One of Many Highly Offensive Things About Santa Fe

There is a thing here where the more gentrified a neighborhood, the more things take on Spanish names. The Spanish names, however, are clearly ones that one would not create if she were native to that tongue. "House of Colors" is just as stupid a name for an apartment complex in Spanish as it is in English. It is a strange but prevalent thing here for white people to make things more Mexican. For the longest time I couldn't really understand what the other co-workers were calling my favorite co-worker. It sounded something like "Av-i-el" with varying accouterments and perhaps a trill depending on who said it. Upon asking "Av-i-el" how to say/spell his name, he informed me that in Mexico, his Spanish-speaking family called him "Abel," like Cain's buddy. The rest of the staff insisted on the alternate Mex-i-like pronunciations. He conformed and now is a better Mexican for it.