Answered Questions II – Silicone Valley

Have you ever heard of ‘Silicone’ Valley? 

Sure. Even today  in Spain we hear in some old movie this rough translation into spanish, referring to the area which lies on the west coast of the United States, around San Francisco, known for its prosperous companies in the electronics industry and technology. Every time I hear it I smile.

"What’s the point?" You might say. Apart from a small set of misunderstandings, not much. The place is actually called 'Silicon Valley', because silicon is the element used to produce the majority of electronic circuits back in the 60s and 70s. It happens that 'silicon' in English is pronounced similarly to 'silicone',  named in this way because it is composed of silicon, but whose uses are extensive, including the well known breast augmentation. It is OK for us not-native english speakers to mix these words, but the movie translators should have been a bit more careful.

Where the mistake comes from we do not know, maybe because that place was mistakenly called 'Silicone Valley' for a while, but the fact is that if we seek the real Silicone Valley, perhaps we should go a little further south, to Los Angeles, near the Hollywood film studios. There, many splendid and voluptuous actresses arise, such as those found in some of the movies where that mention ‘Silicone’ Valley.

By the way, to make matters worse, in Silicon Valley, there is no silicon. Do you remember any more of these funny translations into spanish?