Trapezoid east of Culi-Culi
Panoramic Binondo by Banahaw Text, originally uploaded by Koosama.
The new mall in Quezon City is called Trinoma. An unfortunate choice of name: it calls to mind carcinoma, melanoma, glaucoma, and other dreadful -omas. Trinoma is short for Triangle North Of Makati, completely ignoring the existence of Mandaluyong, San Juan, and all the other places between Makati and QC. I think the developers are going for a New Yorky association: Tribeca (triangle below Canal St), downtown, cool, Marty Scorsese and Bobby De Niro having macchiatos, that sort of thing. Which only reminds us, in case we need further reminding, that we are not in New York, even if many people delude themselves that they are in New York.
I’m thinking: Why stop at TriNoMa? Why not run with TriBeCa – Triangle Below Catanduanes? Or SoHo – South of Homonhon, and NoHo – North of Hong Ning Panciteria? NoLiTa could be North of Lilo-an and Tagbilaran. To go with TriNoMa there could be TriSoMa – Triangle South of Mamburao, DoWeBa – Dodecahedron West of Bayombong, and TeNoCa – Tesseract North of Catbalogan.
There’s another real estate development called Versailles. Clearly they’re going for a royal French association: Marie Antoinette, Madame de Pompadour, couture shepherdess outfits for the weekend. Which not only reminds us, in case we need further reminding, that we are not in France, but also that the last residents of Versailles were dragged out by angry mobs during the French Revolution and divested of their heads.
Words have meanings and associations, people. Pay attention.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 3rd, 2007 at 21:05
Ramdam ang originality ng mga developers. Or maybe, they’re just cruelly creative – a death wish for the future residents of Versailles.
July 3rd, 2007 at 23:15
SM San Lazaro may be renamed SoLaCe-South of La Laloma Cemetery.
July 8th, 2007 at 20:07
Some of the subdivisions next to ours (here in Cavite): Hampton Court, California West Hills, Barcelona. Unlike Citta Italia (another nearby subdivision), the units in these three don’t look the part.
July 9th, 2007 at 14:49
Um…Catanduanes? Better Cagayan (the valley up north) since that would put the mall truly down below and not above. I would be wrong, though, if Jessica intended the “mistake†for more ironic emphasis in the context of what she was trying to convey: the insidiously peculiar propensity of Pinoys to betray their wish to be what – and where – they are not.
In any case, don’t you think the real TriBeCa is itself pretentious as much of New York is really just an attempt at wish-fulfillment for some Europe in America? Seriously, it’s not even all that it is generally supposed to be.
July 10th, 2007 at 14:56
Whatever it is, SM North is now threatened by Trinoma. They knew it was coming since their first phase in upgrade was the building of The Block, then the refurbishing of the age old annex.
Still, Manila’s pretentious will flock to the new complex, just to be seen. will it stand the test of time? will it cause SM to up the ante? will Greenbelt and Serendra eventually become glorietta?
July 11th, 2007 at 10:32
Whatever.
Haaay…I hate that I just made myself ask some more irritatingly niggling questions:
Does the tendency strictly confine only us or is it one that is generally shared by everyone? Or is the oddness of it all, the coincident pitiable comedy & pathetic tragedy, only enhanced by our being made aware of our own unawareness that the very things we desire have also been co-opted in the self-same manner from those who, probably more often than we allege, also — strangely — pine for what we do have? But what do we have that they, too, might want? One can say all they do, in this regard, is try to tan their skins by going to our beaches. They don’t build artificial tropical beaches like, say, the Paris-Plage, do they? Oh, yes they do do; they just don’t call them Boracay, which brings us back to Jessica’s original point.
Or am I just bored and need to get laid? Bwehe.
July 13th, 2007 at 01:12
even more cruel and hysterical are the portmanteau names that filipinos have been giving their defenseless infants. check any recent high school or grade school year book.