Prunetuscky

I got blamed/credited in the Letters to the Editor yesterday for coming up with the term "Prunetucky" in reference to the bucolic North County community I call home. Truth is, and if I'm not mistaken, I likely purloined the name after I heard it about 30 years ago during a friendly neighborhood pallet fire following a drunken Prunedale Outlaws bash out behind the house that used to have Christmas lights strung out to spell "Hells Angels" on the roof so that everyone speeding down Highway 101 could see it. Again, I could be mistaken.

The writer of the letter suggested that Prunetuscany might be a more appropriate name, inasmuch as Prunedale more closely resembles a bucolic over-promoted region of Italy.

Someone, another Prunedale resident named CMarie, responded in the letters' online comments section:

"I laughed out loud when I read Jim Hommes letter suggesting that Prunedale should be referred to as "Prunetuscany" rather than the local favored "Prunetucky". He said that he and his wife had traveled to Tuscany numerous times and likened it to visiting a friends terrace in Prunedale. Well, I do not know where his friends "Terrace" is. I didn't think we had any terraces in Prunetucky. From my home, I can see my neighbor's lifted white truck parked on what used to be grass. From my front window, I can see a mobile home with old and faded Pink Flamingos. Next to the home is a beat up trailer with "Roy and Erlene" and their one toothed dog who fight like hell. When they do, it makes for a great summertime nights entertainment especially if the police show up. Now granted Prunetucky has improved it's reputation over the years. We have two shopping centers, two Starbucks, and all of the conveniences without having to go into Salinas. We have million dollar homes next to shacks. We call it Prunetucky because we can laugh at ourselves for living in such a quirky place. Look, how many of you can say that you went to your car after grocery shopping and found a flier on your car advertising for "hot girls services". That brilliant guy didn't get far in life. I don't think this kind of stuff happens in Tuscany. "