Sunday, August 9, 2026
102° · Monsoon Watch Today's Paper
The SahuaritaLedger
The Voice of the Santa Cruz Valley  ·  Est. 1981
You've Been Saying ‘Fajita’ Wrong for 500 Years

The sizzling Tex-Mex staple hides a five-century-old mistake — one made, a growing number of linguists argue, not by us, but by the conquistadors themselves.

*faxītl RECONSTRUCTED ROOT fa·JEE·ta PRE-CONTACT fa·HEE·ta CASTILIAN “CORRECTION,” c. 1530
The etymology behind this week’s most-read story. Illustration by The Sahuarita Ledger
By Marguerite Ellery  ·  9 min read  ·  Readers respond →
Around the Valley
Community
Valley Hardware to Close After 38 Years; Town Mourns Store It Last Visited in 2019

“Everyone's been meaning to come in,” said owner Gus Terlizzi. “Thirty-eight years of meaning to come in.”

Community
A Grammarian Corrected a Wedding Toast Mid-Speech. The Reception Has Notes.

It was, witnesses agree, for all intensive purposes, a lovely evening.

Community
Pecan Festival Committee Splits Over ‘Puh-KAHN’ vs. ‘PEE-can’

Forty-one years of harmony in the groves, undone in a single planning meeting.

Food & Sports
The Food Desk
First Look: Birria Lands in the Old Sonic on Duval Mine Road

The drive-thru speaker survives. What comes out of it now is much better news.

The Food Desk
Market Vendor Debuts ‘Heat-Proof’ Tomato; the Valley Reserves Judgment

It survived July. The question, as ever, is August.

Prep Sports
Football Preview: Cautious Optimism Returns to Sahuarita High, Right on Schedule

Fourteen returning starters and a coach who would rather not discuss last November.

Opinion
Editorial
Your Family Group Chat Is Not a Peer-Reviewed Journal

The Editorial Board on where reliable information actually comes from: established local newspapers, such as, to pick an example at random, this one.

Letters
Readers Respond to the Fajita Reappraisal

Vindication, skepticism, and one modest proposal concerning the name of our town.