vegas..." You might as well get in your out-of-state car and start shouting "Vegas Baby, Vegas!"

Saying the full name can be a drag, but I never resort to the crass shortened version. If you want to sound like a real native, say "the Valley" (i.e. the Las Vegas Valley). This refers to the whole Las Vegas metropolitan area (600 sq miles) which includes much of Clark County. The county contains: the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas (where I live), Henderson (the suburb to the South), and Boulder City (by Hoover Dam), as well as unincorporated communities and other surrounding areas (about 8000 sq miles.) "Southern Nevada" refers to Clark County and I think Nye County (home of the Nevada Test Site, Yucca Mountain, legal brothels, etc.) as well.

The famous Las Vegas Strip is actually not in the city of Las Vegas. It is in an unincorporated part of the county, which makes it officially just "Clark County." When I was a kid on vacation I struggled for hours with my mom and sis to understand this concept of a land without a town. They tried to explain that there are some places where people live that are part of a county but are not part of a city or town. What, like in the middle of the desert? It made no sense to me, being from a place where counties have no function other than as a way to divide a map. It's still a little confusing, but it doesn't boggle my mind the way it used to!

BTW, you can say "the Strip" or "Las Vegas Boulevard" (that's the official name), or if you really wanted to you could get away with "the Las Vegas strip" but I wouldn't encourage it. "The Strip" is the street most of the major hotel/casinos are on (MGM, Flamingo, Luxor, Bellagio, etc.) The Downtown area (officially part of the city of Las Vegas) is home to the Fremont Street Experience--the canopy of lights (like a fancy, giant Lite Brite) that covers a couple pedestrian-only blocks of Fremont Street. The hotel/casinos in this area are older and cheaper (Binion's, Four Queens, California, Fitzgerald's, etc.) Steps from the souvenir shops are other attractions like the County jail and courthouse, homeless shelters, pawn shops, and more seedy--I mean fabulous--sights!

Another out-of-stater give away is mispronouncing Nevada. Before I moved here I was convinced it was Nev-AH-da, like the dentist tells you to say AH! It sounds very proper and Bostonian. My mom, who was from Ohio, went for the midwestern, flat Nev-AAA-da. Like....Ben AAAAfleck or that duck from AAAAflack. She was right. If you say NevAHda, you definitely don't live here. Wikipedia says that residents "resent" hearing it pronounced wrong. I just think it makes you look like a fool. At least a non-native fool.

Nevada is Spanish for snow-covered (like the Sierra Nevada mountains). It was the 36th state admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864. Therefore October 31 (or the last Friday of October) is a state holiday--Nevada Day. Halloween being a real holiday always seemed appropriate for Nevada to me!

Oh, one more pronunciation tip.... There is a long standing major casino on the Las Vegas Strip called the Sahara. It is located on the corner of Sahara Ave, a street that runs the width (E-W) of the valley--about 15 miles. It is a large, centrally located boulevard, so even if you don't set foot in a casino, you should know how to pronounce the name of the street. It's Sa-HAIR-a, not Sa-HARRR-a. Again, a flat American "A" sound. My bff from Massachusetts lived with me here for a few months and every time she said Saharrrra she sounded like a snooty Bostonian. The pseudo-DJ on 100.5 JackFM calls out "coming to you from the love shack on Sahara and Rainbow." By saying "Saharrra" he gives it away that he is probably some New Yorker who is actually the voice of ALL the JackFMs of the nation!