A rose by any other name… tell that to the townsfolk of Asquerosa (Disgusting). No matter that it comes from Latin, meaning Aqua Rosae, (Rose Water) it still sucks.

Not surprisingly this Granada-Vega town decided to change the name to something slightly less offensive: Valderrubio.

Mind you, it took a few centuries of much leg pulling before, finally, on the 15th of August 1943, the Town Council decided that they had had enough of being called los asquerosos (the disgusting ones) and changed it to Valderrubio.

Why this particular new name? Well, because it lies in the Valle del Tabaco Rubio (Tobacco Valle), and it was the first town in Europe to cultivate tobacco from America.

As Michael Cain would say, “not many people known that,” and what’s more, the sentence, “smoking is disgusting,” makes just a little more sense…

(News: Valderrubio, Vega de Granada, Andalucia)