That Seals It! Santa Fe's Official City Seal Has Accent Mark In Wrong Spot

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An accent mark of the official seal of the capital city of the nation’s most Hispanic state is in the wrong spot.

The misplaced accent mark at the top of the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico’s website was recently spotted by a reporter who uses an accent in his name, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.

On the website, the seal uses the official’s name of the city: La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís, or Santa Fe for short.

But the seal on the city’s website puts the accent mark over the first “s” in Asís instead of over the “i.”

Even Mayor Alan Webber, who is originally from St. Louis and moved to Santa Fe from the East Coast, knows the accent mark over the “s” is no bueno.

“It is always over a vowel; it is never over a consonant,” Webber said. “Yes, I learned that from my Spanish teacher.”

Webber erroneously called the misplaced accent mark over the “s” a tilde, which is actually that squiggly line that goes over words like “piñon” and “español.”

Santa Fe is one of the oldest continual settlements in the U.S. and has a long history with Hispanics.