Botched Freeway Sign Sets Off Ongoing 'Los Feliz' Debate
LOS FELIZ (CBSLA.com) — A Reddit post about a misspelled "Los Feliz" sign on the 5 Freeway has set off a debate about how the city's name ought to be pronounced.
The Los Feliz resident snapped a photo of what he says are Caltrans workers fixing a sign that read, "Los Fezil Blvd" when it should have read "Los Feliz Blvd."
http://imgur.com/wcmC8Ms
The Reddit thread quickly transitioned from mocking the workers to arguing over how the actual name of the city is pronounced: Is it FEE-les or fell-EEZ?
Some argue that since "Los Feliz" is a Spanish name, meaning "the happy ones," it should be pronounced the Spanish way: fell-EEZ.
Others say "FEE-les" is the way to go because how it's most frequently referred to by people - presumably, non-Spanish speakers - in the area.
How do you pronounce Los Feliz?
Reddit user "StoneGoldX" points out that if people are going to nitpick how to properly say "Los Feliz" then that ushers in a larger question: "Was dating a girl originally from Florida, she was pronouncing it "correctly," took me forever to figure out where the hell she lived ... 'Yes, you're technically right, but that's not the way anyone actually says it.' That said, it's not like anyone says Los Angeles 'correctly' either."