"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

I've heard of the city of Veracruz, Mexico, many times over the years. I played many times the wargame Veracruz about the 1847 US invasion of Mexico through the port of Veracruz. I've listened to Warren Zevon's 'Veracruz', about the US occupation of Veracruz in 1914. (And let me say in passing that I object in general to the idea of a song written when I was in high school being classified as an 'oldie'.)

I've also a passing familiarity with Spanish. I don't speak it as such, but I took 4-5 years (can't remember which) of Latin in school which allows me nodding acquaintance with Romance language vocab.; I've lived for 20 years in a city where Spanish rivals English for most spoken language; and I follow futbol which, in the States, means watching a good many broadcasts in Spanish.

So why was it that only today, when reading an article in one of the Lardy specials about the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s, that it finally dawned on me that 'Veracruz' means 'True Cross'? It's not as if naming towns and cities for religious identifications is particularly uncommon in Spanish.

I'm kind of a slow badger...