Strangely Familiar

This is the Disnei Bar, in Segovia. The Spanish have been appropriating foreign words and doing as they like with them for centuries. Before you come down too hard on the Spanish for this, get all bent out of shape about spelling and pronunciation and so far, remember that Americans have done some appropriating, too. Consider the following photo, also from Segovia:

Look strangely familiar? It should. Walt Disney used this, Segovia’s Alcázar, as the model for Sleeping Beauty’s castle, which castle figures so prominently in the Disney logo.

________________________________________________

Charlie Geer is the author of the novel “Outbound: The Curious Secession of Latter-Day Charleston.” His work has appeared in Tin House, The Sun, Bloomsbury Magazine, and The Southern Review.